Monday, January 19, 2009

Battle Cindy

After Rick beat Cindy in the last Tinfoil Chef, he was supposed to next go up against Violet's Friend. But then Cindy's man, J.G.G., asked for a surprise birthday tinfoil chef challenge featuring "Cindy's Favorite Things" on Saturday, Violet's friend had to work, so I was roped in to challenge Rick. This was all, of course, much to Peanut's chagrin. I decided that rather than try to remember Cindy's favorite foods, I would go with a thematic approach and prepare dishes that reminded me of her, her past, and her personality. Here were my feature raw ingredients:





Cindy has a very... um... embarrassing? no... vibrant... past, that includes re-enacting the Civil War. So, the first thing I made Saturday morning was some hardtack.



This is a very hard and dry bread that Civil War soldiers ate during battle, and looks like this:

But, that was served only after Peanut and I transported all of our food to Rick and Jack's house, and started the evening off by making Cindy a Flirtini (should be obvious why I chose this drink- it's made with 2 parts champagne, 2 parts pineapple juice, and 1 part vodka- Rick made sangria, but I forgot to take a picture!!!):



For my appetizer, I served Shrimp Bisque. Why does this remind me of Cindy? Well, it was the appetizer she made when she beat me at the first tinfoil chef almost a year ago. I served the hardtack with the bisque.



Rick, on the other hand, started things off with a with his own muffaletta (a sandwich native to New Orleans), with his own homemade muffaletta bread and a small cup of delicious French onion soup!


On her actual birthday, Cindy and I had drinks together at Rick's place of employ where we discussed, among other things, our support for the Palestinians in Gaza. I decided to break out my Axis of Evil Cookbook and make a traditional Palestinian dish: Maqlubeh, which is an upside-down meat and vegetable rice casserole made with lamb, zucchini, peppers, and cauliflower and is quite delicious!


Rick, on the other hand, pulled a true Cindy and made quite an amazing citrus infused pork loin.


Then came dessert. Rick bought special materials and made (i.e., deep-fried!!!) cannoli's.


This is where I begin to suspect foul play- look who helped him fill the cannoli's?


I, on the other hand, took a more... low-key (?) approach and make Cindy a dessert that I thought she would especially enjoy: dirt. This is the famed dish of layered Oreo crumbs and vanilla pudding, with gummy worms throughout, served in a flower pot, and decorated with homemade flowers:



The Result? I lost. Again. BY FIFTY POINTS! And before you think I was shafted because it was hosted at Rick's while I had to transport everything, Jack made it clear that I lost mostly in the taste category. Phew! That was a relief (yes- that was a hint of sarcasm). I didn't get a pic of all of the judges who conspired against me, but please give a hard time to at least the following culprits:

ZERO:


ANNI-FRID & PEANUT:


LADY, EMILY, & EMILY'S PARENTS:

1 comment:

Scott Shappell said...

While Matt was doing the dishes, the disposal made a terrible noise. He was afraid he'd ruined a utensil, but it turned out to be your hard tack. Just sayin'.