It's time! I'm off on a work trip tomorrow, so the event starts early. It also gets to finish in a haphazard fashion since I will also be gone Monday evening and Tuesday so I think we'll have to say that entries can come in at any time up to Tuesday late afternoon Pacific Standard Time and I'll post a roundup on Wednesday.

To recap for newbies, visitors, etc. Here are the current rules...

[[NOTE - In honor of the local food challenge from Locavores (also see Life Begins At Thirty)I am going to decree that bonus points go to those who make an effort to get all their ingredients locally. ]]

For absolutely only the fun of it and for no other reason whatsoever, the Paper Chef challenges each and every one of you reading this to let loose your culinary imagination and make up a dish of your own. Loosely based on the ideas of the Iron Chef, fond TV favorite in the US and Japan, and on the British show Ready, Steady, Cook! (fond favorite in the UK), the Paper Chef is all about creativity and constraint, challenge and cooking.

Ingredients have been nominated by readers and three are randomly selected. A fourth gets picked by the host with a topical theme of some kind. Then you get a weekend (Friday Noon to Monday Noon) to make up a recipe, cook it and post the recipe to your blog. Then post a comment here or send an email to owenl1998 at yahoo dot com to be included in a roundup. The previous month's winner gets to be judge (and is ineligble that month) and gives out whatever kinds of awards they like.

I've had lots of questions about things like photographs. Photographs are NOT necessary to take part. Nor is having you own blog - I'll be happy to post a recipe for you if you want. However, it is clear that having a nice photograph will help influence the judges - if they see it looking good it is a lot easier to imagine it tasting looking good...

It is also absolutely OK to substitute if you just cannot find an ingredient or if you or someone who will eat the dish has an allergy - just try to substitute with something close to the original to remain in the spirit of the occasion.

The times are always the first Friday of the month, Noon PST until the following Monday Noon PST. However we aren't sticklers for timekeeping here - a little late and any excuse will do. A LOT late and you'll have to have a really good and creative one to do with cats pushing bowls off counters or the like.

So, the event is now open.

Our ingredients are:

1) Dried Chillies - oh the heat! Matches our current 100 degree weather (where I live, anyway).

2) Peaches - here in California we are still in the tail end of fresh peach season, but canned are fine too.

3) Edible flowers - any kind, but per Mrs. D's suggestion, lavender is considered an extra-special edible flower here.

4) The topical ingredient? Anything at all that really is local - the more local the better - and giving us all the source and distance from your house would be fun, too.

Have fun!