My Competition Adventure

Alright, I'm done waiting for pictures to come and quite frankly... I'll just add them whenever they come. I do have quite a bit anyway of the competition and the trip as a whole and I know that you faithful readers are waiting to hear about all of what happened so far far away in Innsbruck, Austria about a month ago. Enjoy the story time!

First, let me tell you about the logisitcs of the competition. The Big Cooking Contest is a cooking competition unlike any other in the world. A team of two is given a mystery basket, a basket containing random ingredients which the team must include in a dish. They are allowed to use a pantry to supplement anything that they might need. They are given a total of 40 mintues to look over the basket, plan their dish, write a menu, and execute the dish. Once the team has written out the menu, they are allowed to start cooking. Got it? Good! It's exciting let me tell you! Now a little background on the Red Team: the red team for AIPX was made up of myself and a boy named Jeremy Stephens. I had no previous cooking competition experience whatsoever but I had about 6 years of working industry experience under me to help get me through. Jeremy had a bit more competition experience than I and had been working at a restaurant for about a year and a half. Last year, Jeremy was chosen to go to this exact same competition with a different partner (I didn't exist on the eligibility radar just yet) and had taken 2nd place, beating out the German and Austrian teams. Was I intimidated when I found this out???? Oh I wanted to puke when I did... this all comes into play I promise!

We left for our trip on an early September morning, I had been up a whole day before and since I worked for 10 hours before our flight, I figured why not continue to stay up. I did take a few naps throughout the 3 flights but never truly got any restful sleep. I had ended up being awake for about 36 hours... longest day of my life! Once we landed in Innsbruck, I was in total dismay that it was only 10 in the morning on Sunday. I just wanted to go to our rooms and go to sleep. However... we all needed to adjust to the time change and had to stay up for as long as possible. We spent all of Sunday exploring the city of Innsbruck, going around the town square, looking through the markets, getting adjusted to our rooms for the week and just spending time together as a team! Later that night, the black team and I spent about an hour and a half going through mental rounds (rounds where we were given random ingredients and we have to mentally concieve a dish with said ingredients and write it down) and we all got our mental planning down to 2 minutes which is fast! My partner had been asleep during the mental rounds which began to worry me about his commitment to the competition and if I was going to have to go about this on my own. Finally... the longest day of my life was over and I finally went to bed at 9.

Monday morning we woke up early to find the convention center and see the competition ahead of us. After some stalling with the car and driving around the block looking for a parking space, we finally entered into the convention center and found the kitchens that could potentially change the course of our future. The moment we walked in, all eyes were on Jeremy. The judges and coaches remembered him but wondered who was the new girl with him. As we walked closer to the kitchens, it was surreal to look at the arena I hade been preparing for intensely for my entire cooking career whether I had realized it or not. There were two identical kitchens separated by a wall and bleachers facing towards them so that an audience could sit and witness the magic that could ensue. I immediately sat down and began to watch the rounds taking place, I took notes on what was inside the baskets and getting my mind into the competition: what would I do with those ingredients? I'd turn to Jeremy and consult with him, bouncing back and forth culinary ideas and trying meld them together. I could tell that something was different with him though, I felt that he wasn't all there and I began to worry even more. I needed him fully there and I just didn't know what was going on with him; I had expressed my concerns to chef and she reassured me that he was fine and he was fully there... still I was worried. She told me that we needed to talk later in the day, just Jeremy and I, to get our anxities out and focus on what we came to do. We had spent a good few hours at the center watching and finally left to continue to explore the city and look more closely at the markets we had there. The produce was incredible! The foods were pure and unadulterated! Truly it was culinary heaven and I was blessed enough to see it! I enjoyed every minute being in those markets and seeing the dishes at estaurants, these people know how to treat their food. It isn't just a mass produced commodity, they take care into their foods, their menus, their dishes. It was truly incredible to see.

We went back to our rooms after the markets and I finally found a computer with wifi access (hallelujah!!!) and was able to get on Facebook to let everyone know who wanted to keep tabs with us on how to do so. Jeremy and I messaged each other for a bit and I told him that I wanted to win so bad. He told me to just talk to him, to shoot down his stupid ideas and tell him what I was thinking. I suggested individual rounds for just us and he said "see! great idea!" So we did, we had a couple rounds just the two of us to try and get on that level we needed to be. Then it was time for dinner. Later that night, both AIPX teams met up with the Charleston teams for dinner at an alright German restaurant (I'm not a big fan of German food to be honest...) and everything seemed to be going pretty well until about halfway through dinner. It seemed like the Charleston team was super interested in my partner and was asking him all kinds of questions and he was talking freely. As I was sitting next to him in silence, I was freaking out mentally about what I was hearing as far as the Q&A was going. Even though we were all Americans, I wanted no team to be given an upper hand against Jeremy and I. I tried to control my emotions but clearly was not doing a good job since he knew something was up. After dinner, we came back to our rooms and I hear a loud knock on my door. My coach all but grabbed me by my collar and took me to her room where Jeremy was. She said "I have given you two plenty of opportunities to talk to each other and break the ice. Looks like I'm going to have to do it for you."

We sat across the room from each other in silence until the coach said "Alright Marlee, what's wrong?" Way to be called out. So I told him about the night and how I was frustrated how he talked so freely to the other team about what he had done last year and that I did not want any other team to have an advantage. He apologized for that and had explained that it was more of a psych our tactic because they had no idea what they were headed for in the competition. He said that if he just started to spew off again, to just elbow him really hard. Then my coach said "I don't want you to worry about him, he is fully here. I've talked to him and he has a lot of pressure riding on this competition... I need you to trust me when I say that he's ok. Because you don't trust him do you?" I nodded slightly. Then we delved into the deep part of the talk where I was informed of the exact seriousness of the pressure my partner was facing on doing well in this competition; how highly my partner regarded me and how intimidated he had been of me "When the judges saw that I had come back, they asked me if I had brought back the same partner and I said 'no... she's better."; what he thought of when he first saw me taking notes during the first ever meeting about there even being an Austrian team "I sat in the back to scope out who all was there. I was only supposed to be the one to give information, I wasn't supposed to go. I looked around the room to see who I would want to be paired up with if I could go. I saw you taking notes from behind and thought 'I want this girl! She is smart and she is serious about this!"; what he thought when he found out that we were partners; why he wanted to cook; how he started out; what this meant to him. That night, his burden became mine. When people at school found out that Jeremy and I made up the Red Team, they said "you guys are going to take it, you are going to get him to the end!" but that wasn't even the extent of it, my partner had so many personal reasons to do well in the competition. At the end, I felt an immense responsibility to do well to get him to first place. I was the one with the experience, I needed to do all I could. There were some tears involved and finally, finally I felt as if we were a team! We had struggled for 3 months with our communication but never getting to where we needed to be to be the best we could possibly be. We finally understood each other and we were finally ready to do what we needed to do the next day.

Tuesday morning I got out of bed because, let's be honest, I was a total wreck and couldn't sleep. I said a prayer to help calm mine and Jeremy's nerves so that we could do the best we could that day and went off to get ready. I was dressed and had my face on and knocked on the boy's door, the black team boy opened the door and Jeremy saw me and immediately walked out of the door to go to breakfast with me. We didn't eat, we just sat at the table and tried to calm each other down. We tried to joke but never truly laughed. We left to go to the convention center and my heart was in my throat beating so hard. We got to the stands and sat next to each other and quietly watched the rounds before us.

We had to wait 3 hours before our round was up. Neither of us could sit still so we walked around the center a couple of times, got some soda and talked to keep our minds off of the round ahead of us. We came back, sat down again, and got back up to walk around again. Finally, with about 15 minutes we were supposed to go, we put on our aprons and hats and got ready for our turn. Chef talked to us for a few minutes, gave us a hug and took a few pictures. Then it was time.

I spent the first 10 minutes in the kitchen smelling every. single. spice. and tasting and discovering what each container held (everything was in freakin German!). I had become comfortable with everything, memorized the placements of the pots, pans, untensils and then looked at Jeremy, we were ready to take on this mystery basket!

The basket was placed in front of us and we were told to open it, our time started now! We were given two whole trouts, a steak of salmon, a tomato, and a bizarre green that had a citrus but wasabi-like spice to it.

We decided to do a Trout Papillote, tabouleh salad with wilted greens and roasted peppers, vermouth cream sauce, crispy leeks, and a sashimi-style salmon ceviche. We wrote and turned in our menu in 3 mintues... that meant we had 37 minutes to execute and plate our dish! We were off and did not stop until it was all over. Jeremy began breaking down the fish and I began everything else; he asked for something... bam! done! Component after component was knocked out. We were flying around that kitchen, I had so much adrenaline in my system that I had moved faster than I had ever done before. I could see out of my eye that Jeremy's hands were shaking while fab-ing out the fish and I had to keep talking to him, keep him calmed and focused. I had my bulgur sitting in water, working (or so I thought) for my tabouleh salad. I looked up to see the time on the clock and there was this Great Wall of China of people surrounding our kitchen. All eyes were on Team 8. I freaked out by how many people were there and how crowded we were but I kept pushing through. We had 5 minutes left and I discovered that my bulgur was still crunchy... not how it's supposed to be. I had no time to fix it, Jeremy tasted it and said to just go with it. We plated oour four plates and time was up. I looked at Jeremy with the expression of "did that just happen?!" He looked at me and began to clean. We cleaned our kitchen while our food was taken away to the presentation table and back to the judges to be tasted. I realized to my horror that I had prepared my bulgur incorrectly and began to feel sick thinking that I had costed us our chance at the competition. On the drive back to our rooms, I couldn't even think straight and ran the round over and over in my head. We'd find out if we made it the next day and I prayed that we had done enough.

The next day, the Black Team competed and I was nervous for them as well. They had a rough round and didn't have too good of results. Both teams were on edge and nervous as to our standings. We found out that we needed to come back around 5 that afternoon to see which teams had made it, so we killed time at the zoo before we had to go. We were back right at 5 and had to wait for another 45 minutes before the results were announced. I was the biggest stress case and so was Jeremy, we could not stand still one second. Finally the judges came up, speaking in German about how well everyone did and we shoul all be proud etc... they eventually got to where they were going to announce who moved on and who did not. If a team did not advance to the next round, they were given a certificate of participation and a goodie bag. If a team did make it to the next round, they were given a hand shake. I was all confused about it; after 4 teams were called up and their fate decided, Jeremy and my names were called. We went up to the stand and my hand was shaken. I thought "are you serious?!" All too soon were Jeremy and I given folders and goodie bags and told "see you next year!" I was stunned and had no idea what just happened. We came back to the group and asked the translator what was going on, she had no clue. Finally, as time went on... the Black Team was not passed through, neither were the Charleston teams. No Americans were passed on to the next round, I fought so hard to fight back my tears and be a good sport. I had let my partner down, I let my coach down, I let the school down, I let myself down... this wasn't supposed to happen. I turned to Jeremy and said "I'm so sorry." He grabbed me in for a hug and said "don't be stupid ok! You have nothing to be sorry about."

That was it. It was all over. No more competing. No more rounds for any of us the following day. We went back to our rooms and I grabbed Jeremy and said let's go for a walk. We walked around the property and talked about what had just happened and thinking of what could've been so wrong about our dish that we didn't make it through. Finally Jeremy clued me in and said "It was all political. Do you remember what the other teams did for their plates? We were the only ones given 2 proteins, we were on time, showed technique, worked clean, were sanitary. They pick who they want to win. They weren't going to get a Cinderella ending if they let us through. We did all we could but they didn't want us to pass through from the beginning. The other American coach cried when we didn't get passed through." "Why?" "Because a judge had pulled him aside and told him that you and I were making it to the next round." "We were?!" "I knew for a while, same thing happened to me. But something changed from when I was told to now. They had two lists didn't you see? They didn't read our names out of the folder like the others... but yet, we still weren't passed through." That's when it hit me... It didn't matter how much skill we showed, how much knowledge we let manifest on the plate or how many manipulations we could do with the proteins given to us. It didn't matter if we were on time, worked clean, or wore gloves and used hem correctly. We were never going to pass through. Someone had been rooting for us, but then again, someone was very upset that an American team got 2nd last year.

So that was it. The next morning, while others were sweating it in the kitchen, we went out of town and enjoyed our days off. We went to Imst and rode and Alpine coaster, toured a Brewery and had a ton of fun. Then Friday, we went to Italy. Yeah. That's right! Italy!! More specifically... Venice!!!! I'm not even lying! We had real Italian food and had many adventures. I stepped off of the plane, a new person. I became a stronger cook, gained more confidence, had a stronger sense of what to do with my life, and grew. Even though we didn't go on to do what we know we could've easily done, I would not change a single thing. It wasn't my time to win and shine. I had grown more during the process of becoming a competitor than I could've gained had I won. I learned that I was much better than I gave myself credit for and that I needed to trust in my ideas because my partner and coach did. I learned about 5 of the most misunderstood people of that school (myself included) in that one week in Austria than if I had never gone to that meeting in the first place. During our deep talk on that Monday night, chef had told Jeremy and I that she would've never trusted him with anyone else for a partner, that we had been brought together for a reason... two cooks with the same style and outlook on food and the same passion, we work great together and to never let that go. There is a reason why I was able to go to Austria despite the possible financial hardships that could've prevented the teams from even going, and there is a reason why Jeremy and I were put together out of the 25 other students chef could've paired me with. That trip and that competition has changed my life forever and I'm so grateful for the opportunity I had to go over there and experience a bit of Europe with the people I did! I couldn't imagine a better group to go with and laugh (and snort with) for an entire week, and I couldn't imagine a better partner to make amazing food with for the past 3 months. Partners for life Jeremy... partners for life!