Big Bubba's Bad Barbecue, at the Southern California Fair in Lake Perris, wins the best sausage sandwich award hands-down. Far superior to anything served at the LA County Fair, and we think the secret may be the bun. SCF is a great little fair, compact, but with all the requisite attractions, including loads of entertainment. It's a kinder, gentler fair...not quite so crowded and commercial as many...and lots of 4H activity, which is strikingly absent from the LA County Fair in recent years. It was wonderful seeing so many young people involved in raising goats and genuinely excited about the competition...sort of like watching drum corps kids. The SCF will definitely be on our preferred list of Fairs.

We're doing the Southern California Fair at the Lake Perris fairgrounds this afternoon. It's kind of drizzly and cold, but we'll see what the fair holds for us.

LA County Fair ends this weekend and it's "on notice:" improve the culinary offerings next year. I'm just saying...

LA County Fair is huge, fun and expensive, but the cuisine seems to be lacking this year. Disappointing. Especially the giant sausage sandwiches. And don't even get me started on the chocolate covered, deep fried bacon. Seriously, don't just throw the food on a grill, then on a paper plate and expect customers to accept whatever they get. This year I got a sausage that was more hot dog than sausage; a fried chicken dinner that consisted of a lump of cold chicken and soggy fries; and a tri-tip sandwich that was tough enough to frustrate a tiger with huge canines. I'm expecting improvements next year!

Just two weeks before the LA County Fair, the mother of all fairs. We can't wait.

Orange County Super Fair today. Report later...food now!

San Diego County fair in Del Mar Fair is wonderful...almost as good as our own LA County Fair. It's over soon, so get your tix and GO!

The Queen Mary: Better they should tow her out a few miles and let her sink. She'll make a great reef, which should prove more productive than sitting in the Long Beach Harbor.

San Bernardino County Fair is a snoozer. Very disappointing. Even the cows were bored, and the chickens looked as though they'd prefer having their heads removed. Food limited, midway deserted, and this was a Saturday afternoon. I don't see much future for this particular county fair.

And looking forward to the grandaddy of California fairs, the LA County Fair. Awesome food...too expensive, but awesome.

Going to the San Bernardino County Fair this Sunday, being the fair-freaks that Benita and I are.

Exactly (from today's LA Times, Letters to the Editor):

Titanic mistake

Re “Queen Mary plan is floated,” April 30

Has this story been sitting on the editor's desk since April 1, and did it just find its way to the top of the pile today? Is this idea -- renovating the long-docked Queen Mary and sending it to sea -- some sort of monstrous joke, or is it another version of Orange County's Great Park? Why do we invariably, inevitably, perpetually populate City Hall with buffoons who pounce on moronic suggestions like this one?

If someone genuinely wants to extricate something from concrete and float it out to sea, might I respectfully suggest we forget about the Queen Mary and instead dig up the entire Long Beach City Hall building and tow it at least into international waters.

That would have an instantaneous, salutary effect on this city's financial deficit.

Ralph L. Seifer

Long Beach

Something has got to give...either blogging, twittering or facebooking. Don't have time for all three.

And a nod to another dining establishment - this time in The Pass - our favorite Italian place; good, honest food, great service. Russo's. Stop there on your way to Palm Springs. It's worth the side-trip. Chi mangia bene, vive bene. Mangia bene at Russo's!

We can't say enough good things about Bottega Louie on Seventh Street. If you haven't tried it yet, you're in for a big, big treat, and what a beautiful space. Great interior architecture and design...completely unexpected in downtown LA.

Courting Vampires opens at Boston Court this Saturday. It's going to be great!

Seeing the Sondheim one-acts at East West Players this Thursday.

Seeing good friend Eileen T'Kaye in The Fantasticks at Freud this coming Tuesday, May 5. Fellow cast members include Eric McCormack, Lucas Grabeel and Harry Groener. Buy your tickets.

Wondering if I'm going to Twitter, Facebook or Blog? Doing all three is daunting.

Another crazy, dipsy-doodle idea for that old rust-bucket rotting in Long Beach harbor:

http://latimesblogs.latimes.com/lanow/2009/04/queen-mary.html

This is why I say Long Beach has an inferiority complex.

Gonna try this blog thing again after a three year hiatus. Starting slow...