Wednesday, January 13, 2010

Iron Chef San Jose Winter 2009: Cinnamon

Yummy! What a great way to end the year!

Congratulations to the winners and thank you for all your inventive dishes. I know I definitely enjoyed all of them! Until next time...!

Winter 2009 Overall Winner: Peter/Jocelyn and Roger/Amy

Best Taste
1. Ed
2. Pachi
3. Amy/Roger

Most Original
1. Lulu
2. Jocelyn/Peter
3. Amy/Roger

Best Plating
1. Lulu
2. Patrick
3. Tracy

The dishes:
Tracy: From Adam to Eva
Ed: Cinnamo-Chicken
Pachi: Cinnamon Spice Frozen Delight
Lulu: Zen Garden
Patrick: A Taste of the Swiss Mtns
Jocelyn/Peter: J&P's Deep Fried A$$ Cream
Amy/Roger: Cinnamon Panko Deep Fried Tofu
Melissa: Ancient Secret Holiday Kugel
Karen: Baby's First Apple Chutney and Meatloaf











Sunday, July 12, 2009

Iron Chef San Jose Summer 2009: Mango

Once again, I'm completely floored by the skills of the chefs in this competition!

Such imaginative uses of the secret ingredient - I'm definitely going to have to step up my game next time!

Congratulations to all the winners! Can't wait to see what you make next time.
Summer 2009 Overall Winner: Fan Zhang and Tracy Lin
Best Taste
1. Fan
2. Tracy
3. Karen

Most Original
1. Tracy
2. Fan
3. Diana/Brian

Best Plating
1. Diana/Brian
2. Tracy
3. Fan

The dishes:
Fan: Man-Hole
Tracy: Fancy Mango Soup
Ed: Mango in a Blanket
Pachi: Snowing on Mango Mountain
Lulu: Mango-Misu
Karen: Mango Tango
Jocelyn/Peter: Mango Minus
Diana/Brian: Mouthful of Mangooedness
Tina: Mango Salad
Leo: Mango Crepes




























Sunday, June 14, 2009

Iron Chef San Jose Spring 2009: Mushrooms


























































Sorry about the late post! It's been a busy quarter for your ICSJ hostess! I'm still working on that ICSJ Ning page... hopefully I can put it up sometime this year!


Thanks for all that participated, and all the extra treats from those who attended in on the fun. See you next season!

ICSJ Spring '09 Overall Winner: Fan Zhang (In the Next Room)

Best Taste
1. Seila and Ed (Cambodian Mushroom Soup, Mushy Tips)
2. Fan
3. Emily (Chawanmushi)

Most Original
1. Tracy and Pachi (Space Mistroom 420, Mushroom Resting in Spring)
2. Fan and Patrick (In the Next Room, Smurfette's Dip)
3. Seila

Best Plating
1. Patrick (Smurfette's Dip)
2. Fan
3. Tracy

The 2008 ICSJ Awards Ceremony * note I forgot to announce Tracy's award during the ceremony and found it later! Round of applause for everyone!

Fan: Most Creative Dish Names (Imperial Fly Ly, Monkey Love, Gator Bait, Grand Tetons)Tracy: Highest Originality and Presentation Avg, Most # of Awards
Alex: Most Improved
Jing: Most Consistent
Emily: Most Matching Serving Ware
Ming: Most Memorable Dish Name (I got Crabs)
Ed: Most Surprised Winner
Pachi: Highest Overall Points, 3rd place Presentation Avg score
Lulu: Most Desserts: (Apple/egg pie, Peach Sponge pudding, Lava Flow)
Howard: Most Unexpected Pairing (Cheesy Peachy Crisps)
Yeelo: Best One-TimerMark: 3rd Place Taste Avg score
Seila: Best Use of Host Home Appliances (oven, grill)
Alix: 2nd place Taste and Originality Avg Score
Pascal: Highest Taste to Plating Delta: "I may not look good, but I sure taste good"
Patrick: Most Worth the Wait

Sunday, December 14, 2008

Iron Chef San Jose (Winter 2008): Chocolate



















Dessert Edition! I knew this would be a tough one for me, personally, given my limited baking experience. But it was fun regardless! More newbies (specifically, Frenchman) - so I knew the competition would be fierce.

Congrats to the winners! It's been a great year. Like I said tonight, we've had diversity in the champions so I'm proud to say that everyone has "made" it this year! Thanks for everyone's effort this year - you've definitely made some good meals for me. :)

The dishes:
Mark/Liz: Gimme Smore Cupcakes
Pachi: White Christmas Brulee
Tracy: Chocoman
Fan: Grand Teton
Pascal: French Decadence
Alix/Seila: 3-Layer Meltaways
Lulu: Lava Flow
Patrick: Improv and Desperation
Winter 2008 Overall Winner: Lulu Chou
Best Taste: Lulu
Most Original: Tracy
Best Presentation: Lulu















































Sunday, September 14, 2008

Iron Chef San Jose (Fall 2008): Pork

Battle Pork. The chefs once again stepped it up. We're actually getting pretty good at this cooking thing, I think! I was thinking to myself while tasting - everything is really good. And it was difficult to identify one clear winner. The points are relective of this, as the top 5 are all within 5 or so points of each other.

The dishes:
Fan Zhang: Gator Bait
Tracy Lin: Porsh
Alex Kuperman: Happy Piggy Curry
Jing Zhang: Circle of Pork
Emily Wu: Chinese Style Pork
Ming Kuo: Miss Piggy
Edrick Wong: Pork Swords
Pachi Chen-Wong: Pulled Pork Sandwich
LuLu Chou: Pork2Pork
Mark Lee: Mini Pork Daggers
Liz Nguyen: What the Con Heo Tart
Seila Kheang: Grilled Pork
Alix Koyama: Pork Tarts

Again, improvements are being made by several chefs. Keep up the good work!
Fall 2008 Overall Winner: Liz Nguyen
Best Taste: Edrick Wong
Most Original: Fan Zhang and Tracy Lin
Best Plating: Tracy Lin and Pachi Chen-Wong