The Boga Blog: December 2011

Thanks again to everyone for voting in the Boga Bake-Off! Watching votes come in and seeing cookies jockey for first-third places provides us with hours of entertainment. This year we reached a record high number of votes (190!) compared to last year's 153. And for the first time in Boga Bake-Off history, Doug's winners aligned with the popular vote. The top three cookies were:

1st Place: Bogas in a Balloon by Mom (32 votes)

2nd Place: Christmas Stewie by Robin (28 votes)

3rd Place: Mrs. Claus by Cousin Ellen (21 votes)

We were also a little shocked when we first saw Cousin Ellen's inaugural entry of Mrs. Claus, but the vulgar yet artistic cookie earned its rightful spot in the Boga Bake-Off with its third place finish. You could say that Cousin Ellen hustled the Chiribogas, feigning limited artistic talent as we began to decorate. But she completed her cookie entries with Time for Boga Bake-Off and Yuletide Toilet. Cousin Barry (Ellen's husband), a social media consultant, stuck to his roots and made the iCookie and Facebook cookie - one of our artist relatives said they exuded "sheer elegance."

You may also be wondering about Tim's cookie entry. When we asked Tim what colors he wanted, or shape he needed to make his cookie, he cavalierly replied "It doesn't matter." Tim's efforts produced the Jackson Pollock cookie, which was met with rounds of laughter and immediately dismissed by the Bogas as a true contender. But despite Tim's limited artistic ability and attention to detail, the people truly appreciated Tim's cookie and it battled for third place the entire contest with Mrs. Claus, AND with Robin's Can't Get No Satisfaction. Jackson Pollock finished in a strong fourth place with 17 votes.

While Robin was sweating about the third place race with Can't Get No Satisfaction (a last minute addition to the Bake-Off), Christmas Stewie was her strongest entry. The late night voters shot it to first place during the first night, while Bogas in a Balloon lagged with only a few votes. But as the Family Guy fans went to bed, Christmas Stewie fell behind and never regained its first place ranking. Robin's final cookie was I'm Dreaming of a White Christmas...as existing fans know, Christmas trees never win the Boga Bake-Off.

While Robin was producing her strong entries, Cousin Ellen was flexing her artistic muscles, and Tim was creating an apparent contender(!!), Jamie struggled to make a winning cookie to match last year's champion (Russian Ornament, holler). The Grinch's Christian Louboutins was her strongest entry, playing to the female audience, gaining 12 votes. She attempted a detailed cookie with Snow Flower, but it fell flat, and then the camera fell on the cookie during picture taking. Jamie also flubbed a pop culture shoe-in with the Hunger Games cookie. If people couldn't tell, the yellow blob was supposed to be the Cornucopia, the people were Katniss and Peeta, there were flaming trees to the right and lightning to the left...but it all looked like a hot mess. Also, apparently items fall out of the bottom of the Cornucopia, and are not stacked on levels of the Cornucopia as Jamie thought.

And finally - our champion - Mom with Bogas in a Balloon! This cookie really never disappoints, as Mom takes the time to draw each Boga with the greatest attention to detail, and creates a unique setting for the Bogas year after year. The balloon inspiration came from Albuquerque's annual Balloon Fiesta, which she brainstormed in the weeks leading up to the Boga Bake-Off. She also continued her second franchise (Baby Jesus in a "blank"), but the people were not as entertained this year, and it tied for last place only earning 4 votes.

Here are the final tallies - thanks again for participating, and see you next year!