Battle Sambuca

Cindy thinks she's a better cook than me, so we decided to battle it out. We met on Friday at Grillfish with our sous-chefs/significant others and came up with a list of ten potential "secret ingredients." We met the next morning at 11 AM in Malcolm X Park and chose one from a bag:
We had to cook at least three dishes containing Sambuca and take them to Brad's house by 7PM. Our expert panel of judges consisted of Brad, Bill, Teague, and Teague's sister EJ, who was visiting from ALASKA!
My appetizer was an oyster shooter, which was a shucked raw oyster (store bought, I was not even going to attempt to shuck myself!), homemade spicy cocktail sauce, topped with Sambuca. Cindy's appetizer was endive filled with a salmon-Sambuca spread.

For our next dish, Cindy wowed the judges with a shrimp bisque. I made salad with a Sambuca vinaigrette (juice of a lemon, 2 T Sambuca, 2 cloves garlic, 2 T basil, and pepper).

For my main course, I made a pork sausage lasagna with a homemade Sambuca tomato sauce. People loved it, but it was a bit too sweet for me.

Cindy made pork tenderloin with a grapefruit Sambuca slaw. This is how they were served, to save plates. We get zero points for plating, at least for this dish.

Inspired by my mother, I then made some Sambuca creme brulee. I even caramelized the sugar at Brad's house for dramatic effect. Cindy made Sambuca brownies served with Sambuca whipped cream. Oh, I also wore this vest to distract Cindy, who covets it.

Sous-chefs J.G.G and Peanut shared and intimate moment in Brad's bedroom during the judging.

And the winner is....
Cindy! Look at what a good loser I am- all smiles on the outside but tears on the inside. I'm kidding! It was lots of fun, but if I never see, smell, or taste Sambuca again, that would be a-o.k.