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The secret ingredient for Level II is TEA. Told you we had a good one. Before you start to panic, we've some info and links below that might help. It is more versatile than you think, and we have faith in all of you.
For Level II you are expected to prepare a minimum of 3 dishes. One each of appetizer/salad, entree, and dessert. You can prepare more, but that's entirely up to you.
The following exerpt is from the Wikipedia:
Tea is a caffeine-containing beverage, made by steeping dried leaves or buds of the tea bush Camellia sinensis in hot water for a few minutes. Other herbs, spices, or fruit are sometimes added for flavour. The name tea derives from the Chinese 茶, pronounced te in the Min Nan dialect.
The term herbal tea usually refers to infusions of fruit or herbs containing no actual tea, such as rosehip tea or chamomile tea. Alternative terms for this are tisane or herbal infusion, both bearing an implied contrast with tea.
About 3,000,000 tonnes of tea are produced worldwide annually.
Some hints from TeaMuse as well as a 3-part article at a la cuisine and the story that is to blame for our choice from KUOW (NPR).
Just for the heck of it: The History of Tea (according to Stash) and a link to our favorite local tea shoppe: The Perrenial Tea Room.
To avoid any food allergy complications, email us with the name(s) and ingredients of your dishes so we can have menu cards ready.
(UPDATED) So far the only problems we are aware of are with nuts (except cashews), citrus (particularly grapefruit), dairy products (lactose), onions /shallots (but leeks are OK), and coconut. Please also indicate if there is any pork or shellfish (even as part of a sauce) in your dish. We will keep this list up to date as guests email us with their limitations.
For information about judging criteria, see General Guidelines.
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