In the words of Strong Mad, "DAGRON."

Teri has always had an affinity for dragons. Her favorite book genre - fantasy. Her favorite book recently - Eragon. Her favorite flash animation character with at least one beefy arm - Trogdor. She even downloaded a lullaby from a daytime talk show to play for McKay each night when he goes to sleep.




So it was no surprise when we found ourselves at the 1st Annual Events Competition for the National Association of Catering Executives this past Tuesday. Or maybe it was a surprise. Either way, we went because Teri's sister Julie had created a dragon cake for the competition. The competition was designed like a wedding expo, with event planners showing off their table top decorations and pastry chefs showing off their cakes. Every entry was assigned an element: Earth, Fire, Water, Sky. Julie worked on the fire element.

Notice the beefy arm. This guy doesn't have much in the way of consummate V's, although he's nailed the majesty bit. (Did this paragraph not make sense to you? Please click on the Trogdor link above. If that doesn't make sense, please visit the First Time Here link on Homestarrunner.)

My favorite part of the whole competition was wandering around to the various table top decorations and cakes. At every cake, someone was waiting to offer you a piece of cake and a business card should you desire to have them make a cake later. I knew right away that 28 cake samples could end up spelling Rolaids, so I ended up only eating about half of one piece of cake. McKay ate the other half. McKay and I both liked it, especially that yummy strawberry glaze in the middle. Teri ended up not having anything as New Baby has a strong dislike of anything sugary. That's right - anything.

Our preference for no cake made for an interesting afternoon of discussion as well. Chefs would come up and offer us a slice of cake. We would politely decline. They would raise their eyebrows as if to say, "Well why are you here then?" One chef even went as far as to ask, "So are you in the industry?" I had to laugh. This is a picture of us that day. Do we look like we are in the catering/event planning industry?

Interestingly enough, Teri's brother David came home after we got back and told us there was one really awful cake there that he had sampled. Apparently, it was loaded with alcohol and just really sent his taste buds in a tizzy. I told him I was pretty lucky then because I had only eaten one piece of cake. When I told David which one I had tried he just had to laugh. I guess McKay and I have strong tolerances for alcohol, because we both wolfed down that loaded strawberry glaze. In retrospect, I suppose I probably shouldn't have eaten it and I really shouldn't have fed it to McKay. But you only live once right?

Anyway, the competition really was amazing. This was the overall winning cake. Everything, including the ceramic looking plate it sits on, is edible, although some if it is gum paste.

This cake took third overall. It was made by a Russian woman who claimed the cake was inspired by a Russian fairy tale. I'm no expert but Russia was never quite as fun as these cake seems to be.

This was Teri's favorite table top. It doesn't have any dragons, but she loved the ambiance it created.

Here's a closer view of the table decor.