this week’s entries were amazing!  great creativity and attention to detail.  of course this has made my decision even harder… creative dishes like mary pat’s pork clocks; great sense of humor with tasty looking dishes (again) from bill joy (keep that boner going just one more week!); warm and comforting dishes like jared’s strata and debbie’s stuffed shrimp (just to name a few) ...so hard to narrow it down.  of course i had to make a decision.  so here are my top three picks…

debra brought us some beautiful sweet and savory crepes.  i am a huge fan of crepes though have never enjoyed them as a dessert as i much prefer them with meats and cheeses inside.  the crepes look perfectly prepared and sound very well balanced with the drizzle of apple gastrique.  not sure if debra has noticed, but i use a LOT of gastriques in my cooking.

mimi was able to combine two cultures with her french influenced banh mi.  while traveling through southeast asia last year, i was surprised to see all of the french influence in the cuisine.  once i got a little more insight into the history of the area (i really should have paid more attention to my history teachers in high school) it made much more sense.  point being this story was great and i loved the combination of flavors.  and i love to quick pickle things.

i think the most beautiful photo, accompanying a great sounding dish, was david’s pork raviolis.  seriously, are you a photographer?  it made me drool.  and made me feel like i was reading a professionally done cook book.  the flavors sound amazing and well balanced and very seasonal with the apples and spices.  well done.

the winner this week created a dish that was creative and filled with layers of flavor.  i had to seek out some influence from some chef friends around me….. they all agreed that this decision is beyond difficult, but most of them also picked this as the winner.

congratulations mimi!  you have made it to the finals!  good luck.

as for all the other challengers, thank you so much for your beautiful dishes!  i hope you had fun with this week’s ingredients and i hope you will join us next week with one more chance to make the finals.  i can’t wait to see what you create next!