My girl's family has a cook-off on the Fourth of July and this year was my first year of competition. After sampling a few recipes we landed on our entree, side dish and dessert. The contest has few rules, the most important of which is that everything must be made from scratch. We went up against her step-father and her brother-in-law.

We were confident.

We were prepared.

We lost.

I got a greater sense of the urgency that must be felt on Iron Chef, trying to finish that last dish before time is called. The competition was stiff. The 20+ guests milling around added pressure. Our offering:

Entree: Honey-Chile Barbecued ribs
Side dish: Twice-Baked Bleu Cheese Potatos
Dessert: Cinnamon Sugar Roasted Pears with Homemade Vanilla Ice Cream

That's strong ju-ju, I don't care where you're from. Then the competing dishes were revealed. I gulped. We may be in trouble.

Brother-in-law offered:

Entree: Spicy Lime Chicken Tostada with Fresh Guacamole (it was a treat to watch him make the tortillas)
Side dish: Saffron Mexican Rice
Dessert: Pineapple Mango Empanada with Caramel Sauce and Homemade Vanilla Bean Ice Cream garnished with Grilled Pineapple

Step-father:

Entree: Chorizo-Stuffed Pork Loin with Fresh Salsa
Side dish: Tex-Mex Creamed Corn
Dessert: Grilled Pound Cake with Mango, Whipped Cream, Slivered Almonds and Chocolate Sauce.

The decision basically came down to the dessert. We lost by five points. If our pears had been fresher, if we'd have picked them up from the farmer's market on Tuesday and threw them in a paper sack we could have walked away with at least one trophy. Oh well. At least everyone kept coming up and telling us that the ribs were the shit. That was cool. Anyway, I love me some Koegel's and burgers but this beat the shit out of normal Fourth fare. Over twenty people walked away (slowly) stuffed. For anyone interested I'll post our recipes in a few days. After all this we went through $600 in professional grade fireworks and then crashed a hot tub party. Good times.