After spending countless hours pouring over hundreds of submissions, we finally narrowed down the Gourmet Live First Anniversary Contest entries to a select few that told stories of the intersect between food and love. And after even further review, the editors voted to decide on one winner. And that winner is … Joette Palzer!
You can read Joette’s winning entry below:
We threw our tent and sleeping gear in the car, put our ancient aluminum canoe on the roof rack and drove to our favorite alpine lake in the Klamath Mountains of Northern California. It was a last minute decision to escape civilization for just one night, to celebrate our 35th anniversary at our special place. It was to be more a sleep-out than a camping trip. We didn’t plan a meal, just took a few things from the garden, a couple items from the cupboard and a chilled bottle of Pinot Grigio. We hoped something edible would develop.
I paddled while my husband fished from the canoe, employing a grey-hackle, peacock-body fly I had tied for him as a tiny anniversary gift. Before long a trout was on his line. He played it for an hour before we concluded it was larger than we could land in the boat. It measured longer than our landing net and was too heavy to hoist aboard. Paddling hard, I beached the boat, jumped out and tackled the lunker rainbow on the shore—marital teamwork at its best!
We stuffed the fish with rosemary sprigs, brushed it with olive oil; roasting it over coals until the charred skin peeled easily away from the moist, pink flesh. We sliced and sautéed a giant puffball (found erupting between tire tracks of a forest road) with fresh poblano chiles, onions and tomatoes from our garden. It was a succulent, serendipitous, and romantic feast.
Congratulations to Joette, who has won a gourmet getaway to Hong Kong valued at $29,000! Joette will be enjoying a luxurious five-night stay for two at the Intercontinental Hong Kong in the spectacular Terrace Suite, as well as round-trip airfare on Cathay Pacific Airlines, private dim sum classes, dinner for two at the one-Michelin star SPOON by Alain Ducasse, $5,000 cash, and more.
Thank you all for your submissions and for helping us celebrate the first anniversary of Gourmet Live in style!
