Two posts about food in one week? Unheard of for me but true with this post. Some of you might know we have co-organized the Wine Bloggers Conference for two years and in 2010 also will be co-organizing the International Food Bloggers Conference with our partners at Foodista. Perhaps I have food and wine on the mind.
This past weekend I was in Solvang, California to serve as a judge for the first-ever Firestone Chef Challenge. This cookoff was part of the Firestone Discoveries campaign in which a winning chef and a winning consumer Pathfinder would both travel with us to Peru on our April 17-25 Inca Trail Trek.
Wow. What an amazing weekend. First off, there were three positive, outgoing, fun Pathfinder candidates: Kim Kuchycki, Lotchana Sourivong, and Margie Tosch (who provided some of these photos). These three were selected from among 10 randomly-drawn names from the more than 2,500 people who applied to join us on the trail. Then, we added in three amazing chefs: Rodelio Aglibot from Chicago, Scott Beale from New York, and Tim Kirker, also from Chicago.
As the weekend progressed, I more and more felt like I was part of a live Top Chef episode. We watched the chefs spend their $300 budget in 45 minutes at a local store. We gawked and talked as they prepared their dishes, each cooking over fairly primitive outdoor stoves designed to imitate the Inca Trail and with the help only of one of the Pathfinders each.
Then, it was time for the judging. 50 guests joined the group at Firestone Vineyards for the noon event and each chef had to prepare 50 small plates of food. At my judges table I was joined by some amazing people: Firestone winemaker Paul Warson, editor of The Tasting Panel magazine Anthony Diaz Blue, wine journalist and radio broadcaster Michael Cervin, Executive Chef Janelle Weaver from Kuleto winery in Napa Valley, and Bradley Ogden, well-known chef and/or owner of 10 upscale restaurants.
The action began. Each chef laid down a small plate of food that looked divine: a small piece of steak 
with an aji pepper sauce over a shrimp cake from Scott; a complex dish of both pork and lamb over quinoa from Tim, and a shredded-chicken, egg, guacamole, and aji pepper sauce from Rodelio. Each dish had been constructed to pair with a Firestone wine.
The judges retired to a private room. That morning, I had wondered whether I would even be able to add anything to the conversation, given all the food and wine expertise of my fellow judges. It turns out, though, the others were keenly interested in how cooking on the Inca Trail would be and so I was very involved in the process.
We discussed the pros and cons of each dish. Our focus was on taste but we threw in some other considerations. Was one chef “hungrier” for the opportunity to go on the trail? Were all the chefs physically fit enough to hike the trail? Should we consider how well known each chef was? Were the dishes they created realistic for the trail?
Ultimately, we decided all three dishes were realistic enough for the trail, in part because of the limited cooking equipment they had, and decided to judge based solely on taste and presentation. The winner? 
Chef Rodelio Aglibot from Sunda restaurant in Chicago. Rodelio is an amazing chef who focuses on cuisine with an Asian influence. He was born in the Philipines, raised in Hawaii, and served as executive chef of Los Angeles’ Koi restaurant until he moved to Chicago. He is also a personable guy and will make an excellent addition to our April Inca Trail trip. Along with Rodelio, Margie Tosch was selected as Pathfinder and will also join the trip. Margie runs the Wine and Hospitality Network and will be an excellent spokesperson for Firestone on the trip.
My conclusions from the weekend? First, it was fantastic stepping into the world of high-end chefs for a few days. Their world is so different from mine and I very much appreciated them sharing it with me. Second, all six of the people who participated did a great job and invested a lot of time and energy into this event. It was very disappointing having to vote for one chef and, thereby, not vote for the other two. Both Scott and Tim would make amazing guest chefs on the Inca Trail but, more than that, I felt like I had become friends with them in the course of two days. And third, come join us in April! Hiking on the Inca Trail to Machu Picchu is one of the greatest adventures you will ever have. Plus, this will be a gourmet trip with an amazing chef who will prepare foods paired to Firestone’s wines, all at no extra cost to you.
When I write blog entries trying to summarize one of our tours, I usually try to focus on one angle that gives readers a good idea of the overall picture. I find myself struggling to do that with our Chile & Argentina Wine Adventure, which I just completed two days ago. I found this trip to be so immense that using just one angle isn’t sufficient. The wine was excellent, the activities fun, the people in our group engaging, and the local cultures enchanting.
Day 2: We had a typical Zephyr Adventures moment. Hiking to the top of 
Mendoza area of Argentina is dry, the people are chic, and the economy is struggling. Compare that to Chile where the economy is rocking, the people are friendly and competent, and everything works as it should. It’s truly hard not to love both countries.
Some of you might not know that Zephyr Adventures started in 1997 as Zephyr Inline Skate Tours, the first tour company in the world to meet the needs of inline skaters (often called Rollerbladers). Since that time, inline skating has declined in popularity. Nevertheless, we still operate half a dozen inline skating tours a year and are the only company in the hemisphere to do so.
Here’s why:
For those of you who don’t inline skate, you probably already know the benefits of bike touring if you are reading this blog. For those of you who do inline skate and have yet to join us on a bike tour, I would like to suggest you consider joining us on one in 2010!
I must say after sipping a few wines on the tours, no one ever seems too concerned!
We then biked downhill from Lapoblacion 17 kilometers (about 10.5 miles) to the wine town Laguardia, where we spent an hour roaming the town on foot. From Laguardia, it was a short two-kilometer ride to the famous winery Bodegas Ysios, where we toured this architectural marvel and tasted the award winning wines. Two riders opted out at this point and got a ride straight from Ysios to the wine capital of Haro and our next hotel. The rest of us continued another eight kilometers by bike to Elciego where lunch was “on your own”, a choice of small restaurants or tapas bars.
Spain is an absolutely wonderful country and the perfect setting for such a tour. Those who like to exercise had plenty of hiking and biking. Those who were focused on wine had plenty of tasting to do and wineries to visit. Those who loved the Spanish culture could skip out on both the activities and wine, staying longer in a town to tour a castle or just sit at a cafe on the central plaza.
