Tulsa Sugar Art Show 2006 Page 1 of 5

Location: Tulsa, Oklahma
Date: October 7th ~8th, 2006

About the trip:
This is my 2nd time to go to the Tulsa Sugar Art show. I was hasitate to attend because there were too much stuff going on with my new house. In the other hand, the house parties stressed me out a little bit I really need a weekend get away. I decided to go a week before the even thinking that it's my 30th birthday weekend, so I'm entitle to spoil myself a bit by eating carnival food, and check out lots of cakes and hopefully being able to buy some cake toys.

I had to attend one of my co-worker's art show the night before, and we ate at Lidia's restaurant which had a major slow serving issue. I didn't get home from dinner until 12 am, try to get up early in the morning and drive long distant by myself became stressful. I manage to get up early, stop by the gas station to fill up the tank and hit the road at 5:30 am. Once I'm on the road, it wasn't that bad. Traffic was light and the weather was nice.

I reserved the hotel through Priceline, with a pretty decent price, they won't allow guest to check in to the hotel until after 4 pm. Therefore I went straight from Kansas City to the state fair, which I got there right around 9 am.

This year there isn't a whole lot of cake toys supply vendors, and one of the sugar flower demonstration was a bit boring to me so I had more time to actually enjoy the State Fair, especially try out different food. I tried to plan three square meals through out the day, and try to have different variety of food:

Saturday Lunch:

Fried Green Tomato -my new found favorite, it's crispy and not too salty
Fried brownie - it sound weird, but it actually feel like eating molden chocolate lava cake with crispy breading outside
Cinemon roll - I was people walking around with a plate of giant cinemon roll with icing on it, I decided to get a piece, it was okay because the roll wasn't that fresh

Saturday Dinner:

Turkey leg - I had to get some protein for the day, of course turkey leg is the way to go! The turkey leg I got was a bit too big, with lots of tendon, it get a bit too much for me after a while.

This time, I brought my laptop to with me. When I was at the hotel, I unloaded all the photos I took during the day, and have an empty 512 Mb card for Sunday. It doesn't take long for me to fall as sleep after the big turkey leg and the tiring drive in the morning with all day event.

Sunday morning, I got up early and try to enjoy my coffee while watching TV and wait for the right time to head out. The state fair won't open until 10 am and I was up at about 6:30 am. around 7:30 am, the fire alarm in the hotel went off, I was already packed so I decided to check out from the hotel while all the guests were outside of the hotel waiting for the fire alarm to clear. I got to the convention center around 8:45 am. Since I have nothing better to do, I walked around to check what food I can get through out the day and see what other are the other interesting event I can go. I found the Dutch Fat Ball stand that the Foodnetwork people have been talking about, as well as got some idea about the size of the state fair. It's amazing how many food stands were there in the state fair. Just when I thought I have hit the corner and no more thing to see, a turn around and I was facing rows of food stands.

Sunday Breakfast

Cinemon roll with caramel frosting - I walked around early and most food stand do not open until 10 am. This time the cinamon roll is fresher, and tasted good!

Sunday Lunch:

Fried Green Tomato - It's so good I can't get enough of it!
Jumbo (footlong) Corndog - My friend from the cake club met up with me to go try the Fat Dutch Ball, she don't want to eat dessert before having meat, so I joined her to get a jumbo corn dog. It's okay for me.
Fat Dutch Ball - The pastry chef from FoodNetwork keep raving about it during their demo. I figure if pastry chef likes it, it must be good.... more of that later.
Frozen Banana - I saw Frozen Banana treat in FoodNetwork show called "Unwrapped", it looks yummy. It's a different experience to eat forzen banana, it doens't taste a whole lot like banana.

Sunday afternoon snack:
I had to be on the road at 5:30 pm and won't have time for dinner, so I decided to stuff my face with food again before I hit the road, and before the last demo I want to watch.

Onion Blossom - the first few minute was heavenly, smell of grease infused with onion aroma throw in my face when I walk around with a plate of the onion blossom in the windy afternoon. After a few bites, the batter get soggy, I have to throw the remaining a way.
Funnel Cake - ah.... funnel cake, this time the funnel cake I got was too doughy, not very crispy. Next time I will get one during peak hour, not like 3 pm time when funnel cake sales is slow. They probably serve me leff over or something.
Fried Sneaker - Fried candy is one thing I wanted to try last year but didn't make it. This time, I pulled the plug and bought a friend Sneaker. To be honest, it's very difficult to eat. The whole thing is shaped like a corn dog, when the chocolate melt, the batter soaks up the chocolate, while the caremal of the candy is still hot and gooey inside. When you eat it, the batter almost fall apart and you can't just take a big bite to save the batter because the center is hot like lava.

As I look back, I think I packed a whole week worth of calories in just two days. I didn't feel that guilty because I have been exercise a lot before the Tulsa trip, besides, it's my 30th birthday, I can't eat like that as I get older, so better enjoy it before my already slow metabolism rate come to a halt.

About the Cake Convention:
The cake convention has a lot of activities, this year there are more pastry chef demo instead of just cake decoration:

Sugar flower (gum paste) demonstration by Lin Cook.
Lin Cook is one of the talented gum paste flower artist from Europe, her demo is so lecture like, I got bored after the first flower. There were not chatting during the process to keep the session engaging.
Pastry, Chocolate showpiece and Flavoring technique by Keegan Gerhard of FoodNetwork, Raymond Lammers of Stein Eriksen Lodge and Paul Edwards of Chef Rubber.
These bad boys of pastry and chocolate world gave a lot of fun and educational chocolate demonstration. It's nice to see how the pro actually temper chocolate on a big piece of marble, using an intra rate thermometer to take temperature, playing with blow torch. Keegan is taller than he appear in TV, and more easy going, I have to give him credit for handled a drunk audient at the front row really well. The drunk audient was so drunk he asked some stupid and offensive questions like "do you know how to cook?" while Keegan answered/commented with humor to break the akward situation.
Rice Krispie Treat Wedding Cake compeition
Instead of one tip compeition like last year, this year they have Rice Krispie stacking/carving/decorating compeition to create a wedding cake. The crowd get so huge I can't even see much, so I left during this session. But I to say, they have one of the largest sheet of Rice Krispie I have ever seen.
Wedding cake competition
Comptition entries have to prepare cake with the theme of Internation culture. It's a very diversity theme that some contestants chose to use the nation's traditional wardrobe as inspiration, while some other chose landmark or symbolism items of the nation.
Open entry cake compeition
Different levels of cake competition from junior to semi pro.
Cake supply vendors
Shopping! I didn't buy much stuff this year because the vendors put out highend stuff that cost a lot, and not practical for people who don't make cake for living.

Schedule:

OKLAHOMA STATE SUGAR ART SHOW
SCHEDULE OF EVENTS
Tulsa State Fair – LOWER Level -- Expo Building

Friday, October 6, 2006
8 a.m. - 4 p.m. - Food Network Groom's CAke Challenge $10,000 Cash Winner Take All contest
4:00 - 8:30 p.m. - Cake Setup

Saturday, October 7, 2006
7:30 – 10:00 a.m. – Cake Setup

10:00 a.m. – 11:00 p.m. – Show open to public

10:30 a.m. – Judging begins

10:00 – 11:30 a.m. – One of the best in the United Kingdom -- Special Celebrity sugar artist LIN COOK fashions a Spring Bouquet, which includes the dainty Daffodil, the elegant Iris together with Mahonia leaves.

11:45 a.m. – 1:15 p.m. - Special Celebrity Chef Keegan Gerhard - Wedding Cake as Dessert - techniques for intergrating plated dessert ideas, flavors and textures to inspire functional celebration cake formats.

1:30 - 3:00 p.m. – KELLOGG'S RICE KRISPIE TREAT WEDDING CAKES, a timed comptition

3:30 – 5:00 p.m. – Special Celebrity sugar artist LIN COOK- SUMMER ARRANGEMENT: This demonstration will include Stargazer Lily, Alstromeria and English summer foliage and ferns wired into an inspired floral corsage.

5:15 – 6:45 p.m. - Special Celebrity Chef Keegan Gerhard: "Edible" cake stands to set you apart! Custom designed cake stand ideas in sugar: Elegant creations with great eye appeal that will eliminate the hassle of base and or stand retrieval.

7:00 – till late! PAUL EDWARDS demonstrate FELCHLIN chocolate, molded roses, mousse, pralines, bon bons and a simple showpiece to finish FAST COMMERCIAL APPLICATIONS SURE TO HELP BUSY ARTISTS.

Sunday, October 8, 2006
8:00 a.m. - Entrants should ask Saturday if their cake is being photographed and be present during this time to escort the entry to the photographic studio.

10:00 a.m. - Show open to public

10:00 - 11:30 a.m. - Special Celebrity Chef Silver Medallist Raymond Lammers - Edible chocolate cake stands. Flowers, leaves and twigs. Stamping free cutting and free forming.

11:45 a.m. – 1:15 p.m. - Special Celebrity sugar artist LIN COOK: Autumn Orchids - these popular bridal flowers will include the unusual Vanda orchid, pretty Singapore orchid and 'Bridal' foliage

1:30 – 3:00 p.m. - Special Celebrity chef Raymond Lammers: Chocolate plastique decorations with Chef Rubberette molds. Chef Rubber heirloom molds chocolate plastique roses and leaves. Putting it all together and finishing a cake with the completed components.

3:15 – 4:45 p.m. - Special Celebrity sugar artist LIN COOK - Floral Winter Surprise! The final seasonal arrangement Dipladenia (Brazilian Jasmine), CAlla Lily with accent foliage.

5:00 p.m. - Awards Ceremony

6:30 - 8:00 p.m. - Removal of cakes

WEDDING CAKES AROUND THE WORLD 2006
Contestants will present a cast of stunning cakes and divine tables
Design and styling inspired by beautiful things from around the world.

What did I do?
I stayed for all the pastry chef chocolate demonstrations and only the first sugar flower session. With less cake toy vendors, I didn't spend much time to shop at the cake area. I explored other part of the state fair like shopping for home improvement stuff, kitchenwear etc. This time I have my laptop with me to unload all the photos from my SD card at night, so I didn't hold back while taking photos of cakes. I took photos of all the cakes that I'm very impressed with, and will study them later. As I become more experience with cake decoration, I started to notice a lot of flaws in the cakes that were in the competition, so in most part I wasn't that impress by the open cake competition, while the wedding cake is still very breath taking and eye popping experience.

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I had turkey leg for dinner from this stand. The line to buy turkey leg for this stand was long, but it must be one of the best turkey leg around.	Fried Green Tomato... hmm... They won the award of best Fried Green Tomato in Kansas State Fair	This is the only stand that serve fried brownie.		Dutch Fatball - it's a giant fritter, cut in half and stuffed with cream. I had the Bavarian cream version, I like the cream, but not impress by the fritter because it's not crispy and very doughy.

I didn't stay for the closing and award ceremony, therefore I don't know who win the competition. I had to leave for Kansas City right before the award ceremony since I need to work the next day, and I was dead tired. So I decided to leave around 5:30 pm and try to arrive in Kansas City before 10:30 pm.

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