Reserve Your Suite and Find Your Favorite Recipes 

It was a lovely day to have a first day of the fair. The only place you can buy an ice cream cone from the Washington Dairy Association right next to the stinky cow barns. The Puyallup Fair to be exact.

There’s so many things to see and do and eat. They always have amazing concerts – something for everyone.

And fudge. Lots and lots of fudge.

And, of course, all of the traditional fair food.

And some lovely surprises in the midst of the booths. I love you Umpqua. Don’t tell the others, but you’re my favorite.

The older I get, the more I’m drawn back to the rides. Something is terribly wrong with me.

There’s nothing quite like a wooden roller coaster.

I always pretend I’m at Disneyland when I ride the sky ride.

This seemed fitting… a sign pointing to the real dead bodies exhibit right under the craziest ride of all.

I mean, really. I die a little just watching them go up and down. If I wanted to feel this sick, I could just get pregnant all over again.

A little blast from the past. The Octopus. Or the Spider. Or that orange ride with lots of seats. Yeah, that. My friend and I got stuck in one of these once years ago in Seattle. Someone under the influence of weed was at the controls. I haven’t ridden one since.

This might be my favorite pic of the day. I noticed the moon up on the right after I got home. I mean, I planned it that way. Or not.

I learned a very valuable lesson at the fair today. Never sit under an informational sign. That is, unless you like people to point your way with confused squinting eyes while you try to eat the world’s largest elephant ear. All I wanted was some shade. And to stuff my face. And some shade.

I will be okay. I will be okay. I will be okay.

Okay. Happy Irish dancing helps. These sisters are fantastic. Their stage is near the gold gate and the fountain. I’d choose to sit and watch them if I were to look for a shady place all over again.

I had a little touching moment today too. I wandered into the Watkins booth.

I chatted with these two lovelies for a moment and they told me it’s their last year at the Puyallup Fair this year. I’ve walked past their booth for years but today I bought some baking supplies.

I recommend stopping by and wishing them well when you go to the fair this year. And buy a little bottle of extract. Or two.

After visiting the Watkins booth, I turned around and, glory be, there was the artist’s store. Yay! My fav! Pottery and wool and pottery…

and I found this disturbia.

The Home Arts area had a cooking demonstration. This is Terry. He sings barbershop and makes pies. He uses a fork for almost every step when making his peanut butter chocolate pie and I noticed he saves all his plastic containers from the store and reuses them again. He’s adorable.

I then lost sight of the ground and somehow made it to the exit while staring at the gorgeous quilts. If you make quilts, I am jealous of you. The end.

Finally. The pride and joy of the fair. The Fisher scone.

Hot out of the oven which probably explains the line of at least 100 people every year.

Who wouldn’t buy a scone from these sweet ladies?

More butter, please.

And the raspberry jam. Did I ever tell you about the time I dropped a scone on my toes while I was wearing sandals? Serious toe jam.

And for those who are looking for a giant fluorescent green hippo for your living room…

This picture was simply too cute to pass up.

Every part of me wanted to become a cow girl after walking by this jacket. or, you know, at least look like one.

After I met up with dotter and her friend again, we walked past this booth…

I’m guessing they take fun quite seriously. My favorite kind of people.

The girls decided they wanted some of that party. This is their before picture.

Again, oh my stars too cute not to share.

Party in progress.

Rowr.

And, finally, the Hobby Hall at the fair has displays that are entered by people who have extensive collections of everything from Holly Hobby to lint. Okay, I’m just kidding about the lint but it sounded kinda cool. And disgusting. And cool. Dotter was excited to find a Starbucks collector while I was thrilled to discover a collector of all things Girl Scouts – so very fitting for their 100th birthday this year.

Girl Scout Cookie Give-Away

And then I remembered that I had asked the Girl Scouts, “Yo, would you guys let me give away some of your trippin’ cookies on my blog sometime.” And the Girl Scouts said, “Um, sure, but only if you stop talking all gangsta, yo.” Okay, maybe the gangsta part never happened but it did in my mind. To get your hands on some of this party, leave a comment telling us what you collect on this post. If you’re not a collector, just make somethin’ up, yo. And then make these. Yo. I can’t stop.

Three winners will get one box of Samoas and one box of Thin Mints. Winners will be chosen randomly on September 12th, 2012 at noon.

Last night I was able to sneak out of the inn for a fun little night in Bothell at Third Place Books. The mission? To get my copy of The Pioneer Woman Cooks: Food from My Frontier signed.

After a week of extreme spring cleaning, I told myself that I deserved it.

Before the signing, I found a couple of my Facebook friends. This is me, Ninfa and our cameras.

This is me, Melissa and our super smart glasses. And I’m not sure why, but my perced lips.

Mom & I had an opportunity to move from row 493 up to row 5. We took it. All we had to do was sit apart from one another. Here is my cutie mom about 6 seats down the row from me. Whenever Ree said or did something funny, we looked at one another and laughed.

I knew she was a good woman. She has a Mac. She also had a power point though, so I guess that kinda balanced things out.

Can’t say I’ve ever put it on a power point presentation but I did that too. That’s why I have to use a Mac. It balances things out.

Ree may have sang a love song to her dog, Charlie. And she may have cheated on him a little bit with Earl while in Seattle.

And I may have taped the end of it. Her song started out lovely but then this happened. And it was hilariously adorbs.

Here’s me, my recent spray tan, my mom and Ree.

She was sweet enough to accept my business card as though she had never seen one before and I heard that she stayed at least until midnight to sign every single book. She is such a kind heart – so humble and fun. I love her. Maybe one day we can put Sun-In on our hair together. Or maybe, you know, just sing My Endless Love. I’ve never sang it to a dog before but I did do a very similar rendition at a wedding once.

To celebrate endless love and Sun-In and magical Macs that balance all quirky things out, I’m giving away one autographed copy of Ree’s new book.

To enter to win, just leave a comment on this blog post and let us know who or what you would sing My Endless Love to if you were to sing it to someone other than, well, you know, a human. It just plain makes things more fun. Enter by midnight on Friday, April 27th and the winner will be randomly chosen using random.org.

Coming tomorrow: The Pioneer Woman’s Steakhouse Pizza

On sale now this week (March 12-16th) at Trophy Cupcakes Wallingford store “Deanna’s Tropical Stampede”.

Not long ago, I won a contest. The prize? I got to create a cupcake with Trophy Cupcakes on behalf of the Mobile Food Rodeo.

This is me. On a stage. Talking about my cupcake. At the Mobile Food Rodeo.

After meeting with the lovely Jennifer Shea, owner of Trophy Cupcakes, the cupcake was created. And it was named “Deanna’s Tropical Stampede”.

And there was a party.

And it was fun thanks to so many people including Mobile Food Rodeo, Trophy Cupcakes, Google Places and Seattle Met.

Oh, and did I mention the cupcakes? They were minis. And delicious. And beautiful.

The Trophy team. Coolest. People. Ever.

Are you ready for the exciting give-away? To celebrate the Mobile Food Rodeo, Trophy Cupcakes and I are giving you the chance to win a dozen (full-sized) cupcakes! In fact, we’ll be holding a give-away once a month for an entire year. Each month’s winner will receive their prize in the form of a gift card so they can stop by any location for their dozen whenever they have the need for some Trophy Cupcakes. Just leave a comment and let us know if you’ve ever eaten from a food truck. What did you try? Comment by midnight PST on March 25th and I’ll choose a winner using random.org on March 26th. One entry per person, please.

And a picture of me with my darling cupcake taken by my friend, Carrie. If you’re looking for food reviews in the Seattle area and beyond, you gotta check out her blog.

For more information about having your own Trophy Cupcake party, send them an email to request information.

Here’s some more pictures of the Mobile Food Rodeo party and a preview of the Mobile Food Rodeo which is coming again on May 6th from 1-7pm at Fremont Studios 3501 Phinney Ave North in Seattle. You can keep updated on Facebook or Twitter on all their latest news.

Have you heard of the Mobile Food Rodeo yet? Imagine food trucks lined up all in one Seattle location just for you. Yeah, that. Completely delicious. Completely awesome. So let’s celebrate the kick off of Mobile Food Rodeo’s new spring rodeo with a party!

I’m so honored to have won their cupcake creating contest when they teamed up with the amazing Trophy Cupcakes last summer. The winning cupcake? “Deanna’s Tropical Stampede!” and you can be the first to try the new cupcake at the Mobile Food Rodeo kick off party. Just hop over to their page, scroll down to this picture of the cupcake & follow the easy instructions to enter to win. I’ll see you there and we shall eat cupcakes together.

Oh, and did I mention the prizes? Yeah. Lots of prizes – including a night at our award-winning B&B. Go enter. Hurry.

Proudly sponsored by:

Contest by: Seattle Wine Gal, The Old Hen Bed & Breakfast & Walter Dacon Winery!

The winner and their friends will enjoy an evening at The Old Hen Bed & Breakfast, a personalized wine tasting from Walter Dacon winery owners and wine makers, Lloyd and Ann Anderson and Seattle Wine Gal!

Oh  yeah, and I will be making some appetizers and desserts. For more details on how to enter, hop over to Seattle Wine Gal’s website!