God Bless The Rose City Chili Cook-Off

Today marks the end of week five and I’m happy to report that as of Friday morning, I had lost 17 lbs. I didn’t bother weighing this morning because this past weekend was my beloved Rose City Chili Cook-Off (RCCO).  I told my weight counselor on Friday that all bets were off for the weekend, due to the cook-off.  She was sympathetic (I think).

A little history here…   This cook-off was originally set up as an annual event in 1981, but we missed a year shortly after the New Millennium, so instead of the 31^st Annual Rose City Chili Cook-Off, it was the 30^th Ever Rose City Chili Cook-Off.

I have been involved with this event since 1984, when my boss sent me out to take pictures of our company team. The following Year, I was Campaign Chairman for the hosting charity so I was involved again.  By 1986, my brother and two other friends decided to try our hand at cooking chili.  Again in 1991, I decided to, again, shoot for the coveted People’s Choice Chili Award, so I dragged my brother-in-law and one of my employees out to the RCCO.  It was not to be.

For the sake of clarity, I think it’s important to define the 2 kinds of chili judging that goes on at a chili cook-off.  There’s People’s Choice Chili, which really doesn’t have any rules and is served to the public and voted upon and the largest team usually wins, because they have, at least as many votes, going in, as they do team members, so there you go.  Then there’s Competition Chili, which is turned in in a Styrofoam Judging Cup, has a concealed ticked taped to the side, and is judged by a panel of Judges in a blind judging format.  At the end of the day, the winning cup has the ticket peeled off and announced.  The cook with the matching ticket wins…

By 1992, my Competition Chili was placing with some frequency and I soon became hooked and was a regular on the Chili Appreciation Society International (CASI) circuit.    

In 1994 and 1995, I was the Great Pepper of the Rose City Chili Pod and again from 1999 until 2003.  Needless to say, I was ready to put the responsibilities of chili cook-offs behind me and get back to being a regular old chili cook after that.

So why did I just share this plethora of information with you?  Well, because it is important to understand why I absolutely have to cook at it every year. 

In a nutshell, you reunite with old friends and get to drink a lot of beer and experience, what I like to call “the thrill of highly intense competition, without the inconvenience of physical exertion”.  There you have it!

Well beer isn’t on the list of drinks I can have (due to the carbs) but it’s a well-known fact that a chili cook has to drink beer 30 minutes before Chili Turn-In, because the cook needs to be able to taste the chili the same way that the Chili Judges are tasting it. 

Let’s face it, most of the time, Chili Judges are cleansing their pallets with beer, so needless to say, a good chili cook can’t make adjustments to his or her chili without, also, drinking beer.

Of course, who drinks just one beer? 

Originally, I had good intentions for lunch.  I packed a lunch tote with 250 calories of tuna salad.  Well….   I kind of got busy and the tuna salad probably got too warm to eat…  Then I discovered the food vendor, so I had a foot long ½ lb hotdog with lots of mustard.  And, yes, it was awesome!

I know, I was weak…

Good news was that, on Saturday, I won 7th Place out of 43 or 44 chilis.  Didn't do so well on Sunday...  

Oh, did I mention that there were 2 cook-offs over the weekend?  So, about 18 beers and a lot of beef & pork fat later (over the course of 2 days) I think I blew the diet.

When I woke up and went in the bathroom this morning, I took the side of my foot and gently slid my bathroom scales against the wall, under my towel rack, where it will be left undisturbed for several days, until I’m back on track. 

So there you have it, my weekend of weakness…   (Although I did get home with a trophy)...

Hopefully the next blog will provide some good news…