I wrote my last post the day after not winning as many ribbons at the State Fair that I felt I should have. Going into this, there’s no guarantee of any ribbons.
You don’t know which judge is going to judge which items, are they in a good mood, do they really feel like taste-testing at least 100 items that day, and are the sun, moon and stars aligned? It’s a crap shoot.
After I got over my pity party that Thursday morning, I decided to calm down, turn on my favorite music (classic country), and do the best I can. I had to change my mental approach to baking those last seven items.
It was a gorgeous day outside, all the windows were open, and the most amazing breeze was blowing through the house. Nothing could have made a baking day more perfect.
The next two days were spent actually enjoying myself and putting it on the back burner that this baking marathon was for State Fair. Not once did I mentally comment on the outcome of any of the baked items. I was having fun.
Saturday morning, Day 2 judging, I’m out the door at 5am. Yes, 5am. I have been doing this ritual for well over twenty years. The fairgrounds are five minutes from my house. I go through the gate along with all the hundreds of deliveries that are being made around the clock one week before the start of the fair.
Food and beverage trucks, porta-potties, rides being erected, windows of brick-and-mortar buildings being washed, millions of flowers being watered, and so much more. I find my parking space in the dark, right outside the doors of Championship Hall. I park, turn on the radio, and watch all of the activity around me. It’s also a time to think back on the previous two days of baking, mentally checking that I brought everything I was supposed to, and checking my purse for my paperwork and recipes. There is at least one hour of time to myself before the next entrant arrives…it’s my friend Jan. She’s been doing the Culinary Challenge for over 40 years.
At 8am (used to be 730am but nobody told us of the time change) the doors open and it’s time to register our items. After that’s all done, several of us take a short ride to a Greek restaurant across the street from the fairgrounds to have breakfast and talk about what we baked, what worked, what didn’t work, as well as catching up on each other’s lives in the last year. See…we’re State Fair friends and only see each other once a year.
After breakfast we head back and find more State Fair friends and catch up with them as well as watch all the other entries get registered. We get up, walk around, comment to others on how beautiful their cakes, cookies, and pies are. We’re killing time until 1pm when the judging starts.
There are six judges and one of those six is only for the canning division. The other five take care of the numerous other categories.
The first five items are presented to the judges and one of them is a cake I baked. Gosh, I can’t remember one of my items ever being judged in the first round. However, I’m in good company as there are about eight or ten cakes in this category. The category is Lemon Hibiscus Cake.
There are four ribbons give in each category: first place, second place, third place, and fourth place.
Still not allowing myself to be on pins and needles, I didn’t watch my cake category being judged. I was watching other items being judged. Breathe…breathe…breathe.
Finally, they are announcing the top four cakes and I won first place…a blue ribbon. OMG, I can’t believe it. If I didn’t win anything else that day, I was happy.
Fast forward about five hours. The judging is done but now it’s time for the judges to choose the winners of Judge’s Choice Award and Best of Division Award. In the past several years I’ve won two Judge’s Choice Awards, but in almost thirty years, I’ve never won Best of Division.
To explain Best of Division, say there are ten different categories for cakes. Each one of those categories has a first place, blue ribbon winner. At the end of the day, it is decided by all the judges, which cake of those ten cakes is the Best of Division. Watching all the judges tasting all the cakes, going back and forth, and conversing with each other, the decision was made.
For the very first time in all these years, my Lemon Hibiscus Cake with Lemon Buttercream Frosting won the coveted prize of Best of Division. I could hardly breathe.
The judges congratulated me, pictures were taken, a beautiful ribbon was handed to me, and all the thoughts of the first day of judging simply vanished.
This time I drove home crying tears of joy…instead of disappointment, as I had done three days earlier. I won a total of five ribbons on Day 2 and ended the 2024 Culinary Challenge very happy.
Back to Basics 