Fruit of Success

If a certain trend continues, there may be a new variety of strawberry sometime soon: Let’s call it the Roxanne.

That would be a fitting tribute to Roxanne Chan of Albany, Calif., who not only won first place in four of the six categories in last week’s California Strawberry Festival Berry-Off competition, but also took the overall grand prize for her Strawberry Truffles.

The Berry-Off, a signature competition of Oxnard’s annual tribute to strawberries, has categories for hors d’oeuvres; soups and salads; main dishes and vegetables; bread, pancakes and crepes; desserts and miscellaneous dishes. Entries this year were prepared by Chef Robert Garcia and his staff at Capistrano’s restaurant.

Chan won first place for her Sicilian Strawberry Stuffed Grape Leaves (hors d’oeuvres), a Strawberry Spring Roll Salad (soups and salads), Cornmeal Crusted Chicken With Two Strawberry Salsas (main dishes and veggies) and the truffles (miscellaneous).

This was the first year Chan earned the highest of the berry honors, but it was hardly the first time her name has appeared on the winners’ lists. A contestant in various categories since 1992, Chan has finished first seven times, second seven times and third twice.

“They just love creativity, unusual ways to use strawberries,” Chan said of her Berry-Off strategy. “The appetizer was a grape leaf roll using strawberries, hazelnuts and goat cheese with capers and currants. I’d say that was a bit unusual.”

Chan said she enjoys experimenting with strawberries.

“Three out of four of my recipes use ginger,” she said. “I’m a big ginger freak and it pairs wonderfully with strawberries.”

Clearly, Chan knows her strawberries. But that’s hardly where her recipe prowess stops. She enters about 100 recipe contests a year, and since 1984 has won more than 350 awards and more than a dozen grand prizes.

The day before she won the Berry-Off, Chan returned home from a trip to Hawaii, courtesy of the Best Foods company. The trip was her grand prize for a mayonnaise recipe.

“I haven’t had training; it’s just a matter of experience,” Chan said. “You pick up certain hints on how to at least get to the finals. You have to have something that stands out.”

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John Morris and his wife, Ann, have moved their Thousand Oaks Antique Centre and Tea Room about 200 feet from their old spot at the Evergreens Shopping Center on Thousand Oaks Boulevard.

The new home is smaller in square footage than the previous one, but the traditional English tea room has been expanded and the establishment now offers courtyard service.

“The main reason for the move was to get the courtyard area,” said John Morris, a native of Liverpool, England, who designed the tea room after one he used to frequent in the London suburb of Kew Gardens. “It is very large, very private and it’s back from the parking lot area. It’s very nicely secluded.”

In addition to the outdoor seating, the new location has more room for private parties and a larger kitchen. Now, along with the pastries, tea sandwiches and other traditional English fare, Morris said his crew will be able to prepare more homemade pastries.

The relocation comes one year after the tea room was added onto the antique shop, which opened in October 1995.

“It’s something I just thought would be an accessory, but it’s turned out to be in great demand,” Morris said. “A lot has to do with the elegance.”

The antique center and tea room are at 3727 E. Thousand Oaks Blvd.

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Leeward Winery in Ventura will offer a sampling of its current releases at a free open house and barbecue from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. Saturday and Sunday. Tri-tip, chicken and vegetables prepared over oak coals will accompany the wine. Leeward is at 2784 Johnson Drive.

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Mike O’Beirne, a key player in the Conejo Valley Days Chili Cook-Off, is organizing the judging for Sunday’s installment of the competition at Conejo Creek Park in Thousand Oaks.

Having been involved with the cook-off since 1982, O’Beirne has developed a certain understanding of the event. And he said he will offer a bit of guidance to his team of tasters before they take their first bites.

“We tell them before they judge, ‘If this were the last bowl of chili you were going to have in your life, which would you pick out and, if you like them all, which do you like best?’ ”

Because chili cooks will be registering up to the start of the event, it is hard to tell how many will compete, but O’Beirne expects about 70 chefs. And chances are the competition will be fierce.

“A lot are locals who cook once a year and cook to have fun. A lot are [International Chili Society] cooks. We’ve had two past world champions win this cook-off,” he said. “I’d say the level of cooking is pretty high.”

O’Beirne said for the most part, Conejo Valley Days cooks lean toward a traditional style of chili.

“They tend to make beef chili,” he said, “and they tend to make it reasonably spicy with lots of onions.”

Entrants will be asked to prepare two quarts of chili for the judges and two gallons for general sampling. Cooking will begin at noon, with the judging at 3 p.m. Those interested in putting their chili skills to the test, should call Raul Gutierrez at 497-3555.