..iron chef, round III..

dear finn,

last night we went down to the walker's house for round III of our iron chef competition. i always look forward to this night, not only because it is a fun opportunity to whip up a dish that i never would otherwise, but also just because it is fun to go to a different house each month and spend time with our friends. the ingredient this month was mint...i was very curious to see what everyone would make, cut certain that the dishes would be delicious. i also knew that kristin would host a fabulous party, and i was right on both accounts!

we were in charge of bringing a salad. i knew a salad could never win us the competition, so i decided to go for best in presentation. i made a citrus salad, garnished with mint and chives, and served with a lime-mint dressing. the recipe called for blood oranges, cara cara oranges, navel oranges and a pink grapefruit, and surprisingly the salad turned out quite delicious. also quite surprisingly, i won two categories.....presentation and creativity!! boo yeah. :)

all the food was delicious. the clark's brought chicken skewers, and the chicken was marinated in some type of lime sauce, i believe. the ferrell's brought potatoes that had mint in them. i never would have thought of putting mint in potatoes, but they were very delicious! the walker's were in charge of the main dish, so dan made a turkey with a cranberry-mint reduction sauce, and it was amazing. i wish i could get the recipe, but dan is one of those talented chef's, like grandma, who don't ever go by recipes. darn them. ;) the mcconnel's brought the dessert, and they took home the grand prize and winner of this month's iron chef competition with their incredibly yummy mint ice cream cake. it had a brownie base, vanilla ice cream in the middle and some type of mint marshmallow cream to top it off and it was to die for! they definitely deserved that grand prize.

you had kind of a rough night. you cried for a good half an hour, and neither dad or me could figure out what was wrong with you. :( we tried everything...changing your diaper, feeding you solids, feeding you a bottle. we borrowed some medicine from mr. krew, and maybe that's what did the trick because eventually you stopped crying. after dinner we all went downstairs to play games, and the walker's have a great play room so we put you in there with krew and madi and watched the three of you play together. it was really cute. :)

as always, we had a great time with all our friends, and am already looking forward to next month's iron chef competition, which will be at the mcconnel's house. they haven't told us what the ingredient is yet, but i already know the dishes will be delicious.

love,
mom