Taking on New Adventures

Thanks to my time at Dinner Lab, I was introduced to the amazing event, Hogs for the Cause. This event is a BBQ cooking contest that’s more on fun(draising) for families of pediatric brain cancer patients. The teams range from the home-chefs who love to grill and smoke to the professional, big-name chefs in the area. It’s grown and I’m fortunate to be a part of it.

In 2015, I joined the only all-female team, Sweet Swine O’Mine. This group of ladies is so much fun and we take it seriously, but are also realistic. We all have full time jobs and not a single person works for a restaurant or catering company. So everything we do is on the side. And it’s done the love.

I had to take a couple of years off but was able to join back on last year. This year, I had some more time and was able to be more involved in our pre-Hogs events and planning. I’m so glad it worked out as this was the best year ever!

The cooking talents of several of the team members are on full display throughout the weekend. They are always creative and always try something new and interesting. And that paid off big this year.

We submitted our “mayo” side dish on Friday. The bacon wrapped kimchi potato salad drenched in Blue Plate (the sponsor, of course) and deep fried in avocado oil and panko looked and tasted awesome. Melissa did a great job coming up with the recipe and with the help of Jessica on the fryer and me on the presentation, we were super stoked to submit our dish. Once we heard what others submitted, we were feeling pretty good about finishing top 10.

Fast forward through the rest of Friday, where our bacon sweets sold out, an epic party on Friday night to an early morning on Saturday to prep for our famous Zapp’s pies, we were busy busy busy. But it was fun. With the great weather in our favor and good crowds, everyone was happy with how we did throughout the day.

Having record numbers for our fundraising, we headed into the evening awards show feeling good about this year and already looking ahead to next. I had to leave before the awards but got a few texts from friends on other teams that our Mayo submission won! First time ever that we won a cooking category and I’m so happy for Melissa. Sometimes, all it takes is a little crazy idea and some love, and great things happen.

I can’t wait to dive into the planning for next year and see how we can top the fundraising goals and cook up even more great dishes.