Monday, March 5, 2012

Chili Cook Off

This weekend my friend's mom participated in the 3rd Annual Chili Cook Off.  I was so excited to talk The Husband into going with me - like super ecstatic!
We arrived a little early and had to wait outside the gate - boo!!! We heard that 10,000 people were expected to show so we wanted to make sure we had our fill of chili. I'm so glad we got there early because by about 2 pm contestants were already running out of chili! My friend's mom made 10 GALLONS of chili and ran out in 3 hours.
Let me give you a little perspective to this - you got SAMPLES of each chili you tried...seriously, I think it amounted to 3 tablespoons! So to run out of THAT much chili in that short amount of time was just crazy!

The Husband and I were able to make our rounds with Marc and try a lot of chili. We tried a deer chili - yes, it had deer meat in it.
We tried one that had corn in it -- I was REALLY skeptical and hesitant. I didn't get a cup but The Husband did and had me try the chili even though I wasn't a super willing participant. It was DELICIOUS! I am so glad I took that spoonful lol!

We also tried a really flavorful - Buffalo Chili. Their tent was completely decked out and yes, it was made with Buffalo meat. It was really really good - they used all sorts of peppers in their recipe.
 
Now as we walked around and tried these various competitors yummies, we discovered that there are a LOT that were not very good - some didn't even LOOK good; others were insanely greasy; some so spicy more than one spoonful was too much. I'm all about the TASTE - I like chili a lot and my big thing is enjoying the chili. Now I do realize that one of the categories was a 'fire' category -- too bad I didn't realize it sooner!

My favorite stop was the free cotton candy the orthodontist tent was handing out...I went by TWICE! I LOVE LOVE LOVE fresh cotton candy - I told The Husband we will need to invest in one sometime =)
 
 
  
It was so fun hanging out with friends and The Husband. We had a lot of laughs - from the lady with terrible boob sweat who kept talking about it to seeing some of THE hoochiest (hoochiest - is that a word?) women/girls to watching Christy's dad encourage people to take the chili as a shot

to trying "balls deep"....
Yes, you read that correctly....Balls Deep was the name of the team. They deep fried chili balls. there were a lot of opinions on this one...I thought they were very yummy and a unique take on the idea of a chili recipe.

It was an awesome day out with some awesome people:

  
 I got sunburned and it was 90*....meanwhile, Sunday the high was 66*! What is happening in Florida?! Oh well! I love every moment I get to spend with the ones I love and this guy right here:

Did you do anything exciting or different this weekend?

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7 comments:

Michelle (michabella) said...

If I would have known you'd be out there I would have gone!!!! So fun :)

CeCe said...

A chili cook off sounds fun. I LOVE chili so I would have loved to go around tasting to my hearts content. I can't even imagine what it would be like to make 10 gallons. That's a lot! I did something super different and fun this weekend. My post is forthcoming!

Danielle and Trev said...

This looks so fun!! Love your blog. Newest reader!

Dana said...

That sounds like a lot of fun. We don't have chili cook offs up here in MN but I know they're popular in the south. I do love chili though!

Betty said...

Oh my...this looks like so much fun. And that warm weather?! Love it!

Faith said...

wow! so, so fun! i would love to go to something like this!!

and cotton candy ... i am obsessed!! the fresher, the better!!!

Unknown said...

i miss you Ashley!

You & the hubby are TOO cute! I'm catching up on your blog! :)