Susan's Ribbons at the 2014 San Diego County Fair
/Vegan Chocolate Hazelnut Cake with Lemon Frosting (actually, orange, in this earlier prototype, but you get the picture). 2nd Place, 2014 San Diego County Fair
As you may have noticed by all of the Japan food blogs Susan’s been posting, we were in Japan recently. This was a great trip – we saw a lot of beautiful things, got a feel for the culture, and of course, ate a LOT of great vegan food.
The one downside was that the trip coincided with the Orange County Fair Food Competition. This meant that this was the first time in many years that Susan was not able to enter anything at the OC Fair.
Vegan Apricot Pecan Oatmeal cookies. 3rd Place, 2014 San Diego County Fair. This is actually one of my favorite things that Susan makes (among a lot of great things!)
Vegan Chocolate Hazelnut Cake with Lemon Frosting. 2nd Place, 2014 San Diego County Fair. Not the best picture of this in the display case -- take my word for it, it looks better fresh. The cake was two weeks old at that point -- they spray it with some sort of sealant or something, I think...
Regular readers may recall that Susan, aside from being an engineer and part time blogger, is a very successful amateur vegan chef. She’s won over forty ribbons and awards to date, all for vegan food competing against non-vegan competition (including ribbons at the National Pie Championships, and not one, but two Best of Shows at the Orange County Fair). It’s her way of helping to show that vegan food can taste just as good as non-vegan food.
Since she wasn’t able to enter the OC Fair this year, she decided to enter some items at the San Diego County Fair instead (the drop-off was earlier than the OC Fair, so she could make that date). She has a bunch of ribbons from the OC Fair, and a number from the Los Angeles County Fair, but had, to date, nothing from San Diego (she’d never entered until now).
I’m happy to announce that this situation has been rectified! This year at the 2014 San Diego County Fair, she won a 3rd for her Vegan Apricot Pecan Oatmeal cookies, a 2nd for her Vegan Chocolate Hazelnut Cake with Lemon Frosting, and a 1st for her Vegan Chocolate Chip Pecan cookies. And as always, these were not vegan categories -- this was straight up against non-vegan competition. Susan's recipes contain no dairy, no eggs, no honey... no animal products of any kind.
Vegan Chocolate Chip Cookies with Pecans. 1st Place, 2014 San Diego County Fair
So to date, Susan has won ribbons at three different county fairs and the National Pie Championships, not to mention various other local and national recipe contests. All with vegan food against non-vegan competition. She works as hard as she does on these things for her love of animals and to help raise awareness of vegan food. I’m super, super proud of you, love!!
Thanks for reading!
Ryan