Cornish Cooking Challenge 2012

On our fist date, Matt asked if I wanted to come over for dinner.  When I got to his house he asked, "What would you like?  Chinese?  Thai? American?"  I was a little surprised that he was just going to whip out something like that, but indeed he did.  We've had Thai food for our anniversary ever since (all 2 of our anniversaries).  Cooking has become, for me, part of our family identity.  Since we mostly have the older kids in the evenings, dinner time is how we spend a lot of our time together.  They kids are all much better in the kitchen then I ever was at their age. So, one weekend when we Kate wasn't a month old yet (so we weren't out n' about much) and we had the kids Matt came up with an idea... and so the Cornish Cooking Challenge was born.

Matt and Emily came up with 5 categories and requirements for each one.  There was drink, appetizer, side dish, main dish, and dessert.  He wrote the requirements on little sticky notes:

(Let me transcribe some of Dr. Cornish's requirements: Dessert: 3 layers, something salty, 2 fresh ingredients.  Drink: no milk, 4+ ingredients, food processor).

We each picked a sticky note and got to work.  (Seeing as I'm recording this some time after the actual event, I can't remember the requirements for each of the categories...darn.)  We could help each other out with ideas, but each person ultimately came up with their own and carried it out.  Here is what we came up with.

I drew the DRINK (phew!).  I created a delicious drink with some frozen strawberries, coconut milk, pineapple, honey, and ice.  It turned out delightful.

Emily was in charge of the APPETIZER.  She toasted bread and  this super tasty spread to go on top.  It was a hit!

 

Matt and Kate had the SIDE DISH and created a yummy tomato cucumber salad with a homemade dressing.  The veggies were out of  our garden and the community garden co-op we participate in.  Mmmm!

 

Tyler was in charge of the MAIN DISH.  With Matt's help he made a yummy sauce to go over some grilled meat and veggies.  Pretty fancy for a main dish on the fly.  But then again, he is his father's son.

And Amy made DESSERT.  She crunched up pretzels for a crust and then made a lemon glaze with some whipped cream on top. 

Emily got the table set, complete with some sunflowers from the yard (yeah for pretty weeds!)

And we sat down to a delicious meal together.  What a great way to spend time together.  Really, a great time together.