The First Great Cook-Off at St. Brendan's in the City

On Sunday June 22, St. Brendan's Church & community in Washington, DC gathered for some friendly competition and delicious food and drink at the inaugural Great St. Brendan's Cook-Off! 

For the last two years, every eight weeks, our community has shared in Dinner Church. In place of our evening service, we feast on themed meals - pizza, soup & stew, breads, Thanksgiving dinner and fabulous desserts! We have incredible chefs and bakers in our midst, so the idea of a cook-off was born. 

A Photo of the Winning Chili!

At the Cook-Off the under-12 group (plus our priest, Fr. Richard!!) competed in the homemade lemonade category. Watermelon, Brazilian limeade and state fair lemonade, couldn't beat our clear winner, Amandine Treacy, with her Sprite inspired lemonade!. The chili main course category blew us all away with three different but all fabulous dishes. It was a close race but Martha Glover stole the show with her hot beef chili inspired by a Guy Fieri recipe. Finally, in a summer dessert round that would not have been out of place at the Great British Baking Show, we were treated to blueberry pie, lemon pound cake with blueberry compote, and a mango-chia pudding. The homemade strawberry cheesecake ice-cream by Tyler Hendon won the day - it was incredible! 

Like all our Dinner Church meals, the Cook-Off was all about building relationships and making memories. Setting welcoming tables where people can share their lives and creativity, enriches our community and reminds us that we belong together.