COMPETITOR

Lori Rukstales

HEAD COOK: Lori Rukstales

COMPETITION: World Sandwich Championship

I enjoy eating well, and that is why I also like cooking. One of my favorite things to eat/cook is Christmas cookies, and that's kind of where I "started" focusing on technique. Ideally, a Christmas cookie should be a work of art that is also exquisite to the taste buds, and small enough so that you can have many more. Since cooking is a passion for me, and I also enjoy excelling at what I do, I naturally gravitated to cooking contests. I don't compete regularly, only when I have opportunity, time, inclination, and a good idea. My first win came with a local Gingerbread contest sponsored by my community library. It was the first time I had ever tried to construct anything with Gingerbread, and it was a success - I won just enough money to pay for the materials I put into the Gingerbread carousel I made! But it was such fun, making something so beautiful out of food. I'm not sure why this intrigues and delights me. I guess maybe I have bit of a creative side where my medium is food. The best part is, you can eat your "masterpieces"!