Cooking in Southern China -

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Another Shunde experience took place on Sunday as we entered the "Shunde Cooking Contest" hosted by the mayor and other gov't officials. Marc came home from work a week ago saying that I had to cook in this contest and I said "no way." First I cannot find the ingredients here to cook any American dishes and I told him I did not want to participate. However he comes home the next day with the recipe I am to use. It is called Asian Stir Fry Chicken with Assorted Peppers, and all the ingredients would be on hand at the contest, all I had to do was show up .So off we go on the day of the contest which took place in the park across the street from our apt. I did it with the understanding that Marc would help and we would both act as though we knew what we were doing. I should know by now that this Chinese events are always a big deal. The CCTV news crews are all around, photographs being taken, distinguished guests, etc....
We went to our first station which was the food prep area. We were under a large canvas but it was about 100 degrees and lots of humidity! You could not escape the heat for sure! After we sliced our peppers and other ingredients we then moved to the cooking station where large woks were set up everywhere. We were assigned our spot and there we proceeded to look like Rachel Ray and Emeril on Food Network. After the chicken dish was cooked we placed it on the garnished plate of cucumbers and carrots. The judge said it was "great", but obviously not great enough to win the grand prize. We were given a very nice glass plaque for participation though. All in all a fun experience where as always new friends were made!

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Photos

Teamwork!
We entered the contest as a cooking team. Not sure what Marc's part was.

Preparation
Working quickly to prepare the ingredients.

The Competition
Very quickly we saw that our limited preparation wasn't going to be good enough!

Support from our Friends
Shirly and Ella joined us to help with translation and encouragement.

Award Winner
One of the winning dishes.

Finishing Touches
Putting the final touches on before the judges arrive.

Friendly Crowd
The crowd looked on as we became the entertainment for the day at the park.

Plenty of Competition
Many different dishes of all kinds made up the contest.

Shunde Mayor
The Mayor was on hand for the contest.

Sampling the Winners
Plenty of dishes to try.

Keeping Cool
Trying to help Chef Janis stay cool in the China heat.

Tough Competition
These guys came well prepared and it showed

Local TV
Plenty of local coverage from the CCTV television station.

Winning Team
Ella and her son came for support.

Friendly Supporters
Plenty of interested locals passing by.

Our Friend Shirly
Shirly now lives in Guangzhou, but comes back to Shunde every weekend.

Ella's Family
Family outing on a hot September afternoon at the park.

Volunteer Workers
Everyone enjoyed the contest even the volunteers.

Competitors
Our competitors has been practicing a lot more than we had.

Winning Dish
Looked pretty good, but we were afraid to try it.

Comments

[Judy]

A+ for your efforts
Hey, that looks like so much fun!!! Congratulations for your efforts and making new friends.... the Mayor no less. Was it really "Asian" stir fry or "American" stir fry?

[Big Daddy]

Good Morning Shundi
This look,s like it should it should be on "Good Morning America"