Banana Pudding Throw Down Results

We had the big judging on Sunday night. Dad cooked dinner for several of his neighbors. He went all out with steak, ribs, and chicken just trying to suck up to them all. I was pretty confident in my pudding so I wasn't too worried.

He talked a little trash, told me there was no room in the fridge for my pudding when we got to his house (I made room!), and tried to sway voters with his lovely meal.

But when it came time for the judging, there was no messing around. We prepared plates for everyone (7 judges total because mom's and Matt's vote didn't count) in the kitchen so they couldn't tell which one of us made which pudding. Dad's was a traditional banana pudding with Vanilla Waffers and mine was a more modern spin on things with Chessmen cookies (I used Paula Dean's recipe if anyone wants to know).

Everyone started eating and they oohs and ahhs began. There was so much smack talking going on that I didn't think we could come to a fair conclusion. We made the poor neighbors say their votes out loud even though several asked for secret ballot. :-)

In the end it came down to 3 votes for Dad and 3 votes for me. The last person came in to taste the pudding (it just happened to be Josh) and he had no idea which pudding was mine and which one was Dad's so it was totally fair. We asked him which one was best and he picked....MINE! I won!

And in all honesty, I think 2 of the neighbors were just being nice by voting for Dad and the only reason Aunt Debbie picked his is because he makes her dinner every night. :-)

He is going to pick another dish to challenge me to next time and I will be ready and willing, especially since I am the defending champion!