6th Annual Chefs Challenge event at 7 Spring Winery

On Saturday, January 31, 2015 we were involved in the 7 Springs Winery 6th Annual Chefs Challenge. There are 3 sessions with 4 different competitors for each session competing against each other in a cook off similar to what you see on the cooking channel.

Several things made this really neat for us.

1. A farm had never entered to challenge the top chefs in the Lake of the Ozark area.
2. We entered as a family team. My brother, Charles, is our chef and a really good one. Our daughter, Missy, and our G-Kids, Dakota, Cierra and Kai helped serve. Kat helped serve. And I was the PR guy because I am the quiet one.

3. Charles mentor was at the challenge and let us know how proud he was of Charles.
4. The judges had a hard time deciding the winner and it came down to literally a paper decision. They determined that it was a tie between The Trophy Room at Old Kinderhook and Restoration Farm and gave the win to The Trophy Room based on the quality of the paper their menu was printed on.
5. Each attendee also was able to vote on their favorite and Restoration Farm won that part of the competition hands down with 31 votes. The winner of the most "People Choice" votes gets to go to the finals.
6. One of the judges told us no competitor in the 6 years of the challenge has ever gotten that many votes. He said you will be in the finals.
7. The judges and people were impressed with how our G-Kids performed.
8. We had several inquires about when we would open our "Farm to Table" eatery and start up our CSA.

When Kat and I moved down to the lake area we wanted to do what no other farm was doing. This is one of the many things that will set us apart from other farms and make us unique.

I am so proud of my brother, my daughter and G-Kids, and my wife.

Yesterday was an example of what believing in oneself and being a team is all about.

Now we look forward with hope that we will be in the finals on March 14th.

I also want to thank my son, Julien, for driving up from Springfield to support us.

We want to thank 7 Springs Winery for hosting this event as a benefit for the Lake YMCA. We  appreciate all of the people that came out and especially those who voted for us in the "People Choice".

Be sure and look for the photos of us in the LO Profile and LakeTV.