My 40th Year on Earth: That's a bit of alright*

When I sat down at the start of the year to decide on what I wanted to accomplish during my 40th year on Earth, I didn't originally plan to enter a baking contest. This idea came up after a discussion with my friend, Anita, and some quick research to see what my options would be to compete. It's a great idea; I've been baking since I was 10 years old, supervised by both of my parents at first, and love baking things. In my late 20s, I started branching out from classics to making marshmallows and an Italian orange cake that takes three days to make. I like complex recipes as much as simple ones, and I love finding recipes with a history. I've written 23 posts about baking, including short stories, recipe shares, and observational posts.

Baking is therapeutic and delicious. I've said it before, there's something so soothing about watching ingredients come together. It's a little bit of magic in the kitchen (but also lots of science). If you bake, you know what I mean. To me, it doesn't matter if you make something from a box mix or from scratch, baking is baking. I know there are people out there who will disagree, but I'm not interested in their opinions. I started with box mixes, and eventually graduated to from scratch recipes. My family has a lot of family recipes, and both of my parents helped me be the baker I am today. Many recipes evoke memories from my childhood or remind me of the person who originally made them. Since I started baking for friends and co-workers, I often associate recipes with them too. I've also used baking as therapy, immersing myself in the process to work through a rough day or a problem. It's calming for me. The fact that I can then give what I make to others and brighten their day makes it even more powerful.

People have always told me I'm a great baker, that I should open a bakery. This is flattering, but also intimidating. Could I really do that for real one day? Are they just being nice? Has the sugar gone to their heads? To test this theory, I signed up for two categories in the Arlington County Fair competitive events. Arlington County allows residents from two cities to participate since we don't have our own fair (thanks, Arlington). I entered a bar cookie and a holiday cookie. I made test batches like I was practicing for the GBBO, and I took a few days off of work for the event. I downloaded my entry forms and read all the rules. And then I baked some more. I was ready to enter my bars and cookies.

The Arlington County Fair started in 1977 and is the largest free county fair in Virginia and one of the largest free events on the East Coast. In the last few years, over 80,000 people have visited the fair each year. Events include rides, concerts, food, pig racing (although not in 2019), and the competitive events. The competitive events include seven departments and four divisions. The departments include the baking categories as well as honey/beewax and food preservation, various arts and crafts, and multiple categories for fruits, nuts, plants, and vegetables. The divisions are separated into adults, teens, youths, and children (6 and under). I had no idea what to expect at the events; my experience with county fairs is limited to Celebrate Fairfax (nee the Fairfax County Fair) and the movie Butter, which stars Jennifer Garner as a butter carver (worth a watch if you can find it). What would the world of competitive county fair events be like?

The answer is: I have no idea. I arrived on Thursday morning (via Uber because there is no parking at the fair) to enter my baked goods, and I was one of maybe five people in line. All but me and one other guy were kids. I got my entry number, had help attaching the judging form and my recipe cards to the paper plates, and then my entries were whisked away by volunteers to be placed for judging. And that was it. I took my claim tickets and baking sheet and went on my way. There wasn't anywhere to hang out and watch other entries come in, and no one was allowed behind the tables until after judging. As I waited for my Uber home, I saw a few other people go in with entries. One was a lady entering tomatoes and the other was a guy bringing in some plants. I didn't get to talk to either of them, so I don't if this was their first year entering or if there's some secret world of Arlington County Fair Competitive Events competitors. In my mind, there's a very competitive group who enter every year, including a lady named Myrna who enters her amazing chocolate chip cookies and wins every year. There's Doris, a gardening genius, and Inez, the eccentric beeswax lady. I want them to adopt me and teach me the county fair competitive events secrets.

This is what I thought about as I waited to find out the results. I made up an entire world of competitive events contestants and fair intrigue and probably some "small town" drama (gossiping, sassy discussions about entries, a lot of "bless her heart"). I blame Christopher Guest and every novelist who's ever written a book about a small town with a fair or contest. Arlington isn't Mayberry or some other fictional small town, but you know what I mean. I imagined Best in Show, but for bakers and gardeners.

I entered two recipes: PB&J bars (bar cookie section) and Hot Chocolate Cookies (holiday cookies). These are two of my favorite recipes. They include ingredients I love: peanut butter, chocolate, and marshmallow fluff. I made my own fluff, and the batch I made for the fair was probably the best batch of fluff I've ever made. It was amazing, if I do say so myself. All entries have to be submitted on a paper plate.

Through a scheduling mistake on my part, I didn't get to go to the awards ceremony on Saturday night (I bought concert tickets not realizing the awards ceremony was going to be on Saturday night). I visited the fair Sunday afternoon instead. After wandering around the games and rides area and enjoying some ice cream, I made my way (along with Anita and her mom) to the indoor exhibits to check on my entries.

The results? Two class awards for second and third premium! The Hot Chocolate Cookies received the second premium, which doesn't surprise me at all. They were delicious. The judges liked the presentation of these cookies too. They are pretty adorable. The PB&J bars received third premium; I received a comment that the PB&J bars were a little dry. I sort of expected the feedback. The bars are dense, and the amount of jelly impacts how dry the cookie part will be. I used more jelly than I normally do, but it still wasn't enough. I was hoping that because I made them the night before it would be okay. Oh well, they still tasted good enough to receive a ribbon and that's a bit of alright if you ask me.

I'm pleased with my first attempt at competitive baking. I had fun participating and going through the process of what to make. I'm already thinking about what to enter next year; maybe a cake, maybe a different bar cookie, maybe another holiday cookie. The possibilities are endless. I have a whole year to plan. My experience has also inspired a new short story idea, which I'm working on now. I hope to share it in the next few weeks here on the Island.

If anyone is interested in being a baked goods taster, please let me know. I'll need plenty of volunteers!

*From an episode of GBBO. Mary Berry said it to a contestant.

Not a creature was stirring, except my mom on Pinterest...

I feel like I've said this for the past two years, but has 2018 felt like three years jammed into one? It seems like it's never going to end. Maybe it's just me, but so much has happened in 2018 that I have trouble keeping it all in a timeline that makes sense. Thankfully, Dave Barry summarized the year perfectly in his annual Year in Review column in The Washington Post. I've been enjoying Barry's column since I was a teenager, and it never ceases to amaze me how spot on he is.

One important event Barry failed to mention in his column was, I think, an important milestone in social media usage: my mother began actively using Pinterest. This may not seem like a revolutionary moment to anyone else, but to me, this symbolizes the natural end point of my mother's technology/social media journey. Remember when she learned to use text messaging on her own? Now she uses emojis like a champ. And Facebook? Well, she's not really actively using her account anymore, but for a while there, she was good at posting articles and embarrassing birthday posts like every mom on Facebook. I've always been very proud of her use of social media since it's not something she likes or gets, but she tries, and that's the important part.

I'm not sure when my mom "discovered" Pinterest. It was before this year, but she didn't really do much with it until recently. If I had to guess, I'd say it was during the last two-ish years as she spent time in hospitals following a severe ankle break. There's only so much daytime television and political commentary a person can watch before they go crazy; my mom hit that point very early in her stay and had to divert her attention elsewhere. She, like everyone in my family, is an avid reader so she read a lot. Her Kindle is one of the newer ones that's basically a tablet so she was able to go online and add apps to it. I think this is when she found Pinterest. My mom discovering Pinterest could be the best or worst thing ever. There's really no middle ground here.

For my mom, Pinterest is really fun. She can find new recipes, something she loves to do, and ideas for holiday home decor that may or may not always work. Unlike me, my mom doesn't have the level of cynicism I have about Pinterest being a place where boring white women plan weddings in reclaimed barns using Mason jars. (I'm sure your wedding in a barn with Mason jars was beautiful, calm down.) Hopefully, we've past the point in time where this is a thing and we can go back to life as it was pre-reclaimed barn weddings. I've gotten a bit more into Pinterest since joining Stitch Fix and setting up a style board for my stylist. I'm sure she looks at this board before sending me my quarterly fix. Yes, I'm sure of it. I also enjoy looking at past Nyx purse designs for inspiration as I glitter everything in my life.

Anyway, a few weeks before Christmas, my mom texted me to start making holiday plans. She likes to start planning the menu for Christmas Eve and Christmas Day early in the month so we all have time to put in requests and change our minds a few times. In her text, she asked me if I had seen all the Grinch related food posts on Pinterest. I had no idea what she was talking about, so I quickly jumped over to Pinterest and searched for "Grinch recipes." There is an entire Pinterest world of Grinch themed food, crafts, and games to explore. We love the Grinch; he's my dad's favorite Christmas character. My mom thought it would be fun to have a Grinch themed meal during the holidays. We settled on Christmas Eve, our normal Christmas movie marathon day. Then, we had to decide what to make. We settled on the following:

• Grinch fruit kabobs
• Grinch punch
• Guacamole and homemade salsa (my mom used her own recipes for these)
• A Grinch shaped veggie tray
• A "roast beast" (we used a rub my dad makes and cooked it in the crockpot - it was easy and delicious) 
• Grinch popcorn (we didn't make this on Christmas Eve, but I believe it's in the works for New Year's Day)
• Brownies with Bailey's frosting (this has nothing to do with the Grinch, but was super delicious)

We exchanged a fair number of texts in the days leading up to Christmas Eve. Who knew there were so many options for making green popcorn and so many choices for punch (none of which included alcohol)? We had the fruit kabobs, punch, and guacamole for lunch and everything else for dinner/dessert (except the popcorn).

This one looks more like Napoleon, but is still pretty great.

Since most of these recipes are meant to be made by/with small children, nothing was particularly hard to do nor did any of it take very long. Between me, my mom, and my brother (drafted to help assemble kabobs and make punch), we had everything ready by lunchtime. We could start watching our favorite holiday movies and not have to worry much about dinner or snacks. That's a holiday win in my book. 

Hats off to my mom for bringing some whimsy and fun into our holiday celebrations! 

Happy New Year from the Island! If you're going out tomorrow, please remember to have an exit strategy like a DD, Uber/Lyft, or a place to stay if the party gets out of control. Make smart life choices!!

Coming in January: goals, goals, goals - what I plan to accomplish in 2019, the return of Answer Your Cat's Questions Day, including Keely's origin story, and an update on all things glitter purses! 2019 is going to be very sparkly.

The Christmas Cake

I just finished reading Judith Fertig's novel The Cake Therapist. It's been on my to read list for awhile. I finally decided to treat myself to a used paperback copy rather than spending over $3 for the Kindle version. I have a $3 and below rule on Kindle. I feel like if I'm going to pay more than that I should just buy the actual book. Or maybe I'm cheap. You can decide.

Anyway, in addition to being a very colorful, pretty book (it's worth the paperback just for the color it adds to my bookcase), it's also a delightful story. The novel follows a baker who moves back to her hometown in Ohio as her marriage is ending and her opportunities in New York are dwindling. She decides to open a bakery and it just so happens that her hometown has become a destination for brides and weddings. Her talent isn't just making exquisite cakes and pastries; it's knowing the exact flavor the person she's baking for wants most. Her ability to match the flavor and the person crates the perfect taste for the customer. This serves her well in the wedding cake world. I would like to tell you that I savored the book and lingered over it for a few days but that would be a lie. I read it in one day and had to order the sequel Memory of Lemon this week.

There's a quote early-ish in the novel that I particularly love. It perfectly encapsulates the way I feel about baking something.

"As I cracked each egg into the bowl and added the sugar while the mixer did its work, I wondered whether I was the only person who found the whir of a stand mixer oddly comforting. For me, it was the sound of something good about to happen." (page 63)

Baking, as I've written before, has always been a form of therapy for me. The process of making something, of following a recipe, measuring ingredients, prepping pans is soothing and calming. The process is great for working through an issue, problem solving something, or just ruminating on an idea for a bit. It can also be a completely blank moment where my mind focuses solely on what I'm doing and not my to-do list or stress at work or getting my move organized or whatever else is happening in my world. I love my stand mixer, Stanny (yes, it has a name) and I know the whir Neely, the baker in the book, is talking about. It's the whir that makes marshmallows out of water, gelatin, and sugar or brings together the perfect balance of ingredients for pumpkin cookies or apple cinnamon cake. It's a sound that's not too loud but certainly not quiet. It's a sound that is all about making something delicious happen.

Around the holidays, everyone I know seems to go into beast baking mode. Instagram and Facebook are full of tables full of cookies and candy and whatever else people have decided their family and friends need to truly enjoy the holidays. Some recipes are passed down generation to generation and it wouldn't be the holidays without them. This year, our cookie options include snowballs (a perennial favorite), coconut macaroons, and maybe chocolate chip. I made some fudge and my dad made chocolate chip cookies, banana bread, and cranberry bread. Did I mention there are only four of us?

We also have a newer tradition that I will be adding to this year: the Christmas Cake. It started before I really got into backing. My dad would make a rum torte as our Christmas dessert - did I not mention every of my family members bakes? My dad and brother both make great pies and my dad kills it at banana bread; I get that from him. My mom is an all-around baker; I learned how to make snowballs, cakes, and brownies from her. Anyway, I don't like rum or rum flavored things but the rum torte was always good. As I got more into baking, my dad and I would trade off on making the Christmas Cake. We started varying it up but almost always selecting a cake from Southern Living's Christmas issue. I don't know if you're familiar with the Christmas issue of Southern Living but there's always a beautiful cake on the cover and a section of creative, festive, and sometimes super complicated cakes to adorn your holiday table.

We can thank Southern Living for the Christmas present cake; it's shaped like a present and you use Fruit by the Foot to make pretty ribbon and is also fun for birthdays (and really the first complicated cake I made by myself), the caramel cake debacle of 2013, and my uncle's favorite cake, the Italian Orange Cake. I only make this last one every ten years. To do it right takes three days since it's the type of cake that gets better as it sits. The flavors come together over time so it's better to do each step over the course of several days. I like all of these cakes despite being a bit more complicated from a process standpoint than say, a regular chocolate cake. I want a holiday dessert to be special and more whimsical than my everyday baked goods. That's part of the fun of holiday baking;

Both my parents and I subscribe to Southern Living. I'm sure that seems excessive to some people but it's the way life works. My subscription was a gift from a friend who knows I like baking and reading about cities I love so I accept my dual copy each month with love and sass. The cake on the cover this year is a coconut rum cake with rum filling and ermine frosting. Wondering what ermine frosting is? It's also known as "poor man's frosting," boiled milk frosting, or butter roux frosting. It's a type of buttercream frosting that uses flour instead of eggs for the emulsion factor. I've never made it before but apparently from what I've read, ermine frosting was what was traditionally used on red velvet cake until the 1970s when cream cheese frosting became all the rage. Who knew?

As I mentioned earlier, I don't like rum flavored things so I told my family I'd make one of the other cakes in the holiday extravaganza issue, Peppermint Cake with Seven Minute Frosting.This cake requires me to buy disco dust. Don't know what disco dust is? Well, friends, it's edible glitter. Apparently, it gives the cake a little sparkle. Who doesn't want their holiday cake to sparkle?

There is one major thing about this recipe that makes it the best cake in the world: two different frostings! Peppermint buttercream frosting and Seven Minute Frosting! The cake itself is a pretty standard yellow cake but two frostings make it extra special and holiday worthy. If you've ever made anything with peppermint extract, you know that a little goes a long way. I made peppermint marshmallows once that tasted like toothpaste despite using the small amount of extract the recipe called for (they melted well in hot chocolate - that's a win). The peppermint buttercream looks so pretty in the picture; I would have made the buttercream for myself if my family had declined the cake. Bonus: I've never made Seven Minutes Frosting before so this cake also represents adding another item to my repertoire and I love adding baking things to my repertoire. (Reality: Seven Minute Frosting is basically marshmallow fluff that you whisk for seven minutes. Not nearly as much fun as I wanted it to be.)

You know what else is great about this cake? Smashing peppermint candies with a meat tenderizer. My arms are going to hurt tomorrow between this and the whisking for the Seven Minute Frosting, but it will be worth it. The peppermint extract isn't enough peppermint-y flavor so I have crushed up peppermint candy as instructed to add to the buttercream. I also crushed additional peppermints and added the disco dust (pearl dust according to Wilton) so the cake will really sparkle when it's decorated. I feel so Christmas-y I can't stand it.

I can't tell you how the cake tastes since it's for tomorrow but I can say that the buttercream is delicious, as I knew it would be. The Seven Minute Frosting is basically glorified marshmallow fluff. And the finished, uncut version? Looks like a sparkly winter wonderland. That's exactly what I wanted to accomplish with this cake. Something good happened over the whir of an electric mixer.

Happy Holidays from the Island!

Southern Living cover