Alana: Alex brought the Melon, Cucumber, and Mint Salad. The feta and onion were the strongest flavors, and it was nice to have the cucumber for the crunch. I can count on one hand the list of things I don’t much like to eat, and melon is one of them, so this dish will never get a rave review from me. But that doesn’t mean you won’t like it!

Sheana: I like melon, but this one wasn’t noteworthy. I think I was comparing it to the awesome Plenty More cucumber salad from a prior event.

Alana: Can’t find this salad in the cookbook? That’s because it’s not there. Colin tried to make the Grilled Fig and Market Ham Salad or the Roasted Beet and Blood Orange Salad, but when he couldn’t find all the right ingredients he went renegade and made his own salad – spring lettuce mix, blood oranges, walnuts, grilled figs brushed with olive oil and pepper, nasturtium flowers with a balsamic reduction. Sure, it isn’t in the book, but it tasted good and you can see for yourself how gorgeous it was!

Alana: Robert brought the Shrimp, Mango, and Avocado Salad. Those are three ingredients that I love, so when you put them together, what’s not to like?

Sheana: Agreed! I especially love mango and avocado.

Alana: Robert also brought leftovers of the Summery Zucchini-Lemon Soup that he had made the day before, because when there are so many recipes that sound good why not try them all! I’d normally prefer a hot soup over a cold one and have been known to heat up soups that are meant to be eaten chilled (sacrilege I know!), but I have to say I enjoyed this one and think it was great for a summery outdoor meal.

Alana: Cesar brought the Tomato and Cucumber Bread Salad. I have never had a bread salad before. I suppose it’s not all that different than having croutons, only softer. The bread absorbs the flavors nicely.

Sheana: I LOVE bread salads! This one had a little too much bread in it for me. I would have enjoyed a higher veg-to-bread ratio.

Alana: Nina brought the Tangy White Beans. I found this recipe to be uninspiring. Like it was missing the “tangy”.

Sheana: Agreed! I admit that I’m a salt-a-holic (and a big garlic fan) so this was missing the kick I’m used to.

Alana: Dustyn brought the Quick Pasta with Spinach, Tomatoes, and Aged Goat Cheese. This dish wasn’t particularly exciting to look at, but I really enjoyed the flavor. I found that I kept coming back to it, even over some of the “fancier” dishes.

Sheana: I felt like both of the pasta recipes had a hard time competing with the outstanding, seasonal produce.

Alana: Shayna brought the Farfalle with Five Herbs and Cherry Tomatoes. The bites that had both pasta and tomato were good, but there weren’t enough tomatoes to have one in every bite, and I found the pasta alone to be a bit uninteresting. I wanted a stronger herb flavor from the Five Herbs.

Alana: Alyssa brought the Blackberry-and-Balsamic Grilled Game Hens. This was in the running for most beautiful dish for sure. And one of my favs for flavor as well. I was absolutely busted at the party abandoning all pretense at civilized behavior and gnawing straight off the bone.

Sheana: I loved this! An absolute stunner and delicious to boot. I especially liked the dark meat pieces here.

Alana: Katy brought the Grilled Ahi Tuna with Roasted Tomato-Olive Salsa. Look at that tuna! Beautiful grill marks, still rare in the middle. I liked the tuna without the salsa, and with it… yum!

Sheana: This was great! I’m a huge fan of barely seared tuna, and the tomato-olive salsa was perfectly fresh and summer-y to top it.

Alana: Jessica brought the Black Cod and Tomato. I really like black cod, so I was pretty excited that Jessica decided to bring this recipe. It was tasty, but not the best black cod dish I’ve ever had.

Sheana: I’m still acclimating to the taste of seafood after a childhood of hating all forms. This one smelled a bit too strong for me to try. Maybe next year!

Alana: Nelson brought the Roast Leg of Lamb with Oil-Cured Black Olives and Herbs. My favorite part was the olive and herb sauce. Nelson was nice enough to let me take the leftover sauce home, and I was putting it on everything!

Sheana: Ahh, lamb, a meat I haven’t quite warmed up to yet! This got rave reviews from all the lamb-fans on site, and came with a big tub of Au Jus.

Alana: Katy also brought the Bacon and Deviled Egg Salad. Another contender for best presentation! And also very tasty. There were nice big chunks of bacon and the deviled eggs went well with the salad. Though I think some people missed out on that because they thought the salad was just garnish. Maybe it was supposed to be, but I ate it and liked it!

Sheana: These were great! If you like deviled eggs, it turns out they’ve been missing bacon your whole life! A must have.

Alana: Robert was definitely the overachiever and brought a third dish – Cherry and Goat Cheese Gratin. And we were all very glad he did. This was in my opinion the absolute winner. It was sweet and a little tangy, creamy with some crunch… oh man my mouth is watering just thinking about it. Get the cookbook for this dish alone – it’s worth it!

Sheana: Agreed! I made my own bastardized version of this a few weeks later to which my husband said “this should become one of your staple desserts!”

Alana: Sheana brought the Seared Peach Open-Faced Rustic Tart. I am a sucker for tarts and I grew up with a peach tree in my backyard, so this one sounded pretty good to me. I would have preferred a flakier crust, but that didn’t stop me from eating it and taking another piece home.

Sheana: This tart made me regret that I’m a rustic Jamie Oliver and not an overachieving Martha Stewart. Martha would have made this look beautiful! C’est la vie. Despite my mediocre plating/decorating skills, this white peach tart was quite nice and wasn’t overly sweet.

Alana: I brought the Ultimate-Pucker Lemon Bars. These were not all that different from other lemon bars I’ve made. Definitely not the best lemon bars I’ve ever had. I think it was the weakest dessert of the bunch – certainly couldn’t hold a candle to the Cherry and Goat Cheese Gratin.

Sheana: I thought these were great! Some lemon bars can be a bit too egg-y for my taste, but these were spot on.