I Won!!!! And The New Challenge Is…

Just got home from another great evening with friends B and M and found out…I WON BATTLE EGGPLANT!!!  I am so psyched!  First of all, because I never win anything.  And second of all because it was for my Roasted Ratatouille which was a recipe/technique that I sort of made up as I went along.  I sent the remainder of the dish to a potluck the Sunday after I made it and only a squeaky clean dish came home, so 5 out of 5 lesbians agreed that it was one pretty darn good eggplant dish!

However, I have to say that all along I thought I had a pretty good shot at winning.  Not because the other dishes weren’t great–they all looked amazing and I hope to give them all a try at some point. No, the reason that I thought I would win is because as soon as I put up my first entry, I knew what my ingredient would be for the next challenge should I be chosen as the winner.  With the other two challenges I competed in, I hadn’t a clue.  However, a dear friend sent me an incredibly decadent recipe with this ingredient which I will make as my contribution for August, but will not be judged.  And I just can’t WAIT to see what everyone creates with this one, so I hereby announce that The August Culinary Smackdown is…..Battle BACON!!!

So, in the famous (or infamous) words of Mark Bittman, “If you want people to be happy, give them bacon”  I challenge all you food bloggers out there to do your best and bring home the bacon!

Here’s how it works:

1. Prepare a dish that includes bacon and as many other ingredients as you choose. If you’re inspired to make more than three dishes, please self-select which you wish to enter.

2. Post at least one photo and as much description as care to on your blog, then come back and leave a comment here letting everyone know you’re “up.” If you don’t have a blog, email me, and I’ll do my best to include you.  Email is mrfsealah AT hotmail DOT com.

3. Recipes are helpful but not required. If you base your dish on a recipe you found elsewhere, please do the right thing and credit/link to the source. If you wing it (as I did for my ratatouille) that’s fine too. But it would be swell if you gave us a clue as to your ingredients/methods even without measurements.

4. Deadline is August 31.  I will make my own dish as noted above but it will not be a contender.  I will have the final say as to the winner to whom the Culinary Smackdown torch will be passed, and I will post the results the following week.

Happy Cooking, and thanks again to Eggy for reviving this most fun contest!