Is it Tuesday already? What a fun weekend we had…so much so I’m still recovering! I love those days when we sleep in (well, as much as a 4-year old will let us) and don’t really have a plan. It can lead to the most memorable events…and this past Saturday was just that sort of day.

Perusing the local event calendar over breakfast Saturday morning, I noticed our favorite local chef, Katie Coleman, was competing in the Durham Farmer’s Market Chef Challenge. So we packed up and headed downtown to cheer her on! The chefs were given a mystery ingredient, in this case eggplant, and the opportunity to shop the farmer’s market for the remaining ingredients they would use to make their dishes.

Katie made an eggplant burger topped with goat cheese and veggie caponata on a homemade biscuit accompanied with fried eggplant chips and an eggplant pickle.

Her dishes were the best, in our opinion, however the chef from The Salted Pig, with his eggplant soup dish, was crowned victor by the panel of judges, and the chef from Pie Pushers won People’s Choice (for the life of me I can’t recall his dish…oh well).

We first met Katie, proprietor of Durham Spirits Co., last Valentine’s Day when a group of husband’s surprised their wives by cooking us dinner at Katie’s historic home/business. We had so much fun, we booked Katie again last month, and she came to one of our homes for a cooking class and dinner. Katie offers cooking and mixology classes and also teaches classes at A Southern Season. Come to think of it, Ben also hosted a team-building cooking event for his leadership team at Katie’s place earlier this year, as well. Yes, we love her dearly, can you tell??! Here are some shots from our couples cooking nights…

February 2013

August 2013

Anyhow, I digress…back to the farmer’s market. Once the cooking competition came to an end, we ventured over to the line of food trucks adjacent to the farmer’s market and grabbed a slice of pizza from the Pie Pushers truck.

We needed fuel for a challenge of our own which was brewing for later in the day. Tune in tomorrow to find out how Gemma and I fared in our own Chef Challenge!