Thursday, October 28, 2010

Iron Chef Date Night

It's true. Dan and I are cool. Even if I have to state it myself on a blog. We are trying to date more, and one of our ideas was for a group of us to do Iron Chef. It turned out more like Master Chef if you are cool like us and watch cooking shows on Hulu, but only if you're cool like that would you know these things. So we sent out invitations (which I was pretty proud of ps by-the-way) and asked some of our friends to join us for an evening to "Create a culinary masterpiece that will be judged on taste, presentation, and creativity." We stayed up the night before watching Julie & Julia (or Julia & Julie) to prepare...not a bad movie...don't know if I would recommend it, but it was about cooking, and we're cool like that. Are you convinced yet?We gave everyone instructions to bring one meat (or protein) and two other ingredients or spices and we would provide the rest. I'll have to say that our kitchen was really crowded, but it was awesome just the same. Everyone had 45 minutes to cook something. It ended up being more like an hour because ... let's face it... we aren't chef's and for cooking in someone else's kitchen using who knows what is no easy task. Here's how it turned out.The Pelton's brought fish and steamed that...and did other fishy stuff that I don't understand and never will. They also bake that yummy looking apple and stuffed it with yummy goodness. While I personally didn't appreciate the fish (and Ginger admitted that she chose that so I'd have to taste it...little stinker) the apple was divine, and look at their plating! Awesome!The Pence's created a yummy chicken stir fry, while not only making it up on the spot, but taking care of their twins as well. Again look at that plating. Actually, I keep looking at his hat. Don't you love that! I've got to get one of those for all those time I want to feel like a cook! Christmas is coming, so I'm just saying...I'd look awesome (or funny) in one of those hats.Because we are Johnson's we picked beef. And apparently because we're us and don't do healthy food we chose to deep fry it. What could be better than thinly sliced steak marinated and cooked to perfection by Dan and wrapped with chunks of cheddar cheese in a biscuit fried in oil then smothered in a cheese sauce? Then, to top it off ... cube up some apples and cook those with lemon juice and sugar, and stick them in cream cheese, wrap them up in a biscuit and fry those as well...not to mention a sugar glaze over it. Well, we haven't died of a heart attack yet. All of the finished master pieces...framed by our ingredient table. We wanted to go to the DI and get a really ugly trophy (or make it really ugly) for the winner, but we forgot till the end. So we just agreed that someone else would host Iron Chef again, and it will be more awesomeness. Proof that I tried fish. They didn't get a picture of my face after wards which was probably a good thing. And just a goober picture of Dan because he's cool, and I love him!

6 comments:

Ma & Pa J. said...

I am sooooooo impressed! What a fun date.

Andrea said...

What a cool idea. I'm not sure if Matt would go for something like that or not, but I should try. Oh, and next time you should all have the dishes on the same style of plate. The white made it easier to see the pretty "plating". Marvelous job. Who won?

Loni said...

Where did you learn about iron chef and how did you plan this party?
We just recently heard about "iron chef" and had two different families tell us about them doing it, but they provided 'secret' ingredients for all participants so everyone uses the same stuff, but invents how it will be prepared.
The entire things sounds fun and interesting to me.

michelle said...

Did something like it in Minnesota for a church adult party...I don't think we got the concept right, but we had fun. Love the pics!!!

Hill Family said...

Great idea! I love how you write things.

Becky said...

You are cool. :) (Emphasis on ARE... you ARE cool!)