Lazy Daze Festival....

The Town of Cary Lazy Daze Festival is going on as I write this. Sal and I were up early to hit it first and beat the crowd. HA! It started at 9, we got there at 8:45 and it was already packed. Artisans to the right and to the left as far as the eye could see. There are some amazingly talented people out there doin' what they love, that is for sure. Booth after booth after booth of painters, sculptors, jewelers, wood carvers, sewers, tin-workers.....oh the list goes on and on. I bought one thing and that was a leather hair cuff. There was lots I would've loved to have if money were no object, but alas, not the case! Here are some pictures......

I love this mosaic mushroom piece...

Homemade wooden puzzles of all shapes....woof-woof.

....This guy makes guitars out of license plates. He'll
do whatever state you want. This was the
Wyoming guitar. There was a lady in his booth
ordering 2 California guitars (at around $300 each!)

This metal lizard was tooo cool....

Gorgeous metal flower picks to add to your garden....

This face jug cracked me up. The bug
on his nose landed just before I shot the
picture. He so belonged there!

A day at the fair....

The NC State Fair is in town this week and Cassie and I went for the day yesterday. It was very cold, overcast and little misty. We went with hopes that the misting would stop and that the nasty, cold weather would keep the crowds away. We were right on both counts. Yay! We drove over to the "Park-n-Ride" lot nearest us and picked up a bus to ride the fair grounds. It costs a few bucks to do this, but I've found over the years that it is wellllll worth not having to drive around endlessly looking for an empty spot and having to walk a couple of miles.

We got there about an hour and a half after the gates opened. The rides were already running and the food booths were already open and selling their goodies. Neither of us ate any breakfast in anticipation of indulging on some horrible-for-you, yet delicious fair food. Cassie wanted to hit the rides first though. She went on Freak Out, the Zipper and the Himalaya and then back to the Zipper. Whatta way to wake up! By this time she was ready for lunch and her first request was a footlong hotdog...the North Carolina red ones....it's a local thing. She picked her hotdog place because it had a weinerdog, or a dachshund, in a bun and she thought it was cute. Lucky for us, they had good footlongs, too.

After lunch went went walking through the exhibition buildings. This is where everything is--from the Sham-wow booth and the other hawkers selling their wares. But we went looking for the cooking contest winners. Our friends, the Fowlers, entered a bunch of stuff for judging this year and we wanted to see if any of them won. The only verified win that we could find was Kellie who won not only blue ribbon for her jarred Apple Conserve, but she also had a huge red ribbon attached too for Best of Show! Woohooo!!! (I now understand that the rest of the family won some ribbons too...awesome!) While we walked around Cassie enjoyed a triple decker ice cream cone of Chocolate Chip Cookie Dough that we got from the Shriner's booth.

We went through the livestock building--my favorite part. Cassie hates it because 'it smells'. She such a city girl. BUT--while walking through we found that the NC State Animal Science Department had a cow-milking station set up and Cassie got to milk her very first cow. She was soooooo excited. Once she sat down on the stool and gripped that 'milk dispenser' it took her a couple of tries, but once she got it, she was milking away. She got such a big kick out of that.

Once our tummies settled lunch a little then it was back to more rides and more walking around the game booths. An 'A for effort' to the guy who yelled out to Cassie "Come on over and play and bring your sister!"....lol...good try! We don't play the game booths. I would love to win one of those HUGE stuffed dogs, but not at the cost of all my money! On the way out we did stop by one of the fudge booths and bought a block of hubby's favorite. Of course, Cassie and I both had to try it on the bus ride back to the car. You know---just to make sure it was good and everything.

It was a great day! Another one of those great memory days that she and I will never forget.

Blue ribbons.....

There's an ad in todays' paper about the special cooking contests that are being held at next months North Carolina State Fair. I think I may enter something this year. My mom used to enter foods in the fair every year and every year that woman would bring home blue ribbons! I don't think she won anything less than 1st place no matter what she entered. Her apple butter and peanut brittle were hands down the biggest winners.

There are numerous categories that have obvious sponsors like cornmeal, read-made pie crusts, corn syrup, etc. I gravitate toward the whole food categories like apples, pecans, peanuts and eggs. The apple category is interesting because they are not allowing any desserts entries this year. What will every apple pie, apple cake, apple fritter entry do?! I like the idea of a savory apple entry though. The egg competition this year is kinda cool, too. It is all egg sandwiches. Doesn't matter what you sandwich it in between, the egg just has to sandwiched by something. I'm thinkin' about something like a huevos rancheros type sandwich--my favorite way to eat eggs. I'm sure it can be turned into a delicious sandwich somehow. The pecan division is wide open. From appetizer to dessert and I have an interesting idea rolling around in my head for that. I haven't decided which I'll do....maybe all three!

The only thing I'm not crazy about is that if you win, the 'sponsors' of these contests get to take your recipe and use it as their own. I'm kinda protective of my recipes and just handing over the one that possibly was so slammin' good that it won first place in a cook-off? Can I do that? hmmmmm, if I want that ribbon, I will have to get over that protective thing I have toward my creations, I guess!