These Cooks Prove All’S Fair

There’s no question who was the fairest of the fair in Spokane County this year, at least as far as cooking is concerned.

Penny Westfall of Medical Lake not only won both the Best Spam Recipe Competition and Fleischmann’s Yeast Holiday Bread Competition at the Spokane Interstate Fair, but placed second in the Softasilk Championship Cake contest.

Westfall took home $250 and an assortment of award certificates, ribbons and aprons. She’ll also compete against other Spam contest winners nationwide for a $2,500 shopping spree at the Mall of America.

“It’s kind of my life’s goal to come up with something really good,” said Westfall, who started entering fair cooking contests five years ago in Walla Walla. “This year, I really succeeded.”

Kathy Colkitt of Newman Lake, the runner-up in last year’s Land O’Lakes Butter Best Cookie Contest, finished first in this year’s Softasilk cake competition with her Peanut Butter and Chocolate Delight. She won $100 and a silver-plated cake plate, and advances to the national competition for a $1,000 grand prize.

This year’s Land O’Lakes winner was a cooking-contest newcomer, Veradale’s Robin Carpenter. Her Orange Poppy Seed Cookies also won $100 and could earn an additional $500 and a year’s supply of dairy products in the national competition.

We’ll print the winning recipes in a future edition of IN Food.

TV desserts

Spokane’s public television station, KSPS, is seeking home-tested dessert recipes from viewers for its third annual “Cooking With Friends” pledge-drive marathon Oct. 24.

Entries will be compiled into a cookbook, with 10 people picked to prepare their recipes on the air. Send recipes (typed or printed) by Oct. 2 to: Cooking With Friends, KSPS Public Television, 3911 S. Regal, Spokane, WA 99223.

Charitable brews

Want to sip some suds for a good cause? The annual Oktobrewfest microbrew tasting and auction Oct. 3 at 5:30 p.m. at the Fore Seasons Sports Dome (Interstate 90 at Broadway) benefits the Inland Northwest Chapter of the National Multiple Sclerosis Society.

Admission is $12, which includes four beer tokens; additional samples are $1 each. For tickets or information, call 482-2022.

Brownie-come-lately

A while back, we mentioned we were already receiving press releases for Halloween and even New Year’s Eve. Well, last week’s mail brought a recipe from Hershey’s for “Laborless” Labor Day Brownies — for 1999, we presume.