A different kind of pig for Fair competition
annie1992
8 years ago
OK, so we've been busy. Elery's grandsons were here from California, and his brother in law in Tennessee passed away suddenly, so we made a trip there that took several days. In the middle of that, we had our local County Fair, which the grandkids always want to compete in for prizes.
The Princess decided that she needed to bake a cake shaped like a pig, since it's an agricultural fair. And since it was shaped like a pig, it had to contain bacon, so it was a dark chocolate and bacon cake, LOL.
Kind of in keeping with the agricultural theme, she made cupcakes decorated like fish. They were lime/coconut cupcakes with key lime frosting and were very good, I liked them a lot.
She decided to branch out and made some Tropical Heat jam, with pineapple, mango, coconut and habanero. Elery loved that one.
Altogether she entered five items and came away with five blue ribbons, nothing to sniff at. The Grand Champion ribbon eluded her yet again, though, it went to a plate of chocolate chip cookies. She's already plotting for next year.
Her brother entered a picture of the farm and took a blue ribbon, and a picture of his puppy and got a second place ribbon. He then decided he needed to bake something and so he made Grandma's Chewy Molasses cookies, which earned him another blue ribbon.
I don't know how it happens, but every year at Fair time, something happens to interfere with our baking plans, LOL. It's not deterred The Princess, though, who's already looking at recipes for next year's Grand Champion competition.
Annie
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Islay Corbel
8 years ago
morz8 - Washington Coast
8 years agoRelated Discussions
Professional Landscapes In Ameteur Competitions
Comments (27)PT, just for the record, I, for one, don't think you went too far in your first post, so there's nothing to feel apologetic about, at all. Forums, like this one, exist so that people can share ideas and opinions about all aspects of gardening. Although I have a different point of view, I respect your comments and the way you expressed them. You're right when you say that all events can be improved upon--why not make your views known to the CHS? As I mentioned, they used to have a category for Professionally Landscaped gardens, and maybe they should reinstate it. (Personal confession: I usually didn't bother going to the professionally developed gardens. Over the years, I only remember visiting two gardens that won in that category. Since I'm not interested in hiring a landscape company, those gardens hold little appeal or relevance to me. In one garden I saw, I was aghast to discover that Purple Loosestrife had been planted (the property was adjacent to a Glenmore Park, no less). This was five or six years ago--Loosestrife was no longer being sold in garden centres. The rules of the CHS should have disqualified that garden, but the plant may not have been blooming at the time of judging, or the judges didn't recognize it.) Your top 2 favourite gardens were mine, as well. The Boyko garden was the first that I saw, and it ended up getting my vote for the "People's Choice Award". (I was doubly amazed at how beautiful the garden is when I discovered that three dogs--two huge and one, small but rambunctious--also live in the house!) While some gardens gained some of their appeal due to the location of the property (gorgeous neighborhoods, borrowed views), this yard created beauty and serenity despite its relatively small size and its surroundings. The MacLean garden reflected my own lust for plant collecting, only hers is much better designed. (What an understatement!) My third choice was the curb appeal winner in Deer Run. Although her back yard was destroyed by hail (I found out), her front yard was spared, and it was an inviting, exhuberant mass of colour. The one thing I hate about garden tours...they make me want to rip out my entire yard and start all over!! Thankfully, that feeling only lasts a day or two, and then I start enjoying my garden, again, faults and all. Marcia, I'd also like to know which one was your friend. I seem to recall someone in a cast, but I saw so many gardens over the weekend that I can't place her! PT, I hope you continue to voice your very passionate opinions. And I hope that the Far North Forum continues to be a place where posters can feel free to respectfully disagree with each other in a safe, caring environment. Just an idea that popped into my head...since there are so many Calgarians on this forum (and others that live close by), maybe one day we can organize a garden tour of our own??? That is, after I've ripped out my yard and started over... ;-) Doris...See MoreCompetition Gardening
Comments (29)Well I imagine this will be my next-to-last update on the Competition. The State Fair starts tomorow (Oct 18th), the cut off for working your plot was at noon today (Oct 17th). My plot gets lots of comments even though it doesn't really look like what I had planned. In the end I just stomped the wrong-color Dahlias into the ground and placed potted Coleus on top of them (I'll dig them up after the fair and plant them at home where their color and shape don't matter). The statues came out perfect - the 'Rust' spray paint I used on them really confuses people when I talk about them being made of plastic flower pots. I've been asked to teach a workshop in the winter showing all the silly things you can make out of old plastic bottles and pots. I've taken some photos that hopefully will show the details. The garden design itself was pretty basic. I used a lot of purple tones and orange and yellow flowers (though few were blooming for the judging). The people that participate in this event are wonderful - none are overly competitive, they do it year after year just for the fun of it, many don't even pay attention to the "theme" of their category - they just do what strikes their fancy. The powers that be have enough trouble getting every plot planted on time to enforce any sort of hard rules (and they have been doing this for like 25 years). I can see the benefit to bringing in plants at the last minute - my plants all have some form of disfiguring disease and accept the reality that it is autumn, their plants have been primped and pruned in a disease free greenhouse where seasons mean nothing. I don't have a greenhouse (hell, I don't even have sunshine at my home - I can only grow moss and mushrooms in my deep deep shade!) and I don't have the desire to spend more than I could win on the display, so in the future I will probably do it again the way I did it this year. My goal was to introduce myself to the movers-ana-shakers of the gardening world and to showoff my artistic skills. So, regardless what I win - I've already won! I'll post the result of todays judging and my photos as soon as possible....See MoreV. early stage q in re competitive college admissions
Comments (103)Hi Pattycakes, It wasn't really the gist of my post to argue for or against a BS education, especially since I did not attend one and we are only learning about them. But since I am the OP, I will give this one a go. I said it before, but the post has gotten unwieldy to go back and read, for sure, so I will say it again...Giving up some of the every-day-ness, from grades 9-12, would be a true sacrifice. Part of the reason DH and I retired so young was to allow us to be uber-involved in our kids's schools, activities and lives generally , and we are. We get a lot of enjoyment out of it and (most of the time) they do, too. But if you have a kid who is willing to work very, very hard at a worthwhile goal that they value, it is hard to say "no". You seem to assume that schools don't spend any time on morals, character, community service (or maybe that they don't mean it). Many if not most private schools (boarding and day) have ecclesiastical roots, and issues of honor and morals and service are very important to the culture. Character education is not mere lip service, and community service requirements are meaningful, from what I have observed. Personally, i find it quite different from my generation and quite heartening. Moreover, since neither DH nor I practice a formal religion, we appreciate that our children, via private school, have had to attend chapel services and Quaker meetings. Their academic environments enhance what we try to teach them. You are also assuming that all boarding school aspirants are interested solely or primarily in monetary success. Many are, of course. Such is true of any random group of Americans as well. But, I do not think that BS aspirants are unusually mercenary at all. First of all, a good chunk of them come from generational wealth that kind of leaves them free to pursue something more... interesting, if you will. I notice there is a heavy emphasis on the arts at these schools; drama, music. Film making, fine arts, writing. And a fair amount of people interested in public service, the environment, humanitarian work. I am certainly not saying it's all "kumbaya", but these schools are in real demand, and they can find more than enough smart hard working kids, so they look for interesting, smart, hard working kids. People who can make a difference, not just a living. (not matter how good a living) Frankly, without getting too political about it, these schools tend to be very liberal and rather socialist-leaning, and if anything I would say they would somewhat teach their kids to eschew the pursuit of filthy lucre! (all the while asking their parents for some more of it, please)...See MoreDo birthday parties seem like a competition to you?
Comments (29)I guess I feel pretty lucky--my DD has a small class, only 14 students. I would agree that inviting 40 kids is excessive. I'm assuming there are two classes for SD's grade? Could you do something where she only invites her particular class? Or what about just the girls? My DD's school seems to be low-key. Last year, only a handful of kids had bday parties; a few invited the whole class, but two girls just invited the girls, and I think 2 boys had boys-only parties, as well. We just had an issue with BM about this. SS's bday is coming up and she wanted him to have it at this very expensive indoor trampoline place----the party room (that you HAVE to rent) is $175. Then it is an additional $14.75 PER jumper and there is a 10 person minimum. So that's $322 already. This does not include cake or drinks or goodie bags or anything. There are 23 kids in SS's class and SS's mom felt he should be able to invite the entire class. DH just told her that it is ridiculous to spend $500-600 on a 7 year old's birthday party and that she (or we) would have to find something more reasonable. Well, then they got in a big argument b/c she was saying they would split the cost this year (normally, DH pays) and DH said that wasn't the point----that even if they did cut the cost down the middle, it was just too extravagant of a party. We normally spend $150-$200 for a party. DD's birthday is 6 weeks after SS's, so we have to be financially mindful of planning for two parties relatively close together, as well....See More
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