Marcia Miller: Des Moines' blue-ribbon neighbor

My neighbor Marcia Miller is one of the state fair's annual culinary champs.

• She's been entering the competitions since 2000 and has, for years, labeled and given me samples after they've been judged.

State of play: This year she has 39 food entries — pies, cookies and cake. And I've scored a taste of nearly all of them.

• On Monday, she won first place in seven pie categories.
• Miller's sour cream raisin meringue — my personal favorite — won in the overall cream pie competition.

Her secret: Persistence.

• The recipes are perfected over multiple tries. Some are years in the making.

1 eye opening thing to go: The judges can serve a cold slice of reality.

• Miller was the only entry in a "cake roll" category in 2016 and was awarded third place.
• "Clearly, my entry wasn't quite ready for the state fair level of competition," she told me.

Check out the winners: Elwell Family Food Center

• 9am-8pm through Sunday.