Tuesday, November 8, 2011

The Food Gods are my Homies

Alright, I don't know what I've done to deserve it, but the food gods are smiling upon me. This past Sunday I had the wonderful opportunity to be a judge at a cooking contest. You read that correctly. I was like the person on Top Chef or Master Chef who gets to have one bite (or more) of everything.

So here's the scoop: Apollo (the English school I work for) hosted a cooking contest in which the teachers and staff at each of the 4 locations competed to present the most diverse, healthy, and delicious assortment of food possible. I have no idea how I ended up being selected to judge, but you don't second-guess that type of thing - you just roll with it. Each of the 4 teams had to produce an assortment of appetizers, main dishes, and a signature cocktail revolving around a theme. As far as I could tell, the theme was "mouth-watering," and they all exceeded my expectations beautifully. There was a great variety of Vietnamese and Western dishes, and for someone who loves having my mouth bombarded with new flavors left and right, I was in heaven.

As I ate my way from one table to the next, I sampled some familiar Vietnamese favorites. An assortment of nem (fried spring rolls) filled with various meats, veggies, and noodles were in full effect. There were shrimp dishes everywhere - sweet and sour shrimp skewers, deep fried coconut shrimp, delicious smoked shrimp bites. Fried potato dumplings with meat and veggie fillings made an appearance. Stir-fried broccoli, cauliflower, and other veggies, oh joy! To compliment these dishes, there was a great assortment of Western offerings as well. A delicious mixed-bean and braised pork stew. Pasta salad with tomatoes and olives. Spaghetti bolognese. And really good caesar salad! Hungry yet??

Beyond the safe and familiar, I also added three new foods to my "bizarre eats" tally:

- Jellyfish tentacles: A really interesting texture; almost crunchy like a thin slice of onion, but with a chewiness reminiscent of calamari. They were prepared with wilted greens and a delicious soy sauce - actually very good!

- Horse meat: Hmmm, not one of my favorites. The bite I had was really chewy and fatty - not sure if it was a bad bite, or if that's just how it is.

- Goat stew: The broth was AMAZING. Thick, full of flavor, almost like a savory gravy. The meat was... okay? I'm not a huge meat eater, so I could take it or leave it. But give me some bread to dip in that gravy!

Definitely one of my favorite work-sponsored gatherings of all time! (Alright, I can't imagine anything beating the Matador staff party at El Gaucho, but this is a very close second.) Some of the administrative assistants from Apollo were smart enough to bring their cameras to document the deliciousness:

IMG_2604IMG_2583IMG_2606IMG_2622IMG_3097IMG_2603IMG_2598IMG_2617

Cooking Contest, a set on Flickr.

No comments:

Post a Comment