Sunday was an awesome day. Meredith had called some time back to say she was selected along with five other chefs, to be in the Chesapeake Bay Wine Classic Foundation Chef Smackdown at the Virginia Beach Convention Center.
Today was the day. John and I drove up to Virginia Beach and met my party-in-a-box friend, Kay, and her husband, Bill around lunchtime. They had driven in from Old Church to enjoy the day with us.
The convention center was filled with food and wine. Around the perimeter were restaurants giving away samples of their food.
The center of the building was filled with wine companies and every imaginable type of wine you could want and a wine glass was given to all ticket holders. What a fun day!
Basically, it was an Iron Chef competition. On the day of the competition, the six chefs draw names to see who their partner will be. They would be taken to the local sponsoring Farm Fresh Market and given $200 to purchase food. There would be a time limit on preparation: Cocktail 10 minutes, Appetizer 20 minutes, Main Entree 30 minutes, and Dessert 20 minutes. Plus, there would be a secret ingredient revealed just before the start of the competition and it must be used in every dish. No one could bring any other food in.
Secret ingredient was ......OLD BAY SEASONING!
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patrickevanshylton's Chef Smackdown - Chesapeake Bay Wine Classic - 11 April 2010 set
Kevin Brauch from the Iron Chef and Thirsty Traveler was the MC of the event. And, thankfully, he REALLY liked Meredith right from the start. She was paired with Alvin Williams, chef/owner of Cobalt, a restaurant in Virginia Beach. Apparently, he and Meredith worked well together, and their team got the nickname, Chocolate Duo. Kevin Brauch even mentioned watching them in the grocery store with Meredith tabulating the totals as they went through and Kevin pushing the cart for her.
At the end of the day, surrounded by Meredith's friends, I stood there nervous and shaking! Would she win? She had sent an email to me the night before and said she entered to win! Will it happen? As they announced the winners, Meredith and Kevin won the Cocktail Competition and the Main Entree. For the entree, they had pan seared scallops with her handmade ravioli stuffed with blue cheese and crabmeat. But that was enough points to put them over the top for most points and winner of the grand prize!
You can check out my video of the winners being announced. It is really hard to hear with all the noise, but you will hear him cheering on the "Chocolate Duo!"
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7lD1zteJnSE
Also, while walking around, Chris and Phyllis, parents of Meredith's roommate, Ashley, stopped me and introduced themselves. They immediately knew me from my blog and were ever so sweet!
What a wonderful day. Don't have many that are more exciting than this!
PCQ
3 comments:
I am just excited reading about it!! Hungry too!! What fun that must have been!! I am so Proud that I know Meredith!! I have told her story to many too!! Way to go!!!!
Why were they nicknamed the Chocolate Duo? It doesn't make any sense!
Wow! Congrats to Meredith!
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