Call Me Mrs. Blue Ribbon

It seems like the blog has been abandoned for a while.  Sorry to all my followers for not updating my blog more often lately.  I I have been really sick these couple weeks; and I finally feel a little bits better today and would like to share some good news with everyone.  If you have been following my blog or our facebook page, you might recall I submitted my first ever OC Fair fondant decorative cupcakes for a contest last month.  And guess what, I W-O-N!  I got the first place and my first blue ribbon.  I wanted to share the good news with everyone earlier; however, I would love to wait until I get my blue ribbon first. 

Here some pictures I took at the fair and would like to share with all of you, and I don't mind to be called Mrs. Blue Ribbon=).  When I picked up the blue ribbon, they also gave me the comments and the score from the judges.  12/12 full marks with all the positive comments!  I was in cloud 9 and I felt so happy that someone appreciate my artworks. 

P.S. The OC Fair will be ended this weekend, so if you want to check out my "awaard winning" decorative cupcakes along with other amazing exhitbits, you still have few more days left.

My award winning cupcakes

I got the comment notes from the judges when I went to pick up my blue ribbon. 
I got 12/12 full marks on my cration!  Very proud of myself.

What to expect at the fair this year?

I mentioned that OC Fair (July 13-August 12) is around the corner on my previous post.  I am looking forward to eat my favorite fair food and also try some new "heart-attack" deep fried items at the fair next month.  This year, Chicken Charlie's, southern California's famous king of the deep fryer, will have a brand new deep fried item to offer at the fair this year - deep-fried cereal! Two cereal options could be chosen from Trix or Cinnamon Toast Crunch, both are fried in batter and sprinkled with more sugary cereal for extra crunchy texture.  It might be a good idea if they could serve us milk too=)

Home Sweet Home

The Orange County Fair is coming very soon (Mid July), we are so excited to go there to enjoy some fair food and see some farm animals again this year.  Besides the food and animals, I love to see the exhibits of table setting and food too.  This year, I decided joining one of the many contests they offer - the fondant decoration cupcakes contest.  I registered about a month ago and started putting ideas together immediately.  Since their theme this year is Home Sweet Home, I "kind of" go along with the theme.  Being a home owner is one of the biggest American dream people are having for many years - New Home Sweet Home is my theme for my creation! 

I made the toppers first and then spent about half day to finish some faux cupcakes.  For decorating cake/cupcakes contests, it's required to submit faux cupcakes/cake rather than real ones because the exhitbits will be showing at the fair for about a month, I guess that make sense to keep the cupcakes/cake look as good as on the first day.  I will share with you of how to make my faux cupcakes next time (stay tuned!).

In the process of making my creation, it reminded me of all the painful and sweet moments of getting our first house.  I still consider getting our first hourse is the most stressful moment I have in my life so far.  We need to put tons of documents together to get loans and submit to the bank.  We used tons of boxes to pack our belongings.  We sweated from head to toes to get our house painted.  We spent days and nights to read all the documents we received from our realtor and made our decision carefully. But after all that, everything was done and settled, and we finally got to enjoy our new home and new lives together. 

So here are my new creation, and I will let you guys know how it goes.  Hopefully, you will see my creation at the fair and don't forget to snap a pictures of my creation and share with me and everyone=)

New Home Sweet Home

Sold Sign

I tried to get as detail as I could.  I even put some "dirt" (cookies) on back.

Singed DEED and Got the key

Fixing up the house

Unpacking

Changing address

Finally got to enjoy our new nest!

LA County Fair Summer 2011, Pomona, CA

Few weekends ago, we went to the LA County Fair with our family.  We had some yummy but unhealthy fair food; we also checked out a lot of cool stuffs and different exhibitions at the fair.  One of my favorite things to see is the cake contest and table setting contest exhibits.  We had a very great time at the fair.  Can't wait to go back next year.

Here are my favorite cakes from the contest, enjoy=)

Can you believe this cake was not made by a professional?

Everything is so detail

Does this look like your kitchen?  LOL

Everything is so sweet!

Does this cake make you want to fly to Venice (I mean the one in Italy)?

A very realistic fish cake

I am sure my cousin will love this cake.

Inspired by the Fair - Deep Fried Koolaid

Smoked giant turkey leg, grilled corns, stuffed chili with cheese, giant hot dog, giant corn dog, funnel cake, and deep fried everything...hm...I smell OC FAIR! 

Mr. G and Mrs. G went to the fair over the weekend.  We always enjoy going to the fair because that's the only time we don't need to care about the calorie and nutrition information listed on the menu (because there is none of this information at the fair.  Eat at your own risk!)  And we did a lot of eating and cardio at the same time (hey, we walk around the whole fair.).

We have tried a new item this year - deep fried Koolaid!  We at first thought that it might be another gross item among all the deep fried stuffs.  Surprisingly, they taste amazingly good!  Mr. G's cousin and his girlfriend obsessed with this new treat, and they even went home to make their own deep fried koolaid.  I would like to share their recipe with everyone, so if you missed this new item at the fair, no worries!  DIY (Do It Yourself) at home!

Ingredients for Deep Fried Kool Aid:

3 Eggs
2 Cups of Milk
1/2 Cup of Sugar
3 2/3 Cups of Flour
1/2 Teaspoons of Salt
1/2 Cup of Cherry Kool Aid
2 Teaspoons of Baking Powder
Vegetable Oil For Frying

Making The Batter:
Beat the eggs and the sugar together in a mixing bowl. Slowly add the milk while beating slowly. Add all of the dry ingredients, and beat until the mixture is slow and creamy. The batter should be a bright pink color. Add more kool aid as desired.

Cooking Directions:
Cook in hot vegetable oil for about 3-4 minutes. Remove from the hot oil when the fried kool aid batter is golden brown and is crispy.

Allow the Deep Fried Kool Aid to cool a bit before eating. They will burn you badly if eaten too soon. Fried Kool Aid taste best with a fresh glass of Kool Aid!

Take me out to the fair, take me out with the crowd...

Cute cakes I saw at the OC Fair the past weekend, enjoy=)

(Note:  The theme of the OC Fair this year is "Let's Eat!")