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!