deep fried asparagus

Living in the Central Valley--the fruit basket of America--we have access to all sorts of fresh and local fruits, veggies, and nuts. We decided to celebrate with a central California town, Stockton, (which most recently made the news as the foreclosure capital of the US, unfortunately) during their annual Asparagus Festival.

It was just too weird to pass up.

On the way north, we stopped in Modesto to see a minor league baseball team, the Nuts. Why the Nuts? Blue Diamond is based in Modesto, and it seems you can't drive 5 miles through the valley without seeing an almond orchard.

But the weather was so terribly 90-degrees-hot and shade-less there that we hid in the shade near a concession stand behind the stadium and ate a giant snow cone. Then we were off to the Asparagus Festival.



We hoped that at an Asparagus Festival, we'd be able to buy some fresh asparagus to take home to cook. But, alas, no. Our asparagus food options were asparagus-margaritas (um, no), asparagus burritos (um, yuck), and deep fried asparagus. The deep fried stuff looked too heavy and greasy for such a hot day, but we had some tickets left at the end of the day, so we went for it. Let's just say we are thankful that's something we never have to try again in our lives.

Besides eating mediocre food, we also put Juma on a pony ride



cooled off in a sprinkler



and tried to stay hydrated.



Yes, it is that hot in the valley in late April.