I wuz robbed! UPDATED with new pics!

I played host to an Iron Chef competition at my house Saturday night. Matty started this tradition last month, after he and our friend AnneMarie started trash-talking about who could make the better risotto, despite the fact that AM had never made a risotto! Matty ended up winning by a small margin after a 45-minute whirlwind of chopping, stirring, and plating. I didn’t get any pictures of that event, and for some reason the videos I took on my camera will not show on my computer. Hmph.

Niblet was a little freaked at having so many people in his house:

photo by Cari Bogulski

But he soon came out and charmed everyone with his cuteness!

This time around in the Iron Chef, we made soups:


Entries were judged on Presentation, Texture, and Taste using a scale of 1 (blech) to 5 (mouthgasm). Iron Chef: SOUP! featured five contestants.

Chef Anne found a recipe for corn chowder on the intertubes then added her own special touches to the recipe. Her garnish of fresh alfalfa sprouts, crumbled blue chips, and cubed avocado on top really wowed the judges in the Presentation category:

soup close-up photo by Cari Bogulski

Chef Gretchen, whom you may have met on the birding bloggy before, presented a seasonal dish: German Turkey Dumpling Soup, featuring a rich turkey-based broth and huge turkey-filled dumplings:

soup close-up photo by Cari Bogulski

Chef Stefan, our Cute Canadian, impressed everyone by bringing both a vegetarian and a chicken-stock-based version of his Spiced Butternut Soup; here he presents while McMatterson looks dramatic:

soup close-up photo by Cari Bogulski

Eventual winner Chef Mike, who helped me move all my stuff out of Kat’s house exactly two days after we’d met—now there’s a nice guy!—departed radically from the hot soup trend with his own version of Chilled Mango soup decorated with blueberry sauce, strawberry sauce, and fresh blueberries:

soup close-up photo by Cari Bogulski

The amazing things about Mike's victory are that (a) his idea of cuisine is Hot Pockets, so he claims he's not much of a cook, and (b) he developed his own recipe based on the memory of a dish he had once on an Alaskan cruise a few years ago! The champ presents: Note McMatterson's persnicketty little face, as well as Gretchen's sweet dog Domino.

Here's me with my back to the camera, drinking heavily after my Mexican Heritage Bean soup came in last:

soup close-up photo by Cari Bogulski

Here are our celebrity judges: from left: Jeff, veteran judge of both Iron Chef events; AnneMarie, whose mushroom risotto won my heart in the first IC; Cari, a newcomer with a discriminating palate AND a love of birding which makes her A-OK in my book; an intimidated Chef Anne walking back into the audience from presenting her soup; and Dr. Matty McMatterson, risotto champion and all-around foodie snob--not to mention the newest professor at Sonoma State University!
Here, they're explaining how they had to make the toughest decision of their lives that night:

photo by Hans Mike "Mr. Soup" Stapperfend

Dreamy statistician Laurie tabulated the judges' votes:She also made a wonderful Organic Vegetable Soup but declined to compete, offering her dish as a complement to the party atmosphere. Yum! Most of the veggies in it came from her garden.

The winner and reigning Mr. Soup: Mike!

photo by Carie Bogulski

Given the amount of booze consumed, it was almost inevitable that the night would deteriorate. Here's Judge Jeff being appalled at Judge AnneMarie's tasting some of the blueberry sauce Mike used on his Chilled Mango Soup:

photo by Cari Bogulski

And don't you believe it when she claims I forced her to do this.
The next Iron Chef event will feature Casserole/Baked Dish recipes, keeping in line with the “it’s really cold, so let’s make comfort food!” theme so far. The event will be held in mid-January at Chez McMatterson, should you choose to attend or even compete!

Here's another shot of Domino, who was disappointed to find out she was ineligible (no thumbs, illiterate) to judge the soups:
Poor Nom!

What did you do this weekend?