My Fair Lady 2013 - A Trip to the Ohio State Fair

With the Labor Day weekend nearly upon us, summer is officially winding down. While I'm not really ready to let summer go yet, I thought I'd give you a look back on the best part of every summer for me. Fair time!

I've gone to the Ohio State Fair for years. The food, the animals, the concerts, the food, the.. um.. interesting characters. (Although I was a bit disappointed in the shortage of mullets this year. Especially the family mullet.) Oh, did I mention the food? Anything you'd ever dream of frying, or have never even thought about frying are all on display. And don't forget the vast array of things on a stick--like chocolate covered bacon. And make sure you grab an ice cream cone from the dairy building while you check out the butter cow. (It's exactly what it sounds like: a cow sculpted from butter.)

This year I went with my best friend and her family, wandering through the animal barns, the petting zoo, hitting the rides in Kiddie Land, and snapping tons of pictures along the way.

Not sure he's really enjoying the shearing process.

The baby animals are always a big hit. I just want to take this baby cow home with me! And the piglets! Oh. My. Gosh.

Pigs! I just love pigs. I don't know why.

But I think my favorite is the horse barn. Such beautiful animals.

And of course, my absolute favorite part of the fair, and my favorite part of the whole summer--the baking competitions. Once I realized I could combine my [over]competitiveness with my love of baking, that was it. The quest for ribbons has been insatiable. You'd think I was competing on Top Chef with how serious I take this competition. This was my 5th year entering, and once again, it didn't disappoint.

Another 2 blue ribbons for scones and chocolate cake to add to my collection! That takes me up to a grand total of 15 ribbons over 5 years. Not too shabby!

It was also a good year for my baking friends too. Timmura (who I've done several Cupcake Camps and previous fairs with) not only placed 2nd with her Root Beer Float cupcakes,

but also took a first place AND a best in show for her Chocolate Stout Cupcakes! Yay! I may or may not have fangirled a little bit and took like 20 pictures of them.

It was another great time this year! (Even though they were out of the Maple Bacon ice cream in the dairy building the day I went--the ONE thing I wanted to try this year! Oh well. I'll just have to make my own.) I'm already on the quest for next year's recipe (I'm thinking pie this time!) and I can't wait until it's summer all over again!

Stay tuned-- I'll be posting a complete list of all my ribbon winning recipes soon!

Friday Favorites - Vol 6 - Electricity (Or, the Night the Lights Went Out in Ohio)

As I said in my post earlier this week, July has been insane. Stressful and crazy. I started this month out baking an entire dessert table for a party my BFF Kelli was throwing. I was super pumped about it, with everything totally planned and ready to go. It was a week before the party, and I had JUST stocked up on my essentials like butter and eggs that I'd need for my baking extravaganza. I had set up camp at Boyfriend's while he was out of town, making use of his huge kitchen table, empty living room, and no cat to mess things up. I had gotten through piping my monograms for the cookie favors and had settled in on the couch to watch a couple episodes of Six Feet Under and work on my banner when I noticed it starting to get a bit dark outside.

It was just before 5 o'clock, so I turned over to the news to catch the weather. I didn't even have to wait for the news to start. They were already interrupting whatever show was on with weather warnings of a pretty nasty storm coming. Nasty indeed.

That picture was taken literally about 1 minute before the skies opened up. I barely made it back inside from the porch before it unleashed. And rained down every bit of its fury. Watching from Boyfriend’s back door, it looked exactly like pictures they show on the news of a hurricane. Raining sideways, debris flying everywhere, trees bent over. They clocked wind speeds at nearly 80mph during the storm! I stood watching, horrified, as part of a tree fell across the road and almost hit a car that was driving! The lights flickered a few times, then went out. And stayed out. Of course, Boyfriend, who was camping in upstate NY at the time, had taken his good flashlight with him. Which left me scouring his house with my cell phone held out in front of me for the lanterns, which were battery-less, and not a “C” battery to be had.

Once the storm let up, I rushed home to make sure that none of the trees that are within 10 feet of my back door ended up in my living room. Luckily my house was fine. Dark, but fine. (And really only semi-dark. I have battery filled flashlights.) That night, I made a mad rush to find ice to pack my fridge and freezer so I wouldn’t lose any food—especially my newly purchased butter and eggs. Driving around, I realized the reason my area was dark--A huge ancient tree up the road had fallen into the power lines, popping them right off the pole and scattering them across the street, along with all the tree's branches.

It wasn’t until the next day at work (which NEVER loses power. Boo.) that I realized that I wasn’t the only one without power. Most of Columbus and its surrounding areas were out too. Nearly a million people in the dark. (And all of them deeply reliant on their technologies they couldn’t charge. I probably could’ve retired if I’d thought to charge people to use the plugs at work. Phones, laptops, iPads.. One lady even brought her hot rollers to plug in in our bathroom!) By the time I got off work at 5pm, the idea of actually finding more bags of ice to keep my freezer frozen was almost laughable. Everyone in town was out looking for ice. There was no way there was still any left for me. I luckily stumbled on some at random, and grabbed nearly 50lbs worth. The guy in the truck next to me kept shouting at his son to go grab more. When the boy asked how much they needed, the dad screamed back, “THERE’S NO ICE LEFT IN THE CITY! GRAB AS MANY AS YOU CAN!” And the cashier told me I didn’t need to bring my bags in with me to pay… Yeah right, dude. I’m not letting go of these until they’re in my car. And if anyone tries to take them from me, I WILL fight.

That night, facing a completely dark house, I hunkered down in the bathroom with a bunch of candles, a book, and some lukewarm bathwater to keep myself occupied before attempting to sleep in my silent, warm, fanless room. I had just gotten out and was starting to get dressed, thinking to myself, “I can just change right here in front of the window in my room. It’s dark and no one will ever see,” when, wouldn’t you know it--All my lights popped on. RIGHT THEN. Thanks AEP.. I truly appreciate having my power back, really--I do! But you couldn’t have waited until I was dressed??

I was one of the lucky ones. I got my power back after 28 hours. I ended up throwing out some of my fridge stuff (the unimportant stuff I didn’t bother to try to save while I was packing ice around my boxes of butter), but luckily didn’t lose any of the huge stockpile of meat in my freezer. Others around town weren't as fortunate.

There were some people in town, even those not too far from where I live that didn’t get power back for 7 to 8 DAYS. They lost all the food they had, and had to deal with powerless homes with no AC or fans while temps crept back up into the 90s day after day. The power company was so overwhelmed with the amount of areas without power, they had to bring in people from other STATES to help out. I count my blessings that I didn't have to go through that, and I'm so grateful that things around town weren't any worse than they were, because we've all seen the ruthless power of Mother Nature. Things could have been a LOT worse.

The storm throwing off my baking schedule a bit was just a minor bump in the road compared to so many others, and I was happily able to get everything done and help throw a successful party. Even just my day without power makes me appreciate having it back, and makes me grateful for the luxuries of AC and everything that I have. Yay electricity!

Let's Have a Party!

July has been insane so far. Like tear my hair out, cry a few times, and stress eat marshmallows from a bag crazy. It’s been a non-stop kitchen extravaganza, but so far, I don’t have much to show for it. (Hopefully you’ll get to see a lot of that later!) I do have one thing to share with you though—my first real party dessert table!

My BFF Kelli’s little brother is getting married, and Kelli is the Maid of Honor. With the title comes some pretty big responsibilities, like throwing the wedding shower. Knowing that I’m all about the desserts, have crafting ADD, and am completely addicted to Pinterest, she requested my help with party ideas. Needless to say, we spent HOURS scouring far corners of the internet to come up with a plan. (Except some of those weird corners of the web. We stayed far, far away from those.) It was a DIY bonanza! Wish trees, banners, favors, invites, recipe cards, decorations—There was barely a store-bought thing in sight!

I took my dessert table responsibilities seriously, planning everything a month in advance, right down to the baking schedule. (Which didn't quite work out the way I planned, thanks to Mother Nature..) While it was slightly terrifying and stressful leading up to the party, once I got rolling, everything went smoothly. The party went off without a hitch, and everyone raved about the dessert table! Yay!

Here are a few pointers I learned from it, in case you find yourself in charge of the sweets.

1. Prep as much as you can ahead of time.

One of the party favors was a set of monogrammed cookies with the bride and groom's initials. Instead of waiting for 1 round of royal icing to dry before piping the detail and waiting for a 2nd round of drying, I piped the letters onto wax paper way ahead of time, let them dry completely for several days, then peeled them off and plopped them right onto the wet base of royal icing I’d piped on the cookie. When the base layer completely dried, they were already ready to bag up! Cut my work time down CONSIDERABLY. Plus, it made it a lot easier to pipe out perfect letters when I had something to trace. Just draw or print your design on a piece of paper, put a piece of wax paper on top of it, and pipe away! Make sure you pipe your detail kind of thick though. I broke quite a few of my letters since they were pretty thin. (Note- This picture was taken just hours before a huge storm rolled in and knocked my power out for 2 days. Glad I got that part done!)

2. Embrace the simple and easy.

I’m all about creative combinations, especially with cupcakes, but at a party, not everyone’s into bacon. Unless it’s a bacon themed party, in which case, send me an invite! It’s okay to stick with something simple like chocolate or vanilla, and dress it up accordingly with the color scheme or theme. They're classics for a reason--everyone loves them! My table was filled with classics—Vanilla and chocolate cupcakes, as well as chocolate chip and peanut butter cookies. (Also realize that you'll be driving for a half an hour in a car with no AC, so put your fondant toppers AFTER you arrive so they don't melt. Lesson learned.)

3. Really. Simple and easy. Embrace it! You’ll save yourself so much stress.

I thought about making so many things for this table. I thought about macarons. I thought about meringues. I wanted to fill my table with so many classy elegant desserts. Then I thought about how much time and effort those take, and how much I needed to get done in a short amount of time. So I went with Rice Krispie Treats and chocolate covered strawberries. Easy. Simple. And you know what? Those were devoured just as quickly as anything else. And, honestly, probably more quickly than macarons or meringues would have been.

4. Rock the store bought.

Especially if you’re trying to fill a big table. Don’t stress yourself out thinking you have to make EVERYTHING that goes on that table. Find candies or things that fit your theme to fill it out. Our color scheme was red, white, black, and gray, so I bought red candy—Twizzlers and Swedish Fish—that matched. And you know what? People kept picking those as they passed by the table throughout the night. Think rock candy, lollipops, M&Ms, Hershey’s Kisses—the candy possibilities are endless! And delicious.

5. Label everything.

That way people know exactly what they’re putting on their plate and in their mouth. And you don’t have to stand there all night and answer over and over what each thing on the table is.

6. Containers and decor – Use what you have. Or hit the thrift store.

Nearly every container or plate on that table was something I already had in my house. The tall flower centerpiece is the display that sits on the table in my living room. (And the "rocks" that fill the bottom are actually Christmas bead garland. Another fun tip for you!) The container with the chocolate chip cookies—that’s where my brown sugar lives in my kitchen. The plates, cake stands, and bowls are props for my blog. For things I didn’t have, I hit up thrift stores. They have TONS of glassware and plates, for really cheap. I purchased about 5 or 6 things, and spent maybe about $5 total. Look for clear glass or plain white plates—they’ll match everything, and you can use them over and over again for all your parties!
(Note the other camera in the picture. I wasn't the only one paparazzi-ing the table! The bride, Ashley, and I both stood around for about 10 minutes taking pictures!)

7. Set up early. And enlist help.

This is a rule I kind of broke. Mainly because I was completely off on knowing what time the party started. (Another tip. Look at the invitation at least once or twice.) I thought I had another hour before people arrived. And then the doorbell rang. It was a last minute scramble to get a couple things on the table, our first round of chocolate covered strawberries weren’t completely set, and we didn’t have enough time to dip the rest of the batch. But it worked out thanks to a few sets of extra hands from Kelli and our little helper Jeri who rinsed our strawberries, set out all the label cards and acted as our table bouncer while we finished setting up. She might only be 9 years old, but my money’s on her in a throwdown.

8. Always have a backup plan.
 Have a plan B in case something doesn't work out quite as planned. Or at least have a backup kitchen/refridgeration plan if your power goes out. And stays out. For days. (Luckily I didn't have to enact Plan B.)

9. Don't stress. Relax and just have fun. It's a party afterall!

What are your favorite party planning tips?

It's the Great Pumpkin!

I’ve said it before, and I’ll say it again. I absolutely love October. I love the cool weather, the bright colors, and the warm flavors of fall. As much as I don’t want the baseball season to end, I love the playoffs (even though the Red Sox didn’t get very far this year… *sniff*) and the World Series. I love watching and going to football games (even though the Browns game I went to was absolutely pathetic…), and hockey season is back! I love dressing up for Halloween and passing out candy for Trick or Treat. And it’s completely impossible for me not to watch “It’s the Great Pumpkin, Charlie Brown” when it’s on TV. But what I love more than anything is bundling up in a hoodie and heading out to the local fruit farm to pick my very own pumpkin. There’s something so rewarding about stomping through a muddy pumpkin patch on the quest for the perfect pumpkin. I have to find the one that “speaks” to me. One that draws me in and says “Here I am! Take me home!” Boyfriend just looks for the biggest one he can find. This year, despite being really chilly, and the threat of rain, we made our way to Lynd’s Fruit Farm in Pataskala for tons of pumpkin fun.

Getting to Know The Busty Baker: Six Unimportant Things That I Love

As I was checking my emails the other day, I saw that Jane of Foodzilla had left me a comment on my Mint-Filled Brownie Cupcakes, tagging me in an internet quiz that's floating around among blogs. Six Unimportant Things I Love. Well you know how much I like quizzes! (Or maybe you don't... but I love quizzes! Hmm.. Maybe that should have been on my list too.) I sat for awhile trying to come up with things that didn't seem too important that I just adore. It took a bit of time, but I finally finished my list. So here it is--another Getting to Know The Busty Baker post. Thanks Jane!

1. Harry Potter. I was actually sitting outside reading The Goblet of Fire when I got the email, so naturally, this had to go as the first thing on my list. I just love HP! I read through the whole series once a year. It would probably be more than that if I didn't limit myself. I can read these over and over again and never get tired of it. I just started reading them again about 2 weeks ago, and just started the 4th yesterday. I have to get through at least The Half Blood Prince before the movie comes out! And yes. I will be there at the movie at midnight, just like I have been for the last 2.

2. Singing along to the radio. It doesn't matter whether it's in the car, at home, or in the middle of the grocery store; if there's music on, I have to sing to it. I'm really glad I live alone now, so I can sing as loud as I want, but I'm sure my neighbors aren't too happy.

3. Raising Cane's Chicken Fingers. These aren't a huge chain yet, but there are some scattered around the country. If you're lucky enough to live near one and you haven't tried it, what on Earth are you waiting for?? If you don't have one around you, move! They're that good. Mmm. Chicken Fingers. And definitely don't skip the Cane's sauce. I've been known to stockpile these in my fridge and eat it with everything.

4. While we're on the subject of food, Jeni's Ice Cream. This is a local thing here in Columbus. Again, if you're anywhere near it, give it a try. If not, you should anyway. (Hey they deliver nationwide, so no excuses.) I was never a very big fan of ice cream, but Jeni turned me into a believer. Now I have to have it anytime I'm even close to a shop. Even if I'm stuffed so full of food from dinner that one more bite will do me in. I'll suffer through the pain for Jeni's.

5. Flipflops. I would wear flipflops all day, everyday if I could. I love the freedom of them. I'm not a fan of shoes, and even less of a fan of socks. Flipflops are about as close as you can get to being barefoot without breaking that no shoes, no shirt, no service rule. And I'm all for it. I have more pairs of flipflops than anything else. I just wish I could wear them to work. And in the winter, but I'm not that hardcore. It's a little too cold for me to wear them in the snow.

6. Hello Kitty. I'm totally the girl who wears a Hello Kitty pin on her nametag at work and carries her lunch in a Hello Kitty metal lunchbox. I have a Hello Kitty background on my computer, and write grocery lists on Hello Kitty notepads. There are Hello Kitty icepacks in my freezer (I love the $1 section at Target.) and Hello Kitty bandaids in my medicine cabinet. I even lock my stuff up at the gym with a Hello Kitty combination lock. Obsessed? Me? Nooo.. Not at all. But I so want this bike I passed the other day outside a store near work. I would risk life and limb on the main road near my house to ride this thing everywhere. Well. Maybe not. Those people are crazy on that road.

So there you have it. Six Unimportant Things that I Love. Now who else wants to take the quiz? I won't pass it on to anyone specific, but feel free grab this and do it for yourself! And let me know if you did, so I can learn more about you too!

Getting to Know The Busty Baker

I've seen this on 2 blogs (How to Eat A Cupcake and 52 Weeks of Baking) within the last 6 hours, so I'm doing it too. It's totally one of those Facebook/MySpace surveys for Food Blogs! You know. Those surveys that one person does, because they saw someone else do it, and within a day, you now know more about everyone on your friend list than you ever cared to learn. Oh, how I do love surveys! Although, I don't feel this one's nearly long enough. Gimme 150 questions about whether or not I have any tattoos, if I have a crush, or who sits behind me in Math class* and I could entertain myself for hours! But.. this is the one I'm given. So this is the one I'll fill out. Besides--I doubt any of you care if I have tattoos.** Have fun learning more about The Busty Baker!

Metal or non-stick? I think most of my baking pans are non-stick. I use silicon liners for my cookie sheets though.

Cast iron or stainless? I just bought myself my first set of Stainless Steel pots and pans last year for my birthday. I lust after All-Clad and Calphalon, but I settled for Cuisinart. But I'd love to add a cast iron to the mix too.

Cutting board: silicone or wood? I've got a small wooden cutting board, which I would love to use, but don't really know how to take care of.. so it just sits there. I use the 2 plastic ones (a big one and a small one) I have instead.. I can just throw those in the dishwasher.

Knife: carbon steel or stainless? Right now, cheap. I would kill for a beautiful set of Wusthofs though..

KitchenAid or hand mixer? KitchenAid. All the way. Although I would like a new handmixer for those rare occasions I need it. Like making Meringue for Hi-Hats. I'd love to have one that mixes at a consistent speed. But I love, love, love my KitchenAid.

Cooktop: gas, electric, induction? I've only ever had electric, but I'd love to have gas someday.

Side-by-side, freezer on top, fridge on top? Right now, Freezer on top is what I have. I'd love to have a Freezer on the bottom one though. Someday... when I have my own home.. and win the lottery. I'll have so many pretty kitchen things..

Apron or whoops? I have 3 aprons and a pink Chef's jacket hanging on the wall in my kitchen. They each serve a specific purpose. I wear my chef's jacket when I'm baking, and especially when I'm decorating. It makes me feel all professional (plus I'm super messy with royal icing.) I wear the pink Williams and Sonoma apron while I'm baking too, if the chef's coat is in the laundry (I'm not actually wearing it with the chef's coat), or I just need to throw it on really quickly. I wear my striped Everyday Food apron if I'm cooking dinner. And the blue Walmart special.. That gets worn when I'm doing dishes. I tend to end up with more water on my shirt than in the sink when I'm done handwashing things. So I gotta cover up.

Mashed potatoes: by hand, ricer, or mixer? Used the mixer for years. Now I do it by hand because I'm too lazy to get the mixer out. Plus I hate my hand mixer. I have a ricer that I acquired in one of Boyfriend's moves, but I've never bothered to use it.

Sandwich or wrap? Depends. Sometimes I'm okay with wraps. But most of the time I'm more okay with a sandwich.

PB & _________ ? Jelly. Or jam rather. Not actual jelly. Usually Smucker's of some sort. Either Strawberry, Blackberry, or Concord Grape. Although I have taken a liking to the Welch's squeeze bottle Grape Jam.

Pancakes: syrup or applesauce? Syrup. Lots and lots of syrup. We were just discussing this at work the other day. It must be fully saturated in syrup. I want it to squish syrup out when I cut into it. And then I have to have a little puddle of syrup on my plate to drag it through before I eat it.

Cake: scratch or mix? Making? Scratch. Unless its for Cakepops. Eating? I'm ok with Mix. I prefer scratch, but I won't turn mix down.

Chili: beans or no? No. Never. I hate beans.

Napkin: cloth or paper? Cloth makes me feel fancy. But I don't use them at home. I use paper.

BBQ: takes the whole weekend to make or take out? What about made at home, but not taking the whole weekend? I'm okay with bottled BBQ sauce.

Chicken: white or dark? Depends. If I'm eating baked chicken or chicken in my food, I like white. But I love drumsticks if I'm eating fried chicken. Mmm.. chicken.

Ice cream: cone or dish? Dish. I eat too slow to eat a cone. I end up with a melted mess before I'm even halfway done. So I have to have something to catch all my drips.

There you have it. Now you know The Busty Baker! At least a little bit. Anything else you want to know? Just drop me a line! the.mistress [at] bustybaker [dot] com!

*Trick question. I haven't had a math class in about 7 years. And with 90 people in my stats class, I couldn't have told you any of their names..

**I don't.