Blah... (rant)

Okay, so right now I'm feeling mehhhhhhh. It's summer, and there are youth fairs. Every year, I always get participation prizes from my town's fair, while my friends get 1st, 2nd, and sometimes 3rd or 4th. I always enter crafts or some kind of baking. Well, last year, my friend who enters her pony got Grand Champion for Halter Class(I think? Lol I'm pretty sure it was Halter.) Out of everyone, she got Grand Champion. And the year before, Reserve Champion! I never win anything, no matter what competition I'm in! Uggggg. Why is this my life.

Sorry for the rant, I just can't hold this in. *sigh* The only reason I'm entering this year is because I get in free if I do.

Don't worry I never win anything either, your time will come I promise you just keep working and keep your chin up. 

I say just keep entering no matter what. Quitting won't make you feel any better.
To me, quitting is losing the opportunity to win anything. I would suggest talking to your friends and asking for tips, if they are honestly doing that great, maybe they know something that you don't. 
Practice practice practice! Change things up, and most of all, make it fun! Don't let the lack of titles bring you down :)

I appreciate the encouragement, but my muffins turned out tasting sour and like hard bread. I ran out of sugar... And I put the muffins on the bottom rack accidentally XD I'm just so forgetful.

Baking can be tricky. If you run out of sugar, try using applesauce or honey in its place. You'll have to adjust the other liquids to make up for the added moisture, but you can go by feel on that. A good muffin batter should be about brownie batter thickness. It's thicker than cakes and cupcakes. To keep it from being too hard, you either need to shorten the amount of time you bake them at, or lower the temperature. Most baked goods bake at around 375 F for 20 - 40 (ish) minutes.

Just stick to it. I know it can be frustrating to not place as well as you'd hoped, but at least you're trying. The only way to ever truly fail is to not try in the first place.

ETA:: At least take the opportunity to just have fun with it. Try new recipes. Try new flavor combinations. If it goes well, excellent. If not, at least you don't have to deal with the leftovers. Get-togethers/fairs are always a great way to have fresh guinea pigs to try stuff out on. xD 

Last edited on 2017-07-14 at 19:52:51 by Mouse

Keep in mind that it's not always you who has the problem. I love entering art in fairs and my fair has a talent show which I enter every year. My sister town also has a talent show in the Summer and I entered it last year and the year before. Not to brag, but I'm a great singer (that sounds so conceited, I'm sorry XD), but I'm not from that town, and they always made that very clear to the judges. I never got first place. Third both years, out of three or four singers both years, all of whom were either very full of themselves or just not good at singing. But because I was from out of town, they wouldn't let me win first place because I wasn't representing that town (even though my Nana lives there and has for as long as I can remember). However, it's always good to take that defeat or low ranking and make yourself better. Keep working to improve yourself, and NEVER let losing get you down. Take it as a sign to get better. You can always get better, learn, and try to knock the socks off of the judges the next year, and the year after that. Just keep going. :)

It can be very disheartening to do your absolute best, only to get no recognition for it in a competition. Sometimes that doesn't mean your effort wasn't amazing, just that others were better. Other times it means the judges were looking for something very specific, and what you had just didn't match that, regardless of how good it was. In baking, sometimes the issue doesn't lie with you, but rather with your recipe, or the ingredients. You can be an excellent cook, but if your recipe isn't very good, or if your ingredients are poor quality or poorly chosen, you can end up with a pretty ordinary result.

My advice is try not to have your heart set on winning. Focus on having fun instead. If you end up winning anyway, that's fantastic! If you don't, at least you had fun and got a free ticket to the show out of it. ;) Also, sometimes if you ask the judges after the contest they'll give you some good advice about why you didn't win, how you can improve, and what they were looking for in a winning entry. It can be very helpful to producing better work in the future, and even one day winning.

On a side note, I have a really great muffin recipe I can give you if you'd like? They have just the right ratio of wet to dry ingredients to produce a light, well-rounded muffin, and I often get complemented on them. It's specifically written to make it easy to substitute in alternate ingredients so you can make it whatever flavour you like, and work with what you have available in case of sugar shortages or similar. ;) Just let me know and I'll dig it out for you.

We don't even see the judges. They judge you when you're not there. And hey, a free FOOD RECIPE?!? :D:D:D Yes, please! I feel kind of negative and annoying right now, and, AngelsInDisguise, it doesn't sound conceited. I have a great voice, not good but great, and I understand sounding prideful and arrogant, when you're just trying to tell people that's your talent.

And, my last muffins weren't unedible, they were just hard to eat... Yay? I don't really bake much, so that's 'good' for me xD And, Mouse, I'll try using honey or applesauce. Thanks for the tip!

Here is my muffin recipe.

*edit* I've edited it with different versions to account for different measurements used in different countries. (Please be careful to only read from one ingredients list. Although things like 'Cups' are mentioned in more than one list, these are US Cups or metric Cups or imperial Cups, depending on which list you're looking at, and are not the same thing. Other measurements have been adjusted to compensate for these differences.)
If your country isn't explicitly listed here you will probably find it uses the same system as one of these countries; if not, convert the Australian ingredients list to whatever system you use (this chart may help).

Ingredients (Australian and Canadian units):
2 Cups (500 mL) self-raising flour
150 grams sugar (or similar, e.g. honey)
1 Cup (250 mL) flavouring ingredients, e.g. chocolate, or coconut, or blueberries, or combination of things, etc
1 egg
180 mL liquid, e.g. milk or water or juice or coconut milk (whatever's appropriate)
Half Cup (125 mL) oil or margarine.

Ingredients (American units):
2 Cups self-raising flour
5 ounces sugar (140g) (or similar, e.g. honey)
1 Cup flavouring ingredients, e.g. chocolate, or coconut, or blueberries, or combination of things, etc
1 egg
6 fluid ounces (170 mL) liquid, e.g. milk or water or juice or coconut milk (whatever's appropriate)
Half Cup oil or margarine.

Ingredients (British units):
2 Cups self-raising flour
6 ounces sugar (170g) (or similar, e.g. honey)
1 Cup flavouring ingredients, e.g. chocolate, or coconut, or blueberries, or combination of things, etc
1 egg
7 fluid ounces (200 mL) liquid, e.g. milk or water or juice or coconut milk (whatever's appropriate)
Half Cup oil or margarine.

Method:
1. Set the oven to 200 degrees Celsius (390 degrees Fahrenheit).
2. Grease the muffin tins.
3. Sift dry ingredients, including dry flavouring ingredients (if possible).
4. Combine wet ingredients.
5. Mix wet and dry ingredients - fold in gently.
6. Spoon into tins.
7. Bake for 15-20 minutes.

Notes:
Some good flavouring options:
- white chocolate and raspberry (roughly half cup of each)
- blueberry
- double chocolate (cocoa powder and chocolate pieces, not sure of the ratio)
For the liquid in the ingredients, milk is best, but sometimes other things are better if they go well with your flavouring ingredients. For example, apple juice may work well if you're making apple muffins. Likewise, coconut milk may be a good choice if you're making chocolate and coconut muffins. This may require some experimentation, so make a batch just for your family to try first, before entering them in a competition.

If you have any questions feel free to ask. :)

Last edited on 2017-07-20 at 20:36:01 by UlyssesBlue