#28: cooking with tea - November 2011

Tea cookoff was held on the 22nd of November at Veronica's lovely Kitsilano apartment. Definitely one of the nicer kitchens most of us have had the chance to use for cookoff purposes. Her husband Frederic was quite hospitable as well, gathering dishes, pouring wine for everyone, making sure we could find things we needed. We had a fair number of people in the house, too, 17 or 18 I think, and more than enough wine to make sure everyone was very happy.

COMPETITORS AND ENTRIES
Amanda: "Chinese garden in spring" oolong-smoked tofu and steeped dandelion greens in a sweet broth with candied tea leaves and orange rind

Jen: "AHH! CHAMOMILE!" creamy potato leek chamomile soup with nutmeg sour cream

Kate: "green stuff" kale, pear, nettles and cilantro blended with green tea and lemon

Malloreigh: "miso teabagged" green tea miso broth with shiitake mushrooms, green beans, bok choy, and rooibos-poached tofu

Laryssa: "teapots de crème" coconut-pumpkin chai custard topped with chai apricots & cranberries and citrus-candied almonds

Sarah: "cuppa cake" earl grey spelt cupcakes with vanilla bean frosting

Dan: "apple mountain pie" coconut chai apple pie with gingerbread black tea ice cream, garnished with star anise

Veronica: "banana blue-tea" banana rooibos raw ice cream with blueberry rooibos compote


Both Sarah and Kate were competing for the first time. Also in attendance were Jeff Downer, Justine, Frederic, Yaara, Marina, Dan's roommate Brandy, and three other friends of Dan's whose names I can't recall.

CATEGORIES AND WINNERS
seconds: Jen
presentation: Amanda
creativity: Amanda/Kate/Dan
tea-nacity: Dan
overall: Jen

overall winner: Jen

we also forgot to vote for the best name category, so maybe leave your favourite dish name in the comments!