We went on the see food diet.

August 13, 2011

Last night, Beth, CJ and myself went across the Ohio River into Newport, Ky for the Great Inland Seafood Festival.  We had gone a couple of years ago and stumbled upon a booth selling this sampler platter that was OUTSTANDING.  We have fantasized about it ever since and I promised them I would make it happen this year.  So after a long day at The Target, I got my second wind and braved the traffic through downtown Cincinnati (there was also a Red's game last night) and we arrived safely.  Beth released her grip on her hand brake and we waded ashore.  As we walked along the row of food booths, we attempted to remember what the place was called or looked like so we would get the right thing.  We thought we found it and ordered a $15 dollar plate of food to share.  CJ also ordered a $7 kabob of shrimp that we maybe didn't share so much, at least I never say a tiny shrimp. 

While the food was good, we seemed to be tasting a lot of mystery seafood and a whole bunch of vegetables.  I am not a hater on vegetables, but if my cheap self pays $15 for a plate of seafood sampler, I want more seafood. 

To make matters a wee bit more disappointing, since it was an outdoor event, we sat to eat in a tent with our 200 closest friends of the sea.  And gnats.  They were kamikaze gnats hell bent on dive bombing my cornea.  I guess they thought if the first wave took out my vision, the second wave could steal the food.  My resolve was strong though, and we powered through the sampler platter and some seafood fettuccine.  CJ was still hungry and asked for some money, so I sent him off with some cash and a dream.

I did not realize his dream was to eat some fried alligator, on a stick.  I have always assumed that the chances of me biting into an alligator in my lifetime were significantly less than an alligator biting into me, but there we were.  Noshing on some alligator on a stick. 

I know you are waiting for me to say it tasted like chicken, but it really kinda tasted like alligator.  Not bad, the whole thing ended up gone, but certainly not like chicken.

Finally, we got up to leave feeling full but not all the way satisfied.  We decided to check out this lonely set of booths farther down the line and came across the booth selling the sampler platter we had originally pined for.  We pretended we were not full and forked out the $12 for this platter.  It was AWESOME!   There were real large bites of seafood and some special spices that must have had crack as one of the ingredients.  I will have to check with Katie on that one.

Anyway, after finishing off this plate, we did our best penguin imitation and waddled back to the car. 

I made it home and sat down to watch the Bengal's game.  Fortunately, my stomach is strong or I may have lost all the contents based on the horrific display my team turned in on the field.  Good grief.