Trevor Bruintjes and Donna Coldwell cooked up the perfect meal and then served up a huge piece of goodwill.
Winners of the Amateur Chef Showdown, Bruintjes and Coldwell earned two return tickets to Vancouver with Hawkair, one of the event sponsors.
But rather than use the plane tickets, the pair donated them to a friend so she could travel with her daughter to Vancouver for medical attention.
Unbeknownst to each other, both Bruintjes and Coldwell came up with the idea at the same time, Coldwell explained.
“We’re just happy to be able to help out,” Bruintjes said.
“It’s the right thing to do.
“It’s one less financial burden for the family,” Coldwell added.
The decision to donate the tickets, was easier than figuring out how to deal with the special ingredients presented to the amateur chefs in the showdown.
Prior to the showdown, Coldwell and Bruintjes sifted through recipes they could apply to a list of secret ingredients that might show up during the competition.
“I was ready for any kind of dessert,” Coldwell said.
Despite the preparation, Bruintjes was still caught off guard.
“There was a little bit of panic,” he said with a laugh.
“The only thing I hadn’t cooked with was game and we ended up with moose.”
Bruintjes and Coldwell recovered quickly and set about preparing their meal, with moose meat cubes wrapped in bacon together with a gazpacho and a caprese salad as an appetizer, a scallop-cherry tomato fettuccinni with a tomato sauce dish as the entree and a phyllo-wrapped Blueberry/strawberry cheesecake as the dessert.
Bruintjes admitted the judges decision was a tough one, given the other teams prepared some great meals.
However, Coldwell felt their presentation of the food helped give them an edge.
“We put a lot of thought into our presentation,” she said.
Bruintjes and Coldwell tipped their hats to the other teams on their great dishes.
Dana Gorbahn and Richard Norton finished second and Angela Mott and Susie Duursema took third place.