I was always the tomboy. Football on Sundays, projects with Dad in the garage, spending every last minute of daylight playing in the woods…if anyone was excused from housework, I generally was the lucky one. My inability to cook macaroni or peel a potato without risk of injury was possibly a contributing factor as well; Rice-a-Roni, Progresso soup, and chips and salsa were pretty gourmet as far as my cooking skills were concerned. All of my sisters and I went away to boarding school at about age 16; when the eldest left, the 2nd eldest became Mom’s kitchen helper, and so on, with the exception of 4th-eldest Jessica. I believe my Mom was legitimately concerned for my well-being when I moved off campus and off the cafeteria meal plan. Honestly, there was a point about 6 months into my first job and living solo that I thought, “Hey! I’m still alive, and not malnourished! I must be able to cook!”

I digress.

Sabbath dawned sunny and windy, and I crawled out of my sleepsack and into my warmest layers to make an early phone call to the world’s newest 5-year-old. I got smiles for my rendition of happy birthday my niece, then carried on with preparations for church.

Katherine had made a delicious loaf for lunch, and we managed to annihilate Amy chance of leftovers. We took a short hike in the Manawatu Gorge so I could get a final dose of the New Zealand bush (sniff), then back for a quick supper.

Katherine had called me last week while I was in Golden Bay to ask if I was interested in participating in a church-sponsored MasterChef event the coming weekend. With the background provided earlier, you can imagine my hesitation. But the alternative was packing for my flight the next day, and I’d enjoyed Katherine’s fine culinary talents for our 3-week road trip, so I agreed to be part of a team of 3.

MasterChef is a televised cooking show that asks individuals to create various dishes from items in a “mystery box”, which is generally quite eclectic. All items must be used in part or whole, and at least one ingredient must “shine” in the dish (i.e. don’t put just a single leaf of spinach in and call it a day). A pantry is provided, with various items of produce and seasonings.

Our church version was very much the same. It was held in the local academy Home economics classroom, so there were 10 stations with the basic kitchen supplies, as well as range and oven. After a brief explanation of the rules – including instruction to create an entree, side dish, and dessert with out mystery box ingredients – we were given permission to open our “boxes” (brown paper sacks) and use 10 minutes to develop our meal plans.

Mystery box contents:

⁃ 1 t vanilla extract

⁃ 1 orange

⁃ 1 c peanut butter

⁃ 1 sachet raspberry and strawberry tea

⁃ 3 eggs

⁃ 1 can vegetarian mince

⁃ 1 can diced tomatoes

⁃ 1/4 pumpkin

The Coo Coo Cookers, our group of three – Katherine, myself, and a church member named Craig – bounced multiple ideas around, each one stymied by one of the ingredients. Lasagna! Not with peanut butter. Curry and rice! Not with mince and gravy. Katherine came up with the master menu: cannelloni with pumpkin satay filling and a tomato + mince sauce, side salad, and orange dream bars (recipe courtesy of Google).

The starting gong sounded, and we were off to the pantry to claim our needed items. The next 90 minutes were filled with clattering of pots and pans, laughter, and yells of “Where’s the salt? ….Who has the oil? …Looking for cinnamon!”

I tried to be as helpful as possible, acting as sous chef as Katherine manned the entree and Craig the dessert. I was tasked with finding a dressing for the salad, which took much too long, I figured. Finally, a salad of julienned spinach and broccoli with shaved carrot curls and a pumpkin purée vinaigrette emerged. Katherine had the cannelloni in the oven and Craig was finishing up a berry compote with tea infusion to top the citrus dream bars (oranges were in high demand, so he’d improvised with some lemons). Cries of “15 minutes remaining!” and so on sounded at regular intervals, and heart rates were quickened. We plated our dishes with care, the citrus and berry bars garnished with mint, orange slice, and orange zest and the salad resting on a bed of carrot curls; then stepping back from the bench when the timer alarmed.

The three judges had quite the deliberation, as no two dishes were the same. Entrees ranged from mini shepherd’s pies to eggplant stew, and desserts from peanut butter smoothies to brightly colored pancake stacks. The mood was jovial as teams perused each other’s dishes, sampling with permission. We dug into our dishes and were overall pleased with the results, if not wishing we’d had just a few more minutes for the oven.

After more than an hour, the scores were in. Judges shared praise for each team, then announced the third, second, and first place winners, giving each their prize.

I was really quite pleased with our meal, and allowed myself some pride in the teamwork effort to produce it. But boy was I surprised when they named the Coo Coo Cookers winners of the 2018 Feilding MasterChef!!

We posed with our prize – a trophy cup and a box of Cadbury chocolates – and smiled amidst cheers. What a delightful evening!