Inca Trail Finalists: Announcement Coming Soon!

As we gear up to announce the first round of finalists for our Inca Trail Trek, we figured it would be nice to revisit the play-by-play, and let you know how it will all shake out.

Ultimately, we will have only one Pathfinder and only one Guest Chef. Let the game begin! Stay tuned for the big announcement - who will make the cut?

Round One: December 15th

• As you know by now, the process for selecting our Pathfinder involves a random drawing. Ten names will be chosen, and will subsequently go through an interview process with our team. Three semi-finalists will be selected to come to Firestone Winery in Los Olivos to participate in the final selection process.
• Simultaneously, ten chefs will be chosen from our Guest Chef applicant videos on the Firestone Discoveries YouTube Channel. We will select the ten chefs who have the highest number of unique video views. Those ten chefs will also go through an interview process with our team. Three semi-finalists will be selected to participate in the final selection process, a live cook-off at Firestone Winery.

Santa Ynez: January 10th

• The three Pathfinder semi-finalists, plus three Guest Chef semi-finalists will be flown to Santa Barbara, to convene at Firestone Vineyards for the final round.

The Cook-off: January 11th

• Guest Chef semi-finalists will prepare a signature dish live at the Crossroads Barn, Firestone Vineyards. Chefs will be judged by the Firestone staff and a panel of esteemed culinary judges on the following criteria: enthusiasm and credibility toward the Firestone Discoveries program and Firestone Wines (25% factor); verbal communication skills and charisma (25% factor); and presentation and taste of the dish prepared in the cook-off (50% factor).
• Pathfinder semi-finalists will attend and simultaneously blog about the cook-off. They will be judged on how they interact with the chefs, winemaking staff and guests of the winery as well as their writing and reporting skills.
• The official winner announcements will take place at the cook-off!

Homeward Bound: January 12th

The Trek! April 17th - 25th

• Our Pathfinder winner will join us for an all-expense paid four-day trek along the Inca Trail to Machu Picchu, Peru, accompanied by skilled guides, journal while on the journey, take video and snapshots of the view, discover an ancient civilization and make $1000. In addition, post-trip, the Firestone Pathfinder will file reports on the Firestone Discoveries website, including Firestone wine pairings with favorite dishes from the Inca Trail trek. A minimum of 15 blog posts will be required to fulfill the obligations of the position.
• The winning Guest Chef will also join us on the trek, all expenses paid, for the culinary experience of a lifetime. He or she will work alongside Peruvian cooks, drawing up menus, shopping at local farmers markets, and cooking gourmet meals trailside. After the trip, he or she will work with the Firestone Pathfinder on recipe pairings and blog posts

Michael Palin Visits Machu Picchu

Check out this cool video of travel reporter/Monty Python alum visiting Machu Picchu. Could be good research for anyone who might, perhaps, be hoping to hike there sometime next year...

Sending off Summer in Style

As the light fades on September and the leaves begin to show their first signs of color, we should all take a little time to pause, reflect, and bask in the summer’s many wonders while we still can. Although I suppose “many wonders,” is just my way of saying “many strawberries.” And then, in that case, “bask in” must just mean eat. I guess what I’m getting at is that time is running out to enjoy those gorgeous glowing red orbs of sweet juicy succulence and that this is our last chance to eat as many as we possibly can before they disappear from our collective gardens and farm stands only to be curiously replaced by rows of the bland Stepford Strawberries which the fall and winter meekly try to pass off as the real deal. And since we’re doing this all in the name of summer, and we’ve made clear our favorite way to temper the summer’s accompanying heat, might I suggest enjoying these precious remaining berries atop a bed of vanilla ice cream? And being the classy folks we are here at Firestone, the celebrants of joie de vivre and revelers in all of life’s finest, we’re naturally interested in transforming a combo as classically elegant as berries ‘n’ cream into something truly majestic. My preferred addition? A light drizzle of reduced balsamic. While spinach salad may be the venue where strawberries and vinegar were first introduced, a cool scoop of vanilla ice cream turns out to be an unexpectedly perfect setting for the budding romance between these two sweetly acidic delights. It’s a fitting send-off to the sunniest of seasons, and it couldn’t be much easier. Just simmer some balsamic vinegar for fifteen minutes or so and let it cool. Then, chop some berries, scoop some ‘scream, and assemble it all into a sophisticated sundae. If you’re thinking, “Wait. This is crazy. Balsamic vinegar? In a dessert? Now I’ve heard everything.” then perhaps some of the recipes below (presumably by actual chefs, with degrees and stuff) will convince you.

(If, however, you are an actual chef, totally unimpressed, thinking this is amateur hour, and that you could whip up a way classier dessert while, oh I don’t know, hiking the Inca Trail to Machu Picchu, well then, frankly, we’d like very much to take you up on that. Check out the contest here and show us what you (and your signature dishes) are made of. )

The Tradish
The Marinater
The Everything at Once

And come to think of it, it would be doing summer a disservice if we didn't accompany this fine dessert with a nice glass of wine. Might we suggest a Firestone?