Prizewinner!

So, my family makes fudge... you probably already know this. We have my Gramma's secret recipe for chocolate fudge, and my mom makes a peanut butter fudge that was a first-place winner at the York Fair one year. Frankly, I/we think both are the best of their kind. In the world.

To be honest, I talk a big game about the family fudge, especially the chocolate.

Last year I went to the county fair here in town, and when I looked at the fudge exhibit I thought I could do better, and I have talked for the past year about how I'd like to enter it in the fair.

Well, as it got to be mid-summer, I just wasn't finding the information I needed to do it... plus, I got really busy and figured I just wouldn't be able to.

And then fate stepped in. Or something.

I found the info, I called the county commissioner's office for details, and I discovered that I could just show up that morning with my "exhibit" and enter it. Woooooooooo! So I borrowed fudge-cooking materials from some coworkers (thank you thank you) and utilized the help of my trusty boyfriend, and we set about making fudge.

I should mention that AK was terrified. Making fudge in our family is very ritualistic - we have Gramma's pan, spoon, and trays, and as far as I am aware we have never used anything else. And it's so easy to mess up, inexplicably. The chocolate won't melt, there aren't exact measurements, etc. So he was, as I said, absolutely terrified.

I knew immediately that it wasn't right - it had too much peanut butter flavor to win the chocolate category, and too much chocolate to win the peanut butter category. I moped. I pouted. I harrumphed. And then AK suggested that even though it was 10pm, it wasn't too late to go get more supplies and try again. So try again we did, and it was perfect. Seriously - I can't say anything about it should have been different.

Boy, am I glad we did that. Because guess what?