An afternoon’s delight of Cakes and Coffee

The 8th day of October started off beautifully, luring people out of their homes and prodding them towards the Palau Royal Resort to witness the biggest event the Belau Tourism Association (BTA) and partner agencies had in store.

The sudden outpour of the rain did not faze the audience as they watched in fascination how the contenders of the hot and cold coffee contest whipped up creative concoctions enough to tempt the palates of even non-coffee drinkers.

At the hotel lobby, the judges of the cake decorating contest had quite a time choosing the winner from the nine entries in the amateur category. Meanwhile, the six contestants for the professional cake decorating contest were given 45 minutes to put their utmost competing ability by coming up with Palauan themes. Kids weren’t left out as they also occupied a portion of the lobby near the Waves Restaurant, each one pitting against the other in a battle of talent for the cake coloring contest.

And now the winners of the different categories:
Jaime Guevarra of PRR’s creation depicting a Palauan a Bai romped off with the first prize in the professional cake decorating category, while artist Michael Glinski’s “Blue Wall” gelatin creation bagged the first prize for the amateur category. Both went home with trophies plus $300 and $200 respectively.
Palau Pacific Resort’s (PPR) representative Arnel Sapnot won the hot coffee brewing contest while Annabel Lymann representing the Palau Swimming Association won the judges’ nod in the cold coffee contest. Both went home with trophies and $200 richer.

Former vice president Sandra Pierantozzi won a prize for wearing the best Sunday hat while Daniel Carlos and Vivica Anastacio emerged as the winners for the kid’s cake coloring contest in the 3-6 year olds and the 6-9 year olds categories respectively.
Lucky winners of the raffle drawings also went home with round trip plane tickets, hotel accommodations, dinner coupons, cellphones and a lot of other wonderful prizes.

The successful Bake and Brew event, a first-ever for Palau was well-attended by the island’s top leaders and came about as a result of the joint efforts of the BTA, Palau Visitors Authority and Palau Community College.