Sunday, November 27, 2011

#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
Chinese garden in spring
Jen: "AHH! CHAMOMILE!" creamy potato leek chamomile soup with nutmeg sour cream
AHHH! CHAMOMILE!
Kate: "green stuff" kale, pear, nettles and cilantro blended with green tea and lemon
green stuff
Malloreigh: "miso teabagged" green tea miso broth with shiitake mushrooms, green beans, bok choy, and rooibos-poached tofu
miso teabagged
Laryssa: "teapots de crème" coconut-pumpkin chai custard topped with chai apricots & cranberries and citrus-candied almonds
coconut-pumpkin chai custard
Sarah: "cuppa cake" earl grey spelt cupcakes with vanilla bean frosting
cuppa cake
Dan: "apple mountain pie" coconut chai apple pie with gingerbread black tea ice cream, garnished with star anise
apple mountain pie
Veronica: "banana blue-tea" banana rooibos raw ice cream with blueberry rooibos compote
banana blue-tea

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!