IN YOUR FACE SAA COOKING CLUB!

I won a recipe contest! Are you as shocked as I am???

I can't believe it. I guess I better explain the title to this post.

I've been cooking since I was little, my Mom was always good at involving us in her cooking. All the girls in my family got Bosch mixers for Christmas when I was a senior in high school, so when I got married, I felt I knew how to cook. Or if I wasn't very good at it, I wasn't intimidated by cooking. So I got married, two years later, we move to Kirksville when Rhett started med-school. Tons of wives of med students around, not much to do in Kirksville, so they have these clubs for the SAA (wife association). One club I was interested in, was Cooking Club. They'd have one once a month and give a theme. Everyone would bring something, then you just eat and chat, and at the end, they would vote to the best recipe and you'd win a spatula or something. Some times I tried harder than others to win, but man, there was some stiff competition. Those ladies had some mean recipes. But the two that I really tried to win that spatula, was October 06 and February 08. Yes, I tried hard enough I remember. But I didn't win either occasion. Feb. I made cream puffs, and even drizzled raspberry dark chocolate on some of them, but alas, the domestic goddess (Katherine) won again! Because she deserved it of course--homemade truffle balls buried in homemade raspberry ice cream, ya, I voted for her. Anyway, living in Kirksville opened my eyes to the fact that I am not a great cook, just average. I think that's why I'm so excited to have won this little recipe contest now. The recipe I won is actually the recipe at the October cooking club, but I improved it a lot between then and now I guess.

So, it's not that huge of a contest, I am one of four winners for Utah Valley Magazine, a local magazine for our county. I win a gift certificate to a nice restaurant in Provo. It will be in their Nov/Dec issue. The contest was for holiday desserts. I read the email and ran down stairs screaming, and it was great because my mom was home and Lynette was over. We were all shocked. So I came up to finish reading the email and the awful part is, they are presenting the recipe with you holding your dessert. I have two weeks and have a 15 min photo shoot with my pumpkin cinnamon rolls.

SO I HAVE TO HAVE MY PHOTO IN THE MAGAZINE. Barf. I am kind of in panic mode. I immediately thought: I need a makeover! Once people see the troll behind the roll they won't want to try it...oh man. I need to call Natalie and have her pick out an outfit for me and tell me how to do my hair...if only she were here to twease my eyebrows right, I lost the stencils she gave me. Oh no. My hair. I need highlights to get rid of the rat color. SOMEONE GET ME A GIRDLE!!!

Then I realized the smart solution would be to have one of my beautiful friends go and hold my pumpkin cinnamon roll for me. So any volunteers please email: jessica.crapo@gmail.com I will have to warn you, they will call you Jessica Crap...o during that time, just do what I do and say "it's actually pronounced crap face, they must have forgotten the smiley face in that "o" at the end on your paper."

But just in case no one volunteers to go, I actually probably will be calling people for suggestions. What do you wear to stand behind a pumpkin cinnamon roll? Do I try to match my dessert? Lynette and I were laughing about the possibility of actually "being" the pumpkin. Make an orange bubble skirt for the pumpkin, then wear a green top so my abdomen can be the stem. I'm thinking business casual or something...but I really don't know what that means. Maybe something I would wear to a fancy Christmas party? I need help.