Tag Archives: competition

Summer competitions: Seattle chocolate salon, Vancouver blueberry festival

Ahhh, summer. All I want to do is sit on a porch eating cherries, discarding the stems and pits wherever they land. Maybe, if I’m feeling ambitious, I’ll cut up some watermelon and have a seed-spitting contest—but only if I know I can win. Or hey, there’s always long afternoons on sunny patios with endless pitchers of sangria.

Still, it seems to be a season for competition. In fact, there are two coming up next week: the Seattle Luxury Chocolate Salon and the Vancouver Farmers Markets blueberry bake-off. I’m happy to say that I’ll be judging at both of them.

Seattle Luxury Chocolate Salon

As luck would have it, this chocolate salon always coincides with a heat wave. Call it fate. It’s a little unfortunate, since it makes it difficult to really taste the chocolate (less snappy, more squooshy) but it’s still great to see a room full of chocolate fiends. With a nice mixture of bean-to-bar producers, confection makers, this is usually a fun event.

Tickets are $25 at the door. The event runs from 11:00 a.m. to 5:00 p.m. Sunday, July 11 at the Bell Harbor Conference Center (2211 Alaskan Way, Pier 66).

Vancouver Farmers Markets blueberry bake-off

I make a weekly trip to the Main Street farmers market, where I load up on gorgeous fruits and vegetables. Whether it’s luscious cherries, delicate summer squash or insanely fresh spring garlic, the market is one of the highlights of my week. I go for the hard-to-find stuff: collard greens, zucchini flowers, heirloom tomatoes. And I have been known to walk away with pounds and pounds of fruit: cherries, apricots, strawberries, raspberries.

And now, blueberries!

To celebrate the bounty of B.C. blueberries, the Vancouver Farmers Market is having a blueberry muffin competition. I’m, ahem, helping them out as a judge. I’m charitable like that. They’re accepting entries until Monday. More information is available on the blueberry muffin competition entry form (opens a pdf).

And even if you’re not entering, check out one of the faboo farmers markets that run across this fine city of ours.

EAT! Vancouver chocolate competition

EAT! Vancouver is this weekend and I’ll be checking out some of the sessions. Aside from general trade show excitement, I’m looking forward to the beer and chocolate session (aptly named “Beer + Chocolate”) that’s taking place on the Grapes & Hops Stage. It’s presented by the guys at Just Here for the Beer. There’s one at 5:30 pm on Friday and 1:30 pm on Saturday.

In addition to the trade show and seminars, there’s also a chocolate competition. Competitors are judged on three components: bonbons/pralines, plated desserts, and chocolate sculptures. I’m excited and nervous. It will be nice to be on the other side of the table. In theory, I won’t end up covered in chocolate. But, hey, you never know. Judging starts at 11 am, which means that I’ll be having chocolate for brunch. I know that sounds awesome, but I’ve cleared out my afternoon for some serious napping to recover.

EAT! Vancouver runs from May 28-30, 2010, at the new Vancouver Convention Centre. If you buy your tickets online, you get $3 off the door price.

Maybe I’ll see you there?