Judgement Day

Until this month, I can only think of one other time in my life when I was asked to judge some type of contest.  That was at least 20 years ago, when I judged written essays in a small scholarship competition.

I got to experience another form of judging this month at the Iowa State Fair.  For over two decades, my spouse and daughters have been entering food baking competitions there.  This year, we decided we wanted to see what it was like on the other side of the table, so we sponsored our own category.  This not only allowed our family to choose the category, but also choose the judges -- us, of course.

Months ago, we decided our competition would be chocolate raspberry dessert, and we provided our clever category name:  Death By Chocolate Raspberry.  This choice was largely based on my own bias for that type of dessert.  To ensure we'd have some entries, we put up $100 in prize money -- $60 for first, $30 for second, and $10 for third.

Judgment day came, and we were pleased to have 14 state fair entries with plenty of variety.  There were chocolate raspberry cheesecakes, cupcakes, brownies, and more.  As with most food categories, the entries weren't judged solely on flavor.  We had decided to use three criteria: 50% of the points were based on taste, 25% on appearance, and 25% on creativity.

Influenced by both time and a desire to not get sick, we judges divided the items among us, selected our favorites (the highest point-getters), and then got together to determine the best of the best.  In the end, a mocha chocolate, raspberry-filled cupcake came out on top, and a great time was had by all.

I hope to be a judge in the future for this or another Iowa State Fair food category.  Like anything else, after having experienced it for the first time, I'd be much better at it the next time.  Knowing what to look for in the recipe / item, what to say (or not to say) on the entrant comment cards, and how to consistently score different types of entries will all be more second-nature to me.

Also, I like eating.

RAGBRAI - 2018 Non-Edition

Since 2010, I've made an annual blog entry about what I saw while riding my bicycle on that July's RAGBRAI, a/k/a the Register's Annual Great Bike Ride Across Iowa.  Had I started this blog before August 2009, there would have been many other entries like it; aside from one missed year due to injury, my best guess is I've ridden at least a day on 18 of the last 20 RAGBRAI's.

Make that 18 of the last 21, because I didn't participate this year.

There wasn't anything stopping me -- I still cycle a lot, I had the time, and the ride came through central Iowa, making it fairly easy to jump onto it.  I just didn't have the passion for it this year, and decided not to go.

I told people after the 2015 RAGBRAI that I was retiring from the ride, that I didn't care to do it anymore.  After riding in it another day in 2016, I said the same thing.

Last year, after renouncing retirement for the second time and riding my third career 100 mile day on RAGBRAI, I said it again.  Apparently this time, it took.

I had some FOMO (Fear Of Missing Out) worries, but I was glad to say it never bothered me.  The only time I gave it much thought was when I went to a meeting in a town that the ride would later go through.  Watching all of the townsfolk out sprucing things up reminded me about how the red carpet is always laid out for the rolling party of RAGBRAI riders.  That's part of what makes it fun.

Who knows if there will be another RAGBRAI in my future?  Until then, I hope my fellow riders, such as Team Crack-A-Noon and Team Wasted Potential, will be able to carry on without me.