Cook Off Party / 23 Courses of Deliciousness

Saturday night was the night of the Cook Off party at Jake's apt. Jake was telling Bron and I how a lot people weren't going to be able to make it for one reason or another, so we thought it was going to be a smaller dinner party, until we started setting the table for 23 people! I don't know if I could even have 23 people standing in my apt at home, let alone sitting down to eat a 23 course meal. Everyone brought a dish, most were appetizers, we had about 4 mains & 4 different desserts (Bron's dessert took 2nd place!) Everything was absolutely amazing - Jake & Bron are awesome cooks, so I'm glad they're helping me cook on 'American Night' this Tuesday. Lara & Dom, neighbors from down the road took 3rd place in the cook off with their prawns, and they'll also be joining us for some American cuisine this wk. (Thanks all for your suggestions on dishes).

Our table setting - hand cut jasmine from the front porch :)

Rob hand rolling his homemade gyoza - the winning dish of the night.

Jake explaining the rules & ballots...every dish was ranked 1 to 5 and a section for 'notes'. This was no joke.

Hannah's ribs on the grill!

Jake's mushroom, red pepper & goat cheese tarts.

Bron & Alex - sibling love at the dinner table. Alex works at Ogilvy Sydney on IBM - with my old co-worker Molly Wagman (originally from the NYC office). I used to work with Molly on IBM too - and am meeting her for dinner this week - again it's a very small, small world.

Bron serving her homemade lemon ice cream, raspberry cooley & biscotti - all made from scratch - very impressive and worthy of the 2nd place medal.

The winners - Rob & Anna with their trophy- homemade gyozas which were unreal.

Some of the girls - Loren (Loz & I work together at Saatchi - and she's a good friend of Jake's), Danielle (Natalie's roommate) and Lara (Jake's good friend and neighbor). Such a fun night!! :)