BakeOff Contest Debriefing

O.K. This may be a very long post, but I've got quite a lot to say about the last few days. Whew! Going to the Pillsbury BakeOff Contest was exhausting, but amazing, and I would totally do it again (just not for a while!)

Starting with last week; as many of you know, American Airlines hasn't complied with some wiring regulations handed down by the FAA, so they have to cancel over 3000 flights as they fix the planes in question, and there are several days where thousands of people are inconvenienced by cancelled or delayed flights. AA is the airline with which we are scheduled to fly to Dallas, and we anxiously peruse the news for updates and are very relived when they finally indicate that flights should be back to normal on Sunday, April 13th. (the very day we are scheduled to fly!) I think we aren't entirely convinced that there won't be any problems until we get to the airport and see for ourselves that nothing is cancelled for that day. The flight goes off without a hitch, to our immense relief.

Upon arriving in Dallas, John and I go to the baggage claim and retrieve our bags. Pillsbury had indicated that there would be a representative there to guide us to our shuttle to the Fairmont Hotel. It takes us a little while to find him, which makes me a little bit nervous. I don't know what I'm expecting.... maybe the Pillsbury Doughboy jumping around and giggling? Well, that's not what we get. It is a very nice older gentleman with dark clothing and a normal-sized notebook bearing the label: BakeOff. He notifies the shuttle that we have arrived, and it swings by to pick us up. We find ourselves in the company of 2 or 3 other Pillsbury BakeOff contestants, also on their way to the hotel. One lady attended the last BakeOff, and mentions that it was held in Orlando. This is the first time I was aware that the BakeOff is held in a different location each time. It is about a 20-minute drive to the Fairmont Hotel in downtown Dallas.

Once we arrive at the hotel, we are directed to the Hospitality Room, where we are greeted by contest employees. I present my photo i.d., sign in, am given some instructions for the day, and am also given a big Pillsbury bag full of swag! It has spatulas, measuring cups, cookie cutters, a cookbook, 2 aprons, several stuffed animals, a dry-erase board, and a can of Fisher mixed nuts among other things. How fun! I think about how much my kids are going to enjoy the stuffed animals. We are also given name badges which we are instructed to wear at all time throughout the weekend. We eat a boxed lunch, and then try to check in at the hotel. Our room isn't ready yet. (Check in time is 3:00, and they don't have a king-bed room ready yet. Well, that's what we want, and so we decide to wait.) We wander upstairs to look around this magnificent hotel, and I attend a 15 minute GE Orientation in the Board Room while John snoozes on a comfy chair. The purpose of the Orientation is to aquaint the contestants with the GE ovens and microwaves they will be using at the contest the next morning. It can be nerve-wracking to use new equipment unlike that you have at home, so they want all of us to be comfortable and well-aware of what we should be doing. We go in 1 or 2 people at a time for the orientation, and I go in with another young lady who is 28. We are two of the youngest people in the BakeOff, and it's nice to see someone in our own age group. I find the GE Orientation to be very interesting. The oven is easy enough to operate with instructions, and the microwave is a breeze. I have a less stressful recipe than most, as mine is cooked completely on the stovetop, and I don't have any baking to do. The oven is stainless steel, and the GE lady makes an interesting statement: she tells us that although stainless steel looks very nice, it only stays that way until it gets inevitable fingerprints on it, which are then very difficult to get off. She says that if we ever decide to get stainless steel appliances, we better make sure that we REALLY LIKE IT. Wow! She's really nice, but I'm not sure that she's the best salesperson for their product, LOL!

Here's a couple of pictures of me beside some GE appliances that the winners will receive.

I call my mom to let her know that we arrived safely, and by then our room is ready. John and I go drop off our stuff, but there is no rest for the weary. The Food Network has decided to feature me on their production of the BakeOff (much to my delight), so I am set for an interview at 2:30 p.m. We go to the room where they are set up for interviews, and we are greeted by the very friendly producer and a couple of camera guys. My only instructions for this interview were to "not wear green", because I am to sit in front of a green screen. I'm glad they told me this, because I had actually been considering wearing a green polo shirt for the interview! I sit down, and I direct all of my conversation to the producer who is sitting directly to the side of the camera (so I'm not looking directly at the camera). I have to introduce myself and tell a little about who I am. She asks me questions about such things as: when did I learn to cook, who taught me to cook, what inspired my recipe, how did I find out about the Bakeoff, had I entered it before, have I entered and/or won other contests before, what inspired this particular recipe, do I think I have a good chance of winning, what would I do with the money, and so on and so forth for nearly an hour. I feel like I answer most of the questions without too much blathering or stuttering, but I find myself saying "So." at the end of all my statements. As in, "I really liked watching my grandfather cook, because he always seemed to know exactly what he was doing without a recipe, and I feel like that has influenced my own creative style in the kitchen, so. " What an annoying tick! I try desperately to put an end to this, but I JUST CAN'T STOP. Ugh. I hope I don't come out sounding like a blithering idiot on the video. She has me say some pre-written statements that they may use in the video such as: "100 creative cooks from around the country come together to compete for A MILLION DOLLARS, and I want to be the one taking it home!" and "We are judged on: taste, appearance, creativity, and consumer appeal." Then they have me stand up sideways to the camera for what they called a "hero shot". I have to look at the wall, and then "turn and look at the camera and be serious." I then have to "turn and look at the camera and smile." I do these each a few times, holding the pose for a few seconds each time. They tell me that I'm a "natural" at this. Really? Wow, I didn't realize that it was so hard for some people to turn their head and smile, lol.

As soon as my interview is over, it is time to go to the Contest Orientation. At least for me. John gets to go take a 3-hour nap. The Orientation is held in the Regency Ballroom, which is the same room where the BakeOff will be held. All 100 finalists take a seat and we are greeted by several different BakeOff personnel. We find out that there will be lots of helpers called "runners" surrounding us during the contest, and they will assist with finding things for us (such as can-openers, extra paper towels, etc), getting things from the refrigerator for us, taking out our trash, etc. These "runners" are all actually high-level General Mills personnel who have been flown here for the weekend to help out with the contest. There are also Bakeoff Personnel supervising on the floor, who are responsible for ensuring that we are following all of the rules and making our recipe as written; they can also answer any questions that we may come up with regarding the rules. We each get one oven range and some counter space with cabinets underneath. We are assured that each of our cabinets is stocked with all of our dry ingredients and all of our kitchen equipment that we will need. Our fresh produce and meat items have been delivered that morning, so all ingredients will be as fresh and high-quality as possible for the contest. We are to make one batch of our recipe to send to the judges, one batch for photos, and an optional batch for giving out samples or to replace a botched earlier batch. It is our decision how little or how much food to submit to the judges, and how we want to present it. For instance, in a recipe which makes 30 appetizers, one may only want to submit 20 appetizers because that amount looks prettier on the plate. People who are making pies or bars, may want to submit it in it's whole form, or cut into it and display some of the cut portions for the judges as well. Legal counsel speaks with us for a few minutes, and informs us that we are not allowed to take anything onto the floor with us; all of our kitchen equipment is provided for us, and to avoid any legal issues whatsoever, we may not take any personal items with us; they must be left at the Hospitality table or with our guest. We may also have NO CONTACT with our guests (who are in the viewing area) during the time of the contest. This is presumably to avoid any sort of help or coaching that might occur. It is soon question time, and people have a LOT of them.

Here are a few examples:

Q. Can I put a little garnish on my dish if I did not specify it in the recipe I submitted?

A. No.

Q. Can I make all 3 batches of my recipe and THEN decide which one to submit to the judges?

A. Yes, but everything you submit to the judges must be from the same batch. For instance, if you make 3 batches of cookies, you can pick which batch to submit to the judges, but you cannot pick and choose the best cookies from each batch.

Q. We were told that there were "tens of thousands" of recipes submitted for this contest. Can you give us a specific number of entries for this contest?

A. Yes. Tens of thousands.

Q. My niece gave me a lucky charm to bring with me. Can I keep it in my apron pocket?

A. No, you may bring nothing with you onto the floor. You will have to leave it with Hospitality.

Q. What about my lipstick? Can I bring that out with me, since there are so many cameras about?

A. No. It will be with Hospitality.

Q. Well, what about chapstick? I get nervous and lick my lips and I'm addicted to chapstick.

A. It'll be with Hospitality.

Q. What about my medication that I need to take? Can I bring that with me?

A. It'll be with Hospitality.

Q. I know we're supposed to have NO contact with our Guests, but what about my 3-week old baby? She needs me every 2-3 hours. Can I have any contact with her?

A. (slight pause) Yes, you will be allowed contact with your baby.

Q. (slight sarcasm) So, she'll be with Hospitality?

The room erupted with laughter at this point. Haha! Free babysitting with Hospitality!

Host: "I think she's catching on to us."

Q. Can I wear my jacket onto the floor tomorrow? (the temp was lowered to 65 degrees due to all of the ovens that were going to be running at the same time)

A. No, the room will warm up very quickly. When you all march in tomorrow, we just want you to be wearing your aprons.

Hahahaha! The room is filled with laughter again, as we all imagine how we will look "just wearing our aprons" tomorrow morning. The host mentions that it should make for an interesting view from the back! I think we're starting to fluster her a little bit with all of these questions, but she laughs it off good-naturedly.

It's now time for a group photo, and all 100 of us jostle around and squeeze together and try to get all of our faces in a viewable position. There are 92 women and 8 men in the contest. The camera men are on a cherry picker, which is raised about a story high in order to get all of our faces in the photo. We all look up at him and he spends about 10 minutes rearranging people in the crowd, and then finally takes our picture. Yea! All done with Orientation.

I go back up to the room for a very short break. I call my sister-in-law's house, where Katie and Sabrina are playing. I'm hoping to get to talk to Katie and tell her I miss her. Pam asks Katie if she would like to talk to Mommy, and I hear her politely say, "No, thanks." She refuses to talk to me then and for the rest of our trip. It hurts my feelings, but I guess she's just feeling left out. So, John and I get dressed for our "semi-formal" dinner at the hotel that night. John is wearing a suit for the first time since we got married, and he complains that it's a little tight; he hates wearing a tie more than just about anything in this world. But, he sure looks nice! I wear a black dress that I've had around for a while. It's also a little tight, but I didn't want to go buy a new one. Here's a picture of me in my dress out in front of the hotel.

So, we go to the ballroom for the Welcome Dinner. It is a very fine affair. There's lots of nice wines, but since I don't imbibe, there's nothing for me but water. That's o.k. Here's a copy of our fancy menu, with my comments in red.

SALAD

Seasonal Greens with Poached Pear, Brie Cheese Wedge, Roasted Pecans and Port Wine Vinaigrette. Exquisite!

ENTREE

Herbed Filet Mignon, Morel Brandy Sauce and Sauteed Chilean Sea Bass Vanilla Bean with Orange Sauce, White bean and Carmelized Fennel Ragout Delicious!

Dauphinoise Potatoes and Asparagus Bundles Very nice!

Freshly Baked Breads with LAND O LAKES Butter Rosettes Good.

DESSERT

Vanilla Bean Bavarian with Caramelized Profiteroles Bitter Sweet Chocolate Sauce Somewhere between "meh" and "yuck", sorry.

or

Trio of Dessert, Chocolate Tulip Cup with Marinated Fresh Berries, Petite Creme Brulee and Flourless Chocolate Cake Fancy and Yummy!

At dinner, we sit next to the Blounts from North Carolina. Margaret Blount is a fellow finalist, and her dish is Sweet and Sour Shrimp Puffs. I mention that this is one of the recipes I noticed in the cookbook that I am determined to make; it looks delicious! As it turns out, she used to work for the Duke basketball team. She really seems to enjoy sports, and before I know it, she and John are gabbing away about sports for most of the dinner, while I sit there quietly and munch away happily. It's kind of amusing. Roaming the ballroom throughout dinner are a couple of notable guests: George and Sally Pillsbury. They were both present at the very first BakeOff Contest in 1949! Sally Pillsbury informs me that she has been to at least 40 of the 43 BakeOff Contests, including that very first one. She has to be in her late 80's or early 90's, but seems to still be as sharp as a whip. Here's a picture of me with Sally Pillsbury:





Here's a couple more photos of John and me at dinner:

Well, it's back to bed for us, because we are advised to show up for breakfast at 6:15 the next morning! Ergh. I'm usually in bed until 8:00 a.m. This means that I will have to get up at 5:30 in order to get my hair and makeup done. I wouldn't worry so much about it, if I didn't know that they will be filming me all day tomorrow. We hit the sack around 10:00 p.m., but I doubt that I fall asleep before 1:00 a.m. It is a very restless night. I keep having weird dreams where I am cooking in the BakeOff, scrambling eggs, and they keep getting burned. I also look through my cabinets, and find rotten chicken and other old food, and when I pull it out, it just keeps reappearing. Yuck. I'm glad to wake up from dreams like that! We get up early the next morning, and head down to breakfast. There are some opening remarks, and then the contestants exit the ballroom to line up for the march into the contest room. They get us organized into lines according to where our oven range is located on the floor: I'm number 51, which is all the way down at the far end of the room (as far from the Guest Viewing area as possible, bummer.) The Food Network staff gets me miked-up for the day. It's kind-of embarrassing to have the cameras fussing around me constantly throughout my BakeOff experience, when some of the contestants are almost completely ignored. Here's a picture of the general chaos, as we get lined up. I'm in the picture somewhere, but I dare you to find me.

Finally, it is time to march into the contest room! Loud music starts playing, and they remind us to smile, clap, and "act happy" when we march into the room. Everyone complies and we march in, clapping and whooping and smiling for the cameras.

Here's a photo of the contest floor right before we come in:

This is where we will make our entrance, Pillsbury Doughboy awaiting!

And here's Sally Pillsbury awaiting our entrance:

It's a blurry picture, but you can see me as the last one marching in:

We finish marching in, and as you can see, the room fills up very quickly. In addition to the 100 finalists, there are runners, other BakeOff personnel, tons of media (journalists, photographers, camera crews, and a lot of Guests at the end of the room closest to the camera.

I'm in this picture, almost dead center, at the very back of my row, but I doubt you can see me.

It's time to start cooking! Everyone dives into their cupboards and investigates their cooking equipment. I search through my cupboards and can't find any measuring cups or spoons, or any stirring implements. I tell this to my runner, and she points out that I also have a drawer in my cabinet, above the cupboards. Duh! All of my other stuff is in there! Several months ago, we had to approve a list of kitchen implements and appliances that we would need for making our recipe. If we didn't ask for something at that time, then it would not be provided for us at the contest. I realize that I have forgotten to ask for a couple of things that I would really like to have: there is no wooden spoon for stirring my chicken (I have to use just a little metal spoon instead), and there are no small metal measuring scoops (I use a 1/4 cup scoop and a 1/3 scoop for the cheese and the lettuce). Instead I have three GIANT 2-cup metal scoops. I also have two 2-cup glass measuring cups. Oh well. I will have to make do with what I have. Everything else I need appears to be there.

Here's a picture of everybody concentrating and working hard on their recipes:

So, I start working on my recipe. Since I have plenty of time to make it 3 times, I go ahead and get all of the prep work done first. I slice up a whole red onion which should be plenty for all 3 batches. Then, I start trimming and cutting my chicken. I have been worried about how I will wash my hands after handling raw chicken (there are no sinks available to us), and I just doubt that paper towels and hand sanitizer will be good enough. Thankfully, for food sanitation purposes, they have decided to provide us with latex gloves upon request. Whew! I get a nice purple pair of latex gloves and start trimming the chicken. I notice that each 1.75 lbs package of chicken cost them upwards of $9.00. Wow! I try not to spend more than $2.00-$2.50 per lb of chicken, so this is expensive stuff! The lady standing next to me tells me that they bought her fresh shrimp for her recipe and paid $13 a pound for it! She was expecting the cheaper frozen shrimp. They certainly haven't skimped on quality ingredients! My two cutting boards are much smaller than the ones I use at home, so trimming the chicken is a little bit difficult. As soon as I start working, the Food Network camera crew sets up near me to film me while I'm cooking. They take shots from several different angles. I am cutting up the chicken for about 1/2 hour, and I apologize to the camera crew for such a long boring shot of me doing the same thing over and over. The main camera guy, Tony (very Italian and very sweet), assures me that he "loves repetition", and keeps telling me that I'm doing awesome.

At one point, the Pillsbury Doughboy approaches. He has been roaming through the contest floor, where the contestants typically greet him with a smile and poke his tummy for the requisite giggle-sound. I turn around to see him standing behind me, while I'm still trimming the chicken, and I say, "Oh, the Pillsbury Doughboy! I would totally poke your tummy right now, but I've got this huge dangerous knife." After that exchange is over, the camera guys start laughing, and tell me how funny that just was. I realize that I just leveled my 12-inch knife at the Pillsbury Doughboy's tummy, and I have a stronk inkling that this is one scene that will definitely make it to the Food Network video. Oh, dear.

After I'm done trimming the chicken, I decide to go ahead and make the peanut-curry sauce. I can't seem to get the lid unscrewed on the curry paste, so I'm looking around for someone to help me. One of the show producers gets excited that I'm having problems and instructs the camera man to be sure and film me while I can't get the lid off. I find this to be so amusing! They are going to be looking for dramatic moments wherever possible, even if there is no REAL drama. I eventually get the lid off and they film me microwaving the sauce. I then cook the chicken and get ready to assemble the chicken wraps. I decide that I will send 5 of them to the judges: 4 on a big platter, and one on a small plate by itself (for presentation purposes). That should be plenty for them to taste. It takes me a little bit longer to assemble the chicken wraps than normal, because of the afore-mentioned HUGE measuring cups; it's hard to measure out just 1/4 or 1/3 of a cup. The producer has asked me what the most critical part of my recipe is: I state that it is critical that the judges are able to taste my recipe as soon as possible after it is finished, because I have both hot and cold ingredients in the dish. I don't want the hot chicken to make the sour cream and lettuce all melty and soggy. As I am assembling the wraps, she asks me again: "Would you say this is a critical point in your recipe right now??" I gamely assure her that this is definitely a critical moment for me; I need to hurry up and get the wraps assembled, and then begin that "LONG 70-yard walk" to the judges' room. I know that they want to show as many "critical moments" as possible in the Food Network video. I feel like I'm not really providing enough drama for them, but I don't want to stage anything and risk messing up my recipe.

Finally, I finish up and decide to head directly to the judges' room. A runner is required to accompany me, and the camera crew will be walking backwards in front of me the whole way, in order to film me the entire time. What a production! I'm more afraid that the camera men will trip than me. I actually am really enjoying myself, and carry the platter of food right down to the judges' room with no incident. We don't get to see the judges themselves; the food is turned in at a table directly outside the judges' room where two legal counsel are present; we are required to sign a form stating that we have prepared the recipe just as it was written, and that we completed it without any outside help. I sign the form, turn over the dish, and I'm done with the hard part! Whew!

Here's a couple of pictures of me carrying my recipe out of the contest room; in the first one, you can't even see me, because there are camera men walking backwards in front of me. You can see how crowded everything is!

So, I go back to my mini-kitchen and finish making up the rest of 2 batches of Chicken Wraps. I make both batches at the same time, because it is just for photos and samples; nobody really cares if I get exactly 1 Tbsp of sour cream on each one or exactly 1/4 cup cheese on each one, etc. I make up 4 wraps and place them on a platter to take for my photo and later for the display. The photo line is crowded, so I stay at my station and keep making up samples for a while. I end up making 13 wraps for samples, cutting each one into fourths (so 52 samples). They are all gobbled up! I can't make them fast enough to keep up. (In case you're wondering, our Guests do not get to come onto the floor for samples; it is just other contestants, General Mills workers, and media who are on the floor that end up getting samples). At one point, the host of the Food Network Challenge show, Keegan Gerhan, comes over to speak with me on camera for a few minutes. We end up doing the same thing twice, because it was a poor angle the first time; he basically shakes my hand, and asks me a few questions about what I'm making, what I would do the money if I won, etc.
Here's a picture of Keegan with Sandra Lee, who will host the awards ceremony.

Just a bit of gossip: I notice that as Sandra Lee and Keegan wander around the floor, she frequently comes up next to him and holds his hand tightly and seems to snuggle up next to him. Hmmm. I thought she was married (and not to him)! She seems very touchy-feely in general though, and I see her giving a peck on the cheek to one of the camera men. When I get home, I look her up on the internet and discover that she WAS married, but filed for divorce in late 2006. So, maybe there's some flirty action going on between Sandra and Keegan? I don't know, but it's interesting.

The line for the photographs is still long, so I wander the contest floor and get a few samples. I try the Thai Chicken Burritos, which have an almost identical name to my own recipe. I am relieved to find that they taste very good but quite different from mine. I didn't want our two recipes to be indistinguishable from each other. I also get to try a heavenly Choco-Peanut Butter-Banana Breakfast Strudel. All the people surrounding this recipe are raving about how good it is, and they are right! I'm really starting to think that my chances of winning are slim. All of the recipes look delicious! Oh well, it is fun to just be doing this. Finally, I get to make a few more comments to the Food Network, and then it is time for me to get my photo taken with my recipe. They powder me up and take 4-5 pictures. Easy-peasy. Then I go to place my recipe on display next to the other 99 recipes. Here are a couple of pictures:

I'm finally done!! On my way out of the room, I bump into Keegan Gerhard again, and he chats with me for a few minutes. He's very friendly and easy to talk to. I get a chance to confess that I would really like to pursue a cooking show of my own someday. I ask if he has any advice for a person such as myself--a decent home cook, but without any professional training. He tells me that he thinks that the Food Network would actually more likely be interested in a person such as myself, than a stiff well-trained chef. He thinks I have a shot at it. He shares a little bit of his own background as a pastry chef with me, and tells me about how they got started shooting the Food Network Challenges. It's a nice conversation. Here's a couple of fuzzy pictures of us chatting:

So, I'm all done, and I go sign out. John and I go to lunch, although I'm pretty full from all of the samples. We go back up to the room, and we would have time for a nice nap, but I'm scheduled for another wrap-up interview with the Food Network in a couple of hours. So, I have to fix up my hair and makeup again (it's T.V., people!), and I go for my interview. It's easy, and I feel like I do a decent job. She asks a lot of questions about how I think I did, if there were any moments where I got flustered, what it was like to take my recipe to the judges, if everything turned out like I expected, if I tasted other people's recipes, etc. etc. We finished up in about 45 minutes. Here's a few shots of my interview:

Directly after my interview, I have to go to the contestants Awards Show Orientation. I am so tired by this point, and so is everybody else. They discuss how we will line up and march in the next morning. They go through the procedure for the winners as their names are announced. They talk a little bit about what the Grand Prize winner can expect after the announcement is made (a LOT of interviews, and a flight to New York to be on the Today show). As soon as this is over, they shuttle us all by bus (along with our guests) to Eddie Dean's, where we enjoy a big buffet dinner. It is a ranch/cowboy style restaurant, and we have the whole place to ourselves. There is barbeque and lots of Mexican food as well. Dessert includes a couple of circular cobblers measuring about three feet across! John and I get our picture made with the Pillsbury Doughboy:

There is a lot of line-dancing and music, but I feel way too exhausted to do anything strenuous. At 8:30 p.m. John and I gladly board the first shuttle back to the hotel; we are eager to take our showers and fall into bed. The next morning comes way too early again, and we are down to breakfast by 6:30 a.m. During breakfast conversation with some other contestants, we discover a disappointing piece of information: the 1 MILLION DOLLARS that is so frequently discussed as the contest prize is not actually a lump sum of 1 million. It is actually an annuity that awards $50,000 per year for 20 years. It's still a wonderful prize, certainly nothing to sneeze at!! But, if we had won, we had hopes of paying off the mortgage, buying a couple of new cars, putting a few hundred thousand in savings... all in one fell swoop. It's a big difference when the money is split up over so many years. Oh well, it's information that I will be aware of when entering next time.

So, the finalists line up one last time to march into the Awards Ceremony. We march in and take our seats. We are treated to some videos of the contestants cooking their delicious recipes. Then, it is time for the Awards to be handed out. Sandra Lee is in charge of this. She hands out the award for the America's Favorite Recipe, then the Jif Peanut Butter Award, then all 5 of the category Awards, then the GE Innovation at Work Award. I had hopes for the category Award, and possibly the GE Innovation at Work Award. No Awards for me! I find that I am able to cheer happily for the winning contestants, with no tears shed. :)

The lady in the blue pantsuit next to Sandra Lee will be the Grand Prize Winner!

Sandra Lee announces the Grand Prize Winner: Double-Delight Peanut Butter Cookies. The lady who wins is a sweet grandmotherly-type, who is clearly so surprised and overjoyed at the win that it is impossible not to feel happy for her. The Awards ceremony speeds by and is over before you know it. Several months of dreaming of a million dollars have come to an end, just like that. I hang around after the ceremony to give a final statement to the Food Network. They film me for a few minutes and ask me how I feel, now that I haven't won. I respond that I am, of course, disappointed....like many others here today, but I am also excited for the winner who seems to be having the thrill of her life. I promise to come up with more winning recipes, so that I can try again at the next Contest in two years time. John and I wander around for a few minutes before leaving, having a tough time believing that it is really over. We are approached by a nice gentleman who works for General Mills. I remember him stopping by for a sample yesterday. He tells me, "Well, I didn't get a vote, but if I had, I would have voted for your recipe, because it was my very favorite out of all the samples I tried. I loved it!" Wow, that was sweet! It really helps make my day better. I'm glad that he liked my recipe so well, and it just shows how subjective a contest like this is anyway. Who can really compare a cookie to a quiche to a pizza to a sandwich to a brownie torte, and so forth? You never know who is going to come out on top.

Outside the Awards room, I pose for a couple more photos: Here I am pointing to a (professional) photo of my contest recipe:

The one good thing about not winning was that I was able to come home sooner to my two little girls. I missed them both so much. I was so happy to be reunited with them and have been really enjoying them this week. I'm back to working on recipes for next time; hopefully I'll make it back, and maybe next time one of my sisters or my mom will make it too! We're all going to give it a try.

And that's it, folks! (You thought I would never stop, didn't you? Admit it. Well, you were wrong.)