Today we went to the Junee show. We thought Jack would like it (he went last year but was of course considerably younger) and I wanted to see how my entries had gone.You see on thursday I had a bake-a-thon and made Blackbottomed cupcakes
(Belinda Jeffrey's wonderfully evil recipe), Elise's White Chocolate and Macadamia Nut cookies
and Garn's Lemon Cake. Unfortunately the lemon cake imploded and I didn't think it was worth entering in the show with a huge crater in the middle (though it still tasted good). The cupcakes and cookies were judged to be up to standard and I whisked them over to the showground on Thursday afternoon. The deadline was 5pm and they are VERY strict about these things, so strict in fact that when I got there at 4.29 there was no one there to receive my entries. The only people around were volunteers assembling the displays. After some head scratching and general discussion it was decided that I should leave my cakes and cookies in the office (not safe in the pavilion - the 'show people' might eat them) with my details and entry fee (twenty cents).
I also tried to enter a quilt and a toy elephant though I had a feeling I was pushing my luck. The sewing deadline had been the day before, but when I tried calling the steward's phone number I got a fax machine. I left them there just in case with more twenty cent pieces and notes on scraps of paper.So the first stop today was the pavilion where we found Narelle, Jack and Josh and my entries proudly bearing their certificates. The cupcakes (that I dodgily entered as muffins - well they were cooked in a muffin tin and people do insist on calling them muffins, which to be honest I find annoying but decided to overlook just this once for the sake of the competition) won first prize. Narelle and S both suggested (and quite uncharitably I thought) that maybe there were no other muffins entered in that category. And the cookies (yes, biscuits I know) won second prize in their section.
No sign of the sewing, but I half expected that due to the lateness of my entries. Last year when we went to the show there was a dearth of craft and cookery items were pretty light on as well. It seemed not many people had had a go and in the cookery it seemed to be the same one or two women competing in each section. This year was much better. Lots more quilts and toys and cakes and a much better vibe.
After the pavilion we had a look at the rides. Jack really wanted to go on the bungee trampoline and the woman who was running it assured us he'd be safe but we decided against it. He had a go on a boat ride which,
whilst looking almost bored, or maybe nonchalant is a better description, while riding and steering his boat, he screamed blue murder when it was time to hop off. Maybe he was just taking his steering duties very seriously, if only he'd been driving the Pasha Bulker, the Ex-xon Valdez or the Titanic....
He liked the look of the dodgems (next year?) and definitely didn't like the look of the pony, even though they were introduced
and the pony was really quite friendly as far as ponies go (ie. he didn't bite). Jack had a go at sideshow alley (not the shooting...next year?)
but I opted for the mickeys and not the clowns. My issue I know, but an issue shared by many, many people all over the world.
He won a fairly crappy little plane but seemed quite pleased.We gave the showbags a miss (though I did contemplate getting the Bob the Builder one for Dad) thereby saving ourselves a lot of money, and headed over to the animals. We had a brief look at the dogs which were really just like that funny movie
Best in Show. Great Movie. There was a very excitable Alsatian pup who took a while to settle down so he could trot around the ring, then just when things were looking promising and the judge was nodding her approval, he stopped to poo. His owner looked mortified, but the judge couldn't resist a chuckle. We ducked into the poultry pavilion (!) and saw some prizewinning cocks (sorry about that) and then wandered over to the the cattle,
some lovely Murray greys and Herefords, and then on to the vintage cars and baby animals. There was a goat (Jack was not impressed) and some chicks and these puppies.
I liked the sign more than the puppies, who were of course very cute.
After a banger sanga (aka sausage sandwich) and another boat ride for Jack, it was well and truly time to go. We didn't enter Jack in the Junior Junee Showman as we didn't think it was fair on the other kids and one blow-in in the family winning prizes was more than enough.
and ate some of Amy's (from the library a true DG in the Nigella mould) raspberry swirl cheesecake (yum) and lemon and almond cake (you see what I mean? delicious).
and we found a playground. Jeans and I did the tag team thing at the top
and bottom of the slide to stop any flinging that Jack might have been contemplating. What fun! Having two of us there also meant that I could have my photo taken with Jack (for all those people that complain that this doesn't happen enough. I think it's quite good really....
