What a blast I had in Austin Saturday. As on one of the finalists in the Z Tejas recipe contest, I had to go to Z Tejas and prepare the dish for the judges. My recipe was a key lime pie with habanero that I named Tanji’s ‘Z’ Lime Pie (it’s in my recipe section). All entries had to use chiles in the recipe. Z Tejas holds the contest each year to raise money for Lance Armstrong’s Live Strong foundation. Proceeds from each winning dessert sold go to the campaign.
Jack Gilmore, the founding chef at Z Tejas, tells me that the idea of Live Strong was hatched with Lance and his friends at Z Tejas many years ago. As I recall, Jack told me a few Z Tejas margaritas were also involved in the ‘meeting of the minds’.
This was my first ever cooking competition, and it was great fun. A huge THANK YOU to Jack for helping me get my entry ready and for being so kind and fun to work with. I’ve always been a huge fan of Z Tejas, it’s nice to know the folks who make it all happen there are truly fine people.
My pie came in second…the winning entry was a yummy version of s’mores.
After the competition I headed to Becker Vineyards for the annual Rambling Rosé event that kicks off the New World Wine & Food Festival which is Nov. 10-15. When you go to Becker, be sure and try their new Malbec!
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