Subscribe
WASHINGTON - Staff and family members on Joint Base Anacostia-Bolling (JBAB) showed off their baking skills during the Warfighter & Family Readiness (WFR) holiday baking contest, Nov. 3, in the Bolling Club.
The bake-off challenged participants to come up with their best baking ideas for a chance to win a brand new cooking mixer and a feature in the December/January issue of the MWR 411 magazine. With three categories in which to participate (cookies, cakes and pies), most contestants decided to bake an item for each – increasing their chances of taking home the prize.
Sixteen out of the 22 registered contestants presented their best dishes to be judged on the following criteria: presentation, originality, creativity and flavor. Each dish was rated on a scale from one to five, with five being the best. Judges Melissa Beetle, Joint Base executive chef, Rich McCloud, chef for Naval Support Activity Washington (NSAW) and Sandra Evans, kitchen manager for the Bolling Club, came together to vote on the three best desserts.
Jodi Johnson, a stay-at-home mom here on JBAB, baked a row of scrumptious pumpkin pinwheels, a family recipe filled with swirls of cream cheese. Johnson also contributed a pumpkin cheesecake, which was inspired from a duty assignment in New Zealand, where her family was stationed for two years.
While living in New Zealand, Johnson noticed that the New Zealanders didn’t eat pumpkin as a sweet or as a cheesecake, so she decided that she would start making pumpkin pies and pumpkin cheesecakes to offer to the locals.
“We wanted to give them a chance to taste pumpkin as a sweet and not just as a savory dish,” Johnson explained. Joined by her daughter, McKenzie, who decided to tag along for moral support, Johnson’s participation in the contest was more significant than just baking her favorite dish. It was also a learning opportunity for her daughter.
“My husband and I constantly encourage McKenzie to step out of her comfort zone and try new things,” Johnson said. “So, today was my turn to step out of my own comfort zone and enter this contest – showing my daughter that we all have to step out of our comfort zone sometimes.”
As for the winners of the contest, a beautifully, decadent spice apple pecan carrot cake, created by Cheryl Engel, took the win for the best cake dish. Engel, a dental assistant here at JBAB, found the recipe online and thought it would be fun and creative to bake. Not new to baking, Engel is excited to put her new mixer to work over the holidays.
Coming in first place for the cookie category, Gerald Burbidge, a safety specialist with the Public Works Department here at JBAB, presented his perfectly chewy peanut butter bliss cookie, which he explained took several hours to make from scratch, as he followed his mother’s traditional recipe.
“I’m a baker and I do everything by hand, so this is fun for me,” Burbidge explained. “This is something I want to do after I retire.”
Last, but not least, with a batch of chocolate chip and oatmeal raisin cookies, a sweet potato pie, and a pecan pie, all entered for a chance to win, Detra Blow, a recreation specialist at the fitness center, won for the best pie dish, with her homemade pecan pie.
“I put my heart and love into everything that I do,” said Blow with a smile. “I love to see people enjoying my food. It’s really just something fun to do.”
The WFR staff is excited to start planning for next year’s bake-off and they look forward to many more opportunities to bring the command and the base together in a social setting with food and laughter.
Program Director, Judy Fair explains, “Activities like this are a good way to boost morale and engage with the community, while driving traffic to WFR services and activities on base.”
| Date Taken: | 11.03.2014 |
| Date Posted: | 11.07.2014 10:07 |
| Story ID: | 147331 |
| Location: | DISTRICT OF COLUMBIA, US |
| Web Views: | 19 |
| Downloads: | 0 |
This work, Joint Base holds first holiday bake-off contest; participant steps out of comfort zone, by Nicole Woods, identified by DVIDS, must comply with the restrictions shown on https://www.dvidshub.net/about/copyright.
