Squash Birds of a Feather

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© Irvin Lin, Eat the Love

Those of you familiar withcompetitive yellow squash carving know how intense these contests can get, and an event Irecently co-hosted with Allrecipes in Seattle was no different. The tension was so thick, you could've cut it with a swag-bag paring knife.
This battle royal took place at the conclusion of BlogHerFood weekend, and an exclusive group of foodies were invited based on theirblogging experience, passion for edible art, and to a much greater extent,their availability.
The theme of the day was centered on my mascot and lifelongfriend, the squash bird. After regaling them with the strange and mostly true story of how it came to be, and demonstrating how I make the bird, our honoredattendees set to work creating their own renditions for fun and fabulousprizes.
Despite bottomless Mimosas, I thought the birds  these “gordiators” produced were extraordinary. Here are a few of thehighlights. 

© Irvin Lin, Eat the Love

I only had my cell phone to take pictures with, so the blurryshots are mine. Thankfully my friend Irvin at Eat the Love wasthere, and graciously shared some of the pictures he took.
The winning bird was from Michael Procopio, the blogger/foodwriter behind the always entertaining Food for the Thoughtless. Theclassic combination of huge beak and fabulous hat proved irresistible to thejudges. More subtle was the upright posture, which gave the bird an almost regal stance.

In addition to being a squash bird boss, the hilarious Mr. Procopio also gives good Twitter, so be sure to check him out there. By the way, be prepared to look stuff up onWikipedia.

Speaking of fabulous, the inimitable Linda Nicholson, aka Salty Seattle, was also in attendance. As you can see, she wasclearly trying to distract the competition with her choice of footwear, whichmimicked the bird’s bright orange feet. Did it work? Not really, but who cares? Look at those boots!

© Irvin Lin, Eat the Love

Her squash birds were almost as striking. The saline sirenattempted an ambition scene consisting of what appears to be two squash birds trying to land onthe same rock. 
Unfortunately, during the lunch break, some mayo from hersandwich must have fallen on the birds, and she was disqualified for violatingChapter 3, Section 7 of the official rules, which covers inappropriate use ofcondiments.
Many attendees utilized "hair" and other eye-catching accessories to make an impression. Sean Timberlake from Hedonia tried to pull off the rarely seencock’s comb/toupee combo; and DPaul Brown from dpaulbrown.com's follicaffectations not only dressed up his entry, but also helped indicate whatkind of cigarette was in the beak.

© Irvin Lin, Eat the Love

Another favorite was this submission from Andrew Wilder at Eating Rules. I thought it was a smart approach to make the bird look like it wasbending over feeding. 
We assumed Andrew was trying to show movement, althoughhe did spend a lot of time making sure everyone saw just how anatomicallycorrect the tail end of his creation was, so there may have been ulteriormotives.
Anyway, we really did have a great time, and I want to thankeveryone who participated. Also, a huge thanks to my friends at Allrecipes for hosting andorganizing such a fun event! 

If you want to learn how to make your very ownsquash bird, check out this video, and as always, enjoy!