2023 Indiana State Fair: Splenda and an Unexpected End

This is not how I expected my Fair run to end this year ...

It's par for the course I suppose. Quite honestly, this summer has been a summer of frustration where the light at the end of the tunnel seems to move ever further and further away.

First though, let's talk about Splenda.

The Splenda Cookie Contest was Saturday August 5th.

The contest entails making an original cookie recipe using at least 1/4 cup of any variation of Splenda.

When I registered for the contest, I initially thought the cookie was due in with the other pre-registration entries on July 22nd. Later I realized it was an open judged event on August 5th.

My sister in-law passed away on August 6, 2021, after a heart wrenching battle with ALS. For many reasons her graveside memorial could not be scheduled until this year, however, this year, on Saturday August 5th we celebrated her life.

I was going to pass on Splenda. Then, at turn in on July 22nd, I received a complimentary bag of Splenda. Something about getting a free bag of a product you would never otherwise purchase and then given the challenge of making something tasty out of it was a challenge I couldn't resist. I'm broken like that.

I did that for years with Spam. I don't eat Spam. I'm indifferent to it but my family doesn't like it... yet I entered Spam at the Fair for years until I finally won it. Then the sponsors wanted me to promote it. I made my recipe on a couple morning news shows and it was awful. I quit entering Spam after that. Spam is no longer a sponsored contest at the Fair but other sponsors have entered the rotation.

So... I get my free bag of Splenda and I start playing with it. I find a friend who is also competing that is willing to bring my entry to the Fair for me. After multiple renditions of an idea, I come up with a somewhat palatable cookie.

The judging criteria for the Splenda contest was as follows:

Unique, innovative, creative recipe......35%

Taste, flavor, aroma..............................30%

Appearance, color, presentation...........25%

Texture, internal appearance................10%

Supposedly you got bonus points for using little to no added sugar, other than the Splenda.

I created a cookie using tahini, pistachios, and dried Montmorency cherries (left over from the Cherry Contest at the Johnson County Fair).

First attempt produced a shortbread like cookie, but it tasted a bit too flour-y and just lacked something. Plus, I decided I didn't like the Splenda aftertaste. Other renditions followed. I tried adding an egg. It made it more cake-y, but still too bland. I tried adding Medjool dates for more natural sweetness and flavor, but it too made it more cake-y and a bit dense. I decided I preferred the fine shortbread texture and settled on topping the cookie with dark bittersweet chocolate. In my mind, the chocolate covered up the Splenda after taste and added that little extra something that I felt the cookie was lacking. I went back to the first cookie I made and also decided I didn't like baking with Splenda. Not entering this again...

Saturday morning arrives and I hand off my cookies to my friend and go to the memorial service. My friends at the Contest text me updates and photos. I even had one of them video the open judging of my cookie. I ended up with an Honorable Mention - so out of the money (awards were $200 - $100 - $50) - but a ribbon. One of my friends told me I would have won the contest if I hadn't put chocolate on my cookie. The judges loved the cookie but thought the chocolate overpowered everything. Looking at the photo my friends sent me, it also looks like the chocolate was starting to bloom by the time it was judged (blooming is when it starts making unattractive splotches and color changes due to sugar crystallization). Oh well.

Other sponsored contests at the Fair this year included King Arthur Baking and Burton's Maple Syrup.

I have won King Arthur Baking twice in the past and I have also won Burton's Maple Syrup twice in the past. These contests were this past Saturday, August 12th. I did not enter this year because I was on a family vacation to Charleston, South Carolina.

My next sponsored contests were to be the Strawberry Cupcake Contest - where you compete an original recipe strawberry cupcake, and the Sweet and Sour Contest - where you compete an original recipe sweet and sour dish, on this coming Saturday, August 19th.

Now let's talk about my summer...

In some respects, I feel like I took a Gillian's Island type vacation to Charleston - but instead of a "2-hour cruise" it was a "2-week vacation" that turned into this never-ending summer of frustration.

My husband and I went to Charleston at the end of April to dog sit for my niece. It was supposed to be a nice relaxing get away to beautiful setting. 

The dog I was responsible for keeping alive went on a hunger strike and developed bloody diarrhea.

I hand fed it twice a day and washed bedding constantly.

Meanwhile, back at home, my dad had a stroke and then insurance declined a rehab unit placement.

A close friend's mother died.

The finishing touch to this nightmare was our drive home where we got too tired to drive and got a cheap hotel room for the night... and our dog that was traveling with us decided to vomit all over the room at 5am.

We get home. Help my mom make the house more accessible for my dad.

Mom comments she hears water running in the toilet of their ONLY walker accessible bathroom.

My husband and I go to replace the toilet the Friday before Memorial Day Weekend.

We pull the old toilet only to discover the flange - the coupler piece between the soil pipe in the floor and the toilet itself - is improperly installed however million years ago it was installed - so we have to call a plumber.

Plumber arrives the Tuesday after Memorial Day. He assesses the area and determines that the original toilet had been improperly installed and the water my mom has recently heard running has leaked out of the toilet and now the subfloor is too wet for him to do anything. He can't install a toilet and instead calls a Water Mitigation Company.

Water Mitigation guy comes the next day, Wednesday, and determines my parents need all the bathroom tile pulled up and the floor replaced and recommend they contact their insurance company.

I spend the next day, Thursday, like literally ALL DAY, trying to get in touch with my parents' insurance company to work out what needs to be done to file a claim.

My parents are in their 80's. They don't have smart phones. My mom has such poor vision she needs to blow a computer screen up 500% to see anything. When we call the insurance company any number you call goes to a phone tree, then it instructs you to either download their app or go online to file a claim.

Long story short, I proceed to spend WEEEEKS dealing with this insurance issue for them.

FINALLY, Friday August 4th - the floor has been dried out and the new tile installation is complete. I drive the check over to the contractor so I can get the receipt to send to the insurance company for final payment so this nightmare can be put to bed.

So ya, I've been at my parents' house all day on August 3rd and 4th dealing with the tile installers. After that, I played with the Splenda cookies all night, dropped them off to a friend at 8:30 am Saturday morning, went to my sister-in-law's memorial at 10am, then spent the rest of the day Saturday socializing with family thinking I was DONE adulting for the summer...

Sunday, my husband and I go back over to my parents' house to finish installing the toilet that we tried to install the Friday before Memorial Day - only to find that the tile guy installed the sub-floor incorrectly and the flange STILL CANNOT BE SCREWED TO THE FLOOR!!!

I had a total melt down.

It was not pretty.

Monday my husband had to call the contractor because I couldn't deal with it anymore.

My wonderful husband. He took the ball and said he would deal with this.

Besides... I was going on vacation. My children and I left for Charleston this past Thursday for their vacation before they went back to school. My husband was staying behind to work.

Free again. This awful summer of doing adult things is over. I'm going to Charleston to play at the beach with my children and do all fun things...

My children are in their 20's. My niece and her friends are in their 40's. That is context for the rest of this story.

Saturday August 12th.

Instead of competing out at the Fair, I'm in Charleston with my kids, staying with their cousin (my niece). We spent the day kayaking with friends. We had dinner reservations. My niece, her wife, another couple and I were going to see a Queen tribute concert after that.

So... we get back from kayaking and I sit down in a patio chair. When I lean back, something flutters out of the cushions, runs into my left shoulder, then falls to the ground. I look over and it's a bat flopping around on the ground.

For those that don't know... my niece is a veterinarian and an advocate for all living things. I mean, we actually had to save a bumblebee from drowning while we were out kayaking. We are sitting around with her veterinarian friends when this occurs. I'm a retired ER doctor. Bats carry rabies and they can be asymptomatic rabies carriers - meaning they can be perfectly "healthy" and still give you rabies - unlike other animals (humans included) where rabies causes death. In the medical world, a significant bat exposure is an indication for rabies shots. You don't have to be bit. A "significant exposure" can even be something as innocuous as waking up in a room with a bat as the virus is transmitted through mucous membranes - like the ones in your nose - and you have no idea whether you might have breathed in some virus off the bat while you were sleeping. Bats transmit the virus through their secretions - meaning spit and poop.

Anyhoos... I'm looking at this bat flopping on the ground. My first thought is, oh, it's just a bat. I personally did not think I had a "significant exposure" as I was 99.9% sure it didn't bite me and it just hit my shoulder before falling on the ground. Plus, I thought it had a broken wing and that's why it was flopping around. It wasn't acting like a rabid animal.

Well, chaos then ensued. The vets on scene were all about rescuing the injured bat and had a wildlife rehabilitator specializing in bats located in less than 5 minutes - I am not kidding!!

Then... they all insisted I needed rabies shots. They, being vets, were all vaccinated. I was not. NO was not an acceptable answer. They sent me to a pharmacy right away to get a shot.

In their defense, rabies is 99.9% fatal if you get it. I was 99% sure I didn't have a significant exposure, but it would suck if I was wrong.

The whole "getting my rabies shots" is another story for a future post because, of course, it was not as simple as "going to the pharmacy." Of course not!

For those wondering why we didn't just get the bat tested for rabies since we had it in our possession - well, to test an animal for rabies you have to kill it because you have to test a sample from its brain. I didn't even bring this up with my niece...

OK, now I have to get rabies shots. Minor inconvenience. We're still having fun.

Monday, we get a text from one of the women we were out with; she has Covid.

She's the gal I was sandwiched in the back seat with coming home from the concert on Saturday night.

Tuesday my nose feels a little stuffy and my throat feels a little itchy. Maybe I'm imagining it.

We drove home Tuesday evening. It took us 14 hours.

By the time we pulled into the driveway on Wednesday morning I felt crappy - like tired, achy. My face felt flushed, but I was a bit sunburned too; I couldn't tell if I was sick or just feeling crappy because I'd spent 14 hours in a car. After a couple hours of sleep I felt fine, but you guessed it... we all took Covid tests and now I have Covid.

ARGHHHHH!!!!

The kids were all negative. They promptly fled my house to their own homes.

So here I am, quarantined in my own home. I will have to sit out the rest of the Fair.

I have a stuffy nose, an itchy throat and a bit of fatigue. Otherwise I'm fine.

I'm waiting for this summer to be over...