Il De France

The Rules: Contestants are asked to submit in writing their worst holiday cooking/ entertaining disaster. Written submissions are limited to 500 words maximum. Five Finalists will be initially chosen and interviewed by Ile de France, one Grand Prize Winner will be named .

The Prize: One (1) Grand Prize Winner will be awarded: a trip for two (2) to New York City. The Grand Prize consists of round-trip coach air transportation (for Winner and a guest) between a major commercial airport near the Grand Prize Winner’s home and a commercial airport servicing New York City; two (2) night hotel accommodations (double occupancy) in New York City at the Surrey Hotel. Grand Prize also includes dinner for two (2) at Café Boulud; two (2) tickets to a Broadway show; a “Culinary Makeover” with cookbook author and Ile de France spokesperson Kathy Gunst (to take place in Winner’s hotel suite); and a classic KitchenAid ® Stand Mixer, courtesy of KitchenAid.. Four (4) Finalists will each receive a stylish KitchenAid


The Entry:

I cooked my first family Thanksgiving not long after I moved to a new apartment. Following the instructions in the local newspaper's Wednesday food section, I selected a large turkey and brined it the night before. Problem was, I didn't have a container big enough to hold the 16-pound bird, so I filled a garbage bag with salt water and tucked the turkey inside. Sometime in the night, the bag broke, leaking raw poultry infused water all over my refrigerator and out onto the kitchen floor. I spent Thanksgiving morning frantically mopping while my husband ran to the store to replace the vegetables that had spent the night marinating in raw turkey juice.

Then it was time to cook. We hadn't used our oven yet (as I mentioned, we had just moved in) and so I expected it to be clean. Instead I found a thick layer of purple-black grease caked across the interior. I locked the oven door and turned the temperature dial to "clean," not realizing the darn thing would take four hours to go through its ruthless heat cycle. By the time I was able to open the oven to put the turkey in, the guests were almost upon us and the temperature was roaring hot at 500-degrees.

But the fun didn't stop there. In my attempt to keep Thanksgiving semi-healthy, I'd nixed the mashed potatoes and instead made pureed cauliflower. I didn't think anyone would notice. I was wrong. "There is no way this came from a potato," said my husband's ten-year-old cousin. Her older brother agreed that it "sucked." The turkey still wasn't done and the other guests were frighteningly quiet.

Then my wonderful husband stood up and made the best save ever. "In our house, we like to start the meal with dessert and work backwards," he said. I took out the store-bought pies while he snuck into the kitchen to whip up a pack of instant potatoes. By the time the pie pan was empty, the turkey was cooked through and we made a fine attempt at carving it. But that's a story for another time.

The Finalists
The Winner