Last Saturday, Tiff hosted an Iron Chef-inspired competition that she titled “Perfect Summer Day Party”—and it really was! She lives in RiverWest Condominiums in downtown Minneapolis, just between the Missississippi River and the downtown skyline. We spent the whole day outside on the 2nd floor courtyard, chilling in and around the pool and staking out the three grills for the competition at 3 p.m. (We did share one of the grills, but not while the competition was happening.)

This guy introduced himself as Captain Creep-o. It was barely 2 p.m. and he was trashed already. Or maybe that’s just how he is.

This salsa was awesome. You should look for it in your local co-op’s refrigerated section.

Pineapple was the secret ingredient for the cook-off. Unfortunately there was only one pineapple to split among three chefs, so the dishes didn’t register as very pineapple-y in the end. The chefs all cooked furiously for an hour, and Tiff was our enthusiastic narrator.

Next time: less kitchen, more utensils.

Why do inflatable toys make a pool party more fun? Bobbing around in the water with other people while just talking to each other? Preposterous.

Warr kept asking me if I wanted to take photos of him doing stuff. That was entertaining for a while.

We were grilling right above this cute little building. Wouldn’t it be fun and refreshing to work in such a creative space? I think so. (Hello, Riley Hayes. Are you hiring?)

Maybe I go swimming in too many lakes and rivers, but this pool was just amazing. So clean and blue. It would’ve been perfect for penny diving.

This is Nathan. I stole a few photos of the day from him. I also stole some from Tiff. What’re ya gonna do?

The judges, Ann, Josh, and Sarah, wrote their scores on paper plates. That worked okay. (Next time someone should make a list of necessities the day before the competition. Or does that make it too serious?)

Our Announcer, Jeremy, read off the scores and the judges’ notes about each chef. Then announced that Crystal won! She was awarded a sweet Lucha Libre mask.

This duck comes to every party. I don’t know the joke about him, but he takes good photos.

I just can’t get over what a fantastic day it was! I hope the weather repeats itself this coming weekend.

There are many, many more photos from this day on Flickr.