Friday, December 28, 2007

Iron Chef - Couples Edition

The last couple of dinners at our place have been really fun. I came up with a contest that we’ve dubbed “Iron Chef - Couples Edition”, where each couple is in charge of making dinner. The contest pits my sisters and I (partnered with our significant others) against each other. Armed with mom’s recipes and our limited but somewhat worthy culinary abilities we did our best. Our mantra has been “passion makes up for skill”. Surprisingly the results have been quite good. For starters the food is well-prepared and delicious (and the presentation has been pretty awesome too). But more than that, it has made dinners something to look forward to and has really tested how well each couple works together and complements each other.

First Night:
Contenders: Joy and Marc
Culinary Theme: East meets West
Dishes: Salpicao (beef tenderloin with lots of garlic), Broccoli with oyster sauce, Nido soup with scallops
Overall comments: Really tasted home-cooked (mom would have been proud!), nice touch – using scallops in the soup, the beef was so tender, and the broccoli cooked well (and not wilted), loved all that garlic!

Second Night:
Contenders: Joanne and Jojo
Culinary Theme: A Little Taste of Italy
Dishes: Spaghetti with meatballs and sundried tomatoes, fresh tomato and cucumber salad with balsamic vinegar and feta cheese, sourdough bread
Overall comments: The salad was so refreshing and light, spaghetti cooked al dente, meatballs were really good, the spaghetti sauce was just right, and the bread was hot and crusty.

Third Night:
Contenders: Jenny and Mark
Culinary Theme: Mexican Fiesta
Dishes: Tostadas with all the fixings – ground turkey, refried beans, tomatoes, lettuce, onions, cheese, two kinds of taco sauce, avocadoes and sour cream
Overall comments: We can’t believe it’s turkey and “no fat” refried beans (so healthy!), really good and interactive too, the buffet was well presented and all the ingredients for a good tostada were complete.

Results:
After a secret voting process, where all the participants cast their secret ballots, the winners of Iron Chef Couples (Part 1) is …. Couple number 2: my hubby and I! Woohoo!

Winner’s Speech:
We’d like to thank our worthy competitors – good job everyone!!! We’d like to thank our mom (the original Iron Chef) for her guidance and support. We’d like to thank Dad, Jim, Jules, and everyone else who’s reading this blog – even if they really had nothing to do with this contest!

10 comments:

Anonymous said...

Can't wait for round two... we'll beat you guys!!!:) But I do agree, all the food served and prepared were great!:) Thanks to mom too for the recipes.:)

Anonymous said...

I was the one who posted the comment above!:) Sorry my name didn't appear at first...hahaha:)

Marc T said...

This was a great experience! All the food served were exceptional! Joy and I will prepare different succulent dishes and hopefully win in the next round. :)

Anonymous said...

A marvelous, fantastic and wonderful contest that can foster competition, cooperation among the group members and a great homecooked dinner. You never seem to run out of great ideas! More regular blogs, please.

Anonymous said...

this is such a fun blog entry!!!

Congratulations to the winners and the contenders =)

I saw the pics in Joy's multiply....i think everyone is a Winner =) (safe answer =) )

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Lisa said...

Tried Nido soup last year from like www.geocities.jp/hongkong_bird_nest/index_e.htm . Tastes really good... yeah, I thought it was gross at first, but wow, you won't regret it.

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