I was thinking of a good introduction to this post.. but what the heck. I ENTERED A BAKING CONTEST!
So we moved to Blackstone this year and one of the things I really wanted to do is do some of the activities around town, be part of the community. I am a little introverted and shy so I knew this wasn’t going to be an easy thing. Heck, I’ve met some neighbors but have not made any friends yet.. still, progress!
This year I heard about the Blackstone Fall Festival and decided to enter the Baking Competition. I’ve never really tried pumpkin pies myself so I decided to just try the Apple Pie category. I have made apple pies before and have gotten some good results.
Once I finally decided I’ll just enter the contest, I was nervous as a long tailed cat in a room full of rocking chairs. I have never really entered any baking or cooking related contests but I was fiercely competitive so I figured I’d be fine… unfortunately, the anxiety of not knowing who else is entering, how good they are, what the hell are the rules (there was nothing posted online, you just sign up and show up!) was driving me nuts.
I wanted to buy the apples at a local farm but was not able to do so on the weekend prior so I ended up buying them at the grocery. I picked up a couple of different apple varieties so I can mix them up for the pie – back home in the Philippines, the apple varieties are limited so I was extremely happy to have seen various options. I selected: Granny Smith, Golden Delicious, McIntosh, and SweeTango. And of course, having recently moved – I also didn’t have the appropriate baking tools. I bought myself a glass pie plate and figured I will do everything else manually anyway (didn’t bother with a pastry cutter, apple corer, pie protector and whatever else).
I decided on doing a crumble top since I am personally not a fan of a pastry top anyway. PLUS, I do know I have difficulty in making things to look pretty.. a pastry top will probably highlight that I suck. That’s something I still need to work on.
My colleagues at work had an initial taste of my trial pie…
I was so nervous because I’ve never really made food for my colleagues and I had no idea what they’ll say.. to think I’d be asking for feedback even! In the US where Apple Pie is quintessentially an American Pie, just imagine how an Asian homecook feels in making these for a competition.
Anyway, it was a success! Everyone loved it, I didn’t give anyone stomach aches and nobody died of food poisoning.. I consider that a WIN!
I baked the competition pie on Saturday morning (I was supposed to bake the pie the evening before but I fell asleep and woke up at 4:30AM) and dropped the pie off at the Festival at 11:30AM – they told us to come back at 1PM for the winner announcement.
I won third place.
I was really hoping nobody entered or that everyone just sucked – but hey, third place ain’t bad for a first-timer right? I didn’t get the apron (which is what I really wanted) but was thrilled nonetheless. Now the only problem – we took the remaining pie and brought it home… my husband doesn’t eat apple pies and I’ve already had too much in the past two days. I’m apple-pied-out. Come by if you want some?