Knott's Noms

When I first visited the US back in the spring of 1993 for the English immersion program, we stayed with Aunty Tim, mom's friend, in Garden Grove.  One of our very first meals was a bucket on Knott's Berry Farm fried chicken and biscuits.  I remembered looking at the packet of boysenberry jam, a berry I never heard of or tasted before.  I didn't know then that Knott's was a theme park and home to Snoopy and his friends.

A few months after the visit, I came back to attend high school in Orange County, bringing along my Snoopy doll whom I've had since I was 5 years old.

And the rest is almost a 20-year-old history.

When I was invited to A Taste of Knott's event last week with other bloggers and journalists, it was more than just "Yay! Tasting event!" but a bit of a trip down memory lane.

Not only I haven't had the fried chicken in years (despite living not that far away), I haven't been to Knott's Berry Farm since, oh gosh, freshman year of college?

And of course, I'd never say no to Snoopy. Never.



Flying solo at the tasting evening, I found myself embedded with Matt of Dig Lounge, an old friend from dot com glory days, and...



...new friends Lynn of the Actor's Diet and her friend Sam.



And yes, you TOTALLY should check out Lynn's recap from the event. I'm amazed by the amount of food consumed between Sam and Lyn. I mean, look at this Leaning Tower of Grubs they made!



Most of the items at the tasting were finger foods. Most of us were also tweeting #KnottsNoms. It was inevitable that our collective smart phones need a good scrub down afterward.



I should probably say that the food was FABULOUS. Frankly, I don't remember eating anything that yummy while in Disneyland.  And of course, there's also beer AND wine. Hooray for alcohol! 

First order of business, the fried chicken, washed down with Anaheim's very own Noble Ale Works Breakaway Pale Ale. Heaven, I tell you. Heaven.



Then we continued with black bean burger from Ghost Town Grill. The vegetarian patty is very flavorful and hefty. Meat? What's that?



I made a mistake of following the huge flavor with the chicken kabob sandwich from Big Foot Broiler. While the chicken was tender and moist, I felt it was a little bland. Ghost Town Grill Goldie's Honey Garlic Salmon and Baby Spinach Salad following that was really tasty as well. (Again, poor chicken kabob sandwich.) Now I'd also like that salmon in a sandwich!



I also had Spurs' Cajun lime salt riblets which were so good I inhaled them before I took a picture. If it wasn't for me leaving room for the funnel cake, I'd gotten more! Those also go really well with the Pale Ale, by the way. Finger lickin' good!
 
I didn't need to get my own funnel cake after I saw what Sam and Lynn procured. They shared the monster with me.

After I tried my damnest to polish it off, I gave up and texted the hubby to let him know I was heading home. It's no fun to be at an amusement park by yourself, especially when you also don't do thrill rides anyway. 

As I approached the exit, I figured I might as well walk a lap through Camp Snoopy. Not knowing my terrain, somehow I ended up at the very back of the park by the Boardwalk. I looked at the map and somehow still took all the wrong forks in the road possible.

Another text update to the husband ("I'm lost in the effin' park!"), he lovingly suggested that I should ask for directions or just spend the night at Camp Snoopy.

No funnel cake to-go for you, sir. None. You're lucky I didn't buy this whole shelf full of Snoopy because I was really, REALLY tempted!

Thanks for a wonderful time, Knott's Berry Farm. I'm looking forward to coming back to enjoy the park and your yummy grubs later!