Our family was really excited to check out the Tillamook Cheese Loaf Love tour private media event which was held at the San Diego Zoo this past Saturday. We had an amazing time!
World Renowned Chef Keegan Gerhard of D Bar San Diego taught the guests how to make the perfect grilled cheese. He explained to us that often times it is not about putting a bunch of ingredients into your creation, but simply using the very best whole ingredients without a lot of additives.
He of course used Tillamook Cheese (which holds the current title of World’s Best Cheddar!), Tillamook butter, and all natural sourdough bread – mmmm!
After that, the competition was on! Families were invited to create a grilled cheese sandwich to be judged by the world famous chef. There would be three winners, the top winner would win a YEAR supply of Tillamook Cheese.
I’m not going to lie, I was not planning on our family winning. I don’t consider myself very creative, and while I know my way around a crock pot – I am not one to come up with fun recipes. My daughter however heard the words ‘competition’ and ‘cooking’ together and she was all excited. She is our competitive one. And when Mr. Deals and Steals heard we could win a year supply of award winning cheese he was very helpful in building her random creation.
The rules were simple – each family could make one sandwich using any or all of the ingredients available. Let me tell you, there were some gourmet sandwiches – delicious ingredients and also many were presented in a really attractive fashion. Some were, not ours. 
She heard that we could make it into a fun shape and she said “We are at the zoo so let’s make it a giraffe!” Um, OK. I probably would have talked her into something else, but Mr. Deals & Steals was on it. He grabbed four pieces of bread and two types of cheese and chop shopped a giraffe together. He then helped J pull out pieces of the bread and they stuffed extra sharp cheddar cheese in the holes (so the giraffe would have spots).
Now, I love my husband and daughter and they were quite enthusiastic – but it was not cute…………..
The judges said that they had not seen anything like it on the entire tour. My daughter beamed with pride when she heard that, although I took it as “Whoa, that is weird.”
So we sat down to play with stickers and ate Tillamook ice cream while I gently prepped her for the inevitable…….. not winning.
“Babe, you and daddy did such a cool job, it was so much fun right?” Me
“Yep! And they said they have never seen a Chees – iraffe before , so I am probably gonna win!!” J
“Well, this has been a really fun day and that is what is important, lots of people made cool sandwiches so let’s make sure to not be sad if we don’t win ok?” Me
*Dead Serious Face* “They said they never had a chees – iraffe before *dramatic pause* of course it will be the winner Mommy.” J
Well, wouldn’t you know – apparently her enthusiasm won the judges over and J & Mr. Deals & Steals earned our family a YEAR supply of Tillamook cheese! I am guessing there will be some cheesy recipes featured on San Diego Deals and Steals during the next year for sure!
*Disclosure – as stated, we attended a fun media event hosted by Tillamook cheese, we also won a bunch of cheese. I was not obligated to blog about our win, but I just thought J’s chees – iraffe might give some of you a laugh! I also wanted to say a big thank you to Tillamook for inviting us and for such quality products! You can find Tillamook cheese at a variety of stores including Vons.
Kate
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