Last week we were invited to participate in a couples cook-off with Orlando Date Night Guide, Edible Orlando and a handful of bloggers at Aggressive Appliances. In a mock Iron Chef style competition we were tasked with creating a dish from a basket of mystery ingredients including eggs. We had the pleasure of cooking in the uber-fancy kitchens at Aggressive Appliances – kitchens so nice that they totally fall into the #lifegoals category. We took the safe route and whipped up an open-faced bacon and egg sandwich filled with vegetables and Parmesan cheese. After a quick 40 minutes we presented our plate to the judges and awaited their final decision. Tasty Chomps ended up taking home the grand prize with their fabulous scotch egg creation, and they will help judge the Orlando Couples Cook-Off.

On October 9 and 23 five couples will compete against one another in preliminary rounds to ultimately battle in the final cook-off round on November 13. Besides bragging rights, the winners and runner-ups will receive some fabulous prizes ranging from a gourmet getaway at the JW Marriott including dinner at Whisper Creek Farms to a Wolf blender. For $150 per couple you and your better half can compete and invite your friends to watch the competition firsthand. Even better, proceeds will benefit the Culinary Training Program at Second Harvest Food Bank.

For more information and tickets head to Orlando Date Night Guide!

Kitchen Photo Credit: Tasty Chomps

From October 30 – 31, the Walt Disney World Swan and Dolphin Food & Wine Classic will celebrate its sixth year featuring global culinary specialties at the Epcot Resort Area hotel, with more than 40 food and wine stations, 10 food and wine seminars and the opportunities to meet the award-winning chefs behind featured culinary masterpieces.

Delectable culinary offerings headline the two-night event, featuring cuisine from the hotel’s own award-winning signature restaurants: Il Mulino New York Trattoria, Shula’s Steak House and Todd English’s bluezoo, with wine and spirits samplings from around the globe.

This year’s menu introduces new interesting and unique dishes sure to please the palate including ginger cured Hamachi with nitro lime, mascarpone chestnut ravioli with Italian sausage, celery root and bacon jus and smoked Wagyu short ribs accompanied by a parsnip puree, melba toast and pommery mustard sauce.

The hotel’s World Champion Pastry Chef, Laurent Branlard, provides a sweeter side to the evening with decadent desserts like chocolate almond crunch cake and éclair with caramelized banana cream and coconut streusel. This year Branlard will also introduce his S’more Sundae Action Station, combining the classic desserts of the s’more and sundae.

New to this year’s event is a food truck area, featuring cuisine from the Walt Disney World Swan and Dolphin Hotel and Cabot Cheese – a favorite from last year – as well as an exclusive beverage truck.

Seminars once again return to offer guests the chance to receive a hands-on and tasty educational experience. Seminars cover topics including wine blending, Italian wines, champagne, beer, mixology, tequila, pasta making, sushi and sake, wine and cheese pairing and the Brazilian cocktail, caipirinha.

To add to the event’s appeal, guests can enjoy a meet and greet with celebrity chef Todd English, the namesake of the hotel’s Todd English’s bluezoo restaurant. Guests can also meet the world’s only two-time World Champion Pastry Chef and the hotel’s very own executive pastry chef, Laurent Branlard. Barbeque fans shouldn’t miss the Cib’s Smoke House station for signature barbeque dishes from the hotel’s executive chef Robert Ciborowski.

• When: Friday, October 30 and Saturday, October 31 from 5:30–9 p.m. For seminar schedule visit www.SwanDolphinFoodandWineClassic.com
  
• Where: Walt Disney World Swan and Dolphin Hotel Causeway

• Ticket Information: For more information or to book, visit www.SwanDolphinFoodandWineClassic.com or call 1-800-227-1500.

Photo Credits: Swan & Dolphin

Marlow’s Tavern Ribs & Whiskey menu returns with saucy food and drink specials, available September 15 through October 19. New this year, the Ribs & Whiskey celebration menu features four delicious sauces served tableside – Jack Daniel’s glaze, hoisin barbecue, Marlow’s chipotle barbecue and East Carolina barbecue. Each sauce gives a sweet, spicy, smoky or tangy zip to the perfectly seasoned ribs.

There’s an assortment of seasonal fare on the menu, including:

• A Pig With Buns – Slow-roasted pulled pork with Jack Daniel’s Tennessee Honey glaze, house-made pimento cheese, dill pickles and crispy tobacco onions on a buttery onion roll with Granny Smith apple-cabbage slaw
• BBQ Blazed Cobb Salad– Barbecue chicken, crisp field greens, Roma tomato, applewood-smoked bacon, sweet corn, slivered red onions and barbecue Gorgonzola dressing
• Drunken Chicken – Prestige Farms chicken blazed with Jack Daniel’s Tennessee Honey, tiny green bean casserole, shitake mushroom, caramelized onion, applewood-smoked bacon, house-made Mornay sauce and crispy tobacco onions with sweet corn and jalapeño muffins
• The Saucy Catch – North Atlantic salmon blazed with East Carolina barbecue sauce, tiny green bean casserole, shitake mushroom, caramelized onion, applewood-smoked bacon, house-made Mornay sauce and crispy tobacco onions with sweet corn and jalapeño muffins
• Slow–Cooked Smithfield James River St. Louis-Style Ribs – Served with Granny Smith apple-cabbage slaw, Southern fried mac and pimento cheese and house-made sweet corn and jalapeño muffin.

Plenty of boozy cocktails and liquid refreshments serve as the perfect complement:

R&W S’weet Tea – Deep Eddy Sweet Tea Vodka, fresh lemon, agave nectar, topped with a shot of Shock Top beer and a kick of orange

Triple Crown – Old Forester Bourbon, Combier Orange, Dolin Rouge Vermouth, fresh lime and Fee Bros. Cranberry

The Ribs & Whiskey menu is available at all three neighborhood taverns in Central Florida: at Pointe Orlando on I-Drive, in Winter Park on 17-92 and at Waterford Lakes Town Center in front of Regal Cinemas. Visit their website for the full specials menu.

Become an Insider for specials and preview event invitations at www.MarlowsTavern.com, like on Facebook and follow on Twitter.

National Sake Day is October 1! Sake, a Japanese rice wine made by fermenting rice that has been polished to remove the bran. Unlike wine, in which alcohol is produced by fermenting sugar that is naturally found in grapes, sake is produced by a brewing process similar to beer, where the starch is converted into sugars, before being converted to alcohol.

Raise your glass, and let’s sake through our city three ways!

Sit and Sake: Dragonfly – Taste worry free– each table will receive a complimentary tasting from a Zen Tokubetsu Junmai magnum. Additionally, servers will assist guests with sake pairings for dishes on the new fall Omakase menu.

Sake + Go: Bento (All locations) – BOGO hot sake all day! Choose from a selection including lychee sake, fuji apple sake, raspberry sake, white peach sake and unfiltered nigori sake.

Sake Happily: Hawkers Asian Street Fare – Sip sake at the bar and choose from a variety of $3 small plates during happy hour at this Mills 50 favorite.