Pillsbury Bake-Off: Day 2

Day 2 was the big competition day! They had us starting really early, 6:15 am, for breakfast. They had a nice buffet set up. At 7:30 am it was time to line up for the Grand March...how exciting! We were all waiting outside the ballroom and all the sudden the music was pumping and the lights were flashing. All of us went rushing through the cameras into the ballroom and to our ranges. Then exactly at 8:00 am we started. I was a little nervous at first, but once I started cooking the nervousness melted away. The media came in at around 8:15 am and it got crazy. There were cameras everywhere! I had a couple of short interviews with the Food Network and Pillsbury. My first pizza was done at 9:00 am (it usually doesn't take that long but I was trying to be extra careful). It didn't come out exactly how I wanted so I used it for pictures. My second pizza came out better, and I took it to the judges at 11:00 am. But now that I think about it...I was being so anal about the top of the pizza looking good, I barely even looked at the bottom (which was a little underdone I think). I took a little break after that and tasted some recipes. One of my favorites was the Caramel Latte Crunch Cups. Sandra Lee was also tasting a few things, but she didn't make it to my range. I decided to make a 3rd pizza for fun, and after that one I was starting to get tired so I checked out of the Bake-Off floor and went to lunch.


That night was the celebration dinner at Eddie Deen's Ranch. It was so fun! They passed hors d'oeuvres, had a Margarita Bar and had food stations with all kinds of food from Quesadillas, to stuffed Avocados, to Filet Mignon. A great band was playing and they taught us all kinds of line dances. It was a blast! Then it was time to go home and catch up on some sleep to wake up for the Awards Ceremony.