Cow Town Chili

Yesterday was a blast.

I cooked with my wife Candy and oldest daughter Jessie while the middle girl and some other family members came by for support.
Hannah is getting so big and I felt my grand daughter move for the first time yesterday. The grand baby thing is still a little weird to me, but I'm growing on the idea. I have finally come up with what I want to be called, Gpop. I know it sounds a little gangster, but what the hell.

There were seven of us all cooking together from our Pod. A Pod is a group of chili cooks inside the CASI (Chili Appreciation Society International) organization. There are Pods all over the US. All you have to do is find one near you by going to casichili.net and get involved and start cooking. You don't have to be a member of anything to cook chili, but it's better that you are, even if it's for support.

This cookoff was a big one, 133 cooks in all. Some came all the way from Illinois. I did the best out of our Pod by getting 21st and making final table. They called down to 22nd place so I just made it. That's not as good as I wanted but it is saying something. There were about ten ex-world champions cooking and they didn't make final table.
We could have cooked again today but the weather did not hold out. By turn in time yesterday it was raining cats and dogs. The winds picked up and it became just stupid to be out there. About 55 cooks stayed the night and are cooking today in 40 MPH winds, not me my friends. I am sitting here in the house fat, dry and happy.

Y'all have a great week.

Jerry 

Chili Filled Weekend

This weekend was nothing but Chili Cooking.

Both days we cooked in Sanger Texas by the lake. Saturday's cook off was was sponsored by and
dedicated to an old friend, YOF. Rest in peace my friend.
The money raised went to the Elks Charities. I took 2nd place in the Beans, the wife got 14th with her chili. We cooked inside due to the threat of rain all day. We had a blast.
 

Sunday's cook off was sponsored by lottajoy. Please run by her blog and check her out. The money raised went to the Gold Triangle Charities.
We decided to cook outside just because. It did rain on us a little but it was much better than cooking inside again. We didn't bring our tent so it was pure redneck cooking. We used a table as a wind break and cooked right off the tailgate, loved every minute of it. The wife nor I placed with our chili but it was still fun. We did place 2nd in show, I don't know how but we did. I guess it's my bubbly personality.

It was a great turn out and a lots of fun. I want to say thanks to all that came out in support of us, and a big thanks to the sponsors. Next weekend we will be cooking in Dennison TX at Loose Wheels, so if you are on that side of the world come by say hey.
If you are looking to sponsor our cooking team at a cook off you can hit the donate button on the right side of this blog to do so. A sponsorship spot is $40.00. This money is not for me in anyway, it is for the entry fees and goes straight to charity.   

That's it for now, Y'all have a great day,
MDR

The Deck Was Stacked

This weekend we cooked in St. Joe Texas.
This sleepy town is only 1.1 square miles with under a thousand folks living there. Nice little quiet place stuck on HW82 heading West resting right on the edge of the Red River Valley.
The DQ is the only place open where you can get a cup of coffee early in the morning. When the door opens banging against the cow bell, a hush falls on the crowd. All the old timers drinking coffee turn and look to see who you are and if they know you. While paused at the door and with every eye on me, I checked my fly to make sure it was up.  

We had a great time this weekend. The weather could not have been better. 2 1/4 inches of rain fell and the green has already started coming back. The smell of fall is in the air and along with all the animals, our step has a little more kick in it. I hid my shivers and goose bumps as I mocked the wife because she was wearing a jacket. Just last week were were still in the upper 90s. This morning, a cool 58.

Something magical was going to happen at the cook off, I could feel it. I couldn't wait to get there, get set

up and start cooking. Once there we started to realize the deck was stacked against us.
In this little town, a long way from nowhere, there was;
The current World Champion, three past World Champions, the Louisiana State Champion, The Intercontinental/Canadian Champion, The Mexico Champion and about seven of the top ten in the USA.  I should have just turned around and went home, but I looked at it this way, If I'm going to get beat, I wanted to be beat by the best.

We even got to meet a fellow blogger. My new friend over at Your Crazy Uncle Bubba drove up to meet us and have a good time. He and his wife got to judge the winning table of chili and see what all that was about. It's always good to meet like minded folks and even though we have never met, it was almost like we already known one another.
As most of you already know, put a couple of beers in me and I start talking. I normally don't say much and most of the time a little stand offish. I just wondered what went through my new friend's mind when after our introductions I said, "I thought you were younger than you are." Yea that's probably not the best way to start off a new friendship and the wife is right, she can't take me anywhere. But he laughed it off and we moved on.
Anyway, super nice folks and being we live close I hope to see them again, maybe have them come out to the Mini Farm for some BBQ. I can cook it better then chili any day. (So I keep telling myself)

The cook off results,
My beans made the top ten again and my chili didn't. Out of 35 cooks and 20 of those being champions of some sort or another, I got beat by the best. I say the best because the wife was right up there with them. She got 8th place among the best in the world and I am really proud of her. 
Girlfriend is holding her own (and she wasn't even going to cook either)


That's all I got for now, I got some bad news to share next post, Doom and Gloom kinda crap.
Don't forget to stop by my buddy's blog on the way out.

See ya,
MDR

Here It Comes

It's just right there, I can almost see it. YES, It's a cold front!!!

This weekend the temps will only be in the mid 90's. Get the jacket folks, it's going to be a cold one.
Plus, they are saying we have about a 20% chance of light scattered showers. In the big picture, that means my place will have a 0.001% chance of getting a few drops. Fingers are crossed that we are in that very small percent range.
Why do they even tease us?

Play time again this weekend. We will be cooking in Wichita Fall Texas tomorrow. It will also be the first time we will enter our beans for competition., fingers crossed on that too.
I would say to come on out and visit with us, but I don't know anyone who lives out there. It is a 2 1/2 hour drive from where I live and I wouldn't make that drive just to sit around and drink beer and eat chili unless I was cooking. Well...... I have done worse for less.
So if you are bored tomorrow grab your Coleman camp stove, your best recipe and come on out and lets see what you got. As it is right now we will be the only folks who we know, all the rest will have shifty eyes.

Be safe,
MDR

One Week Away

Just one more week until we are back on the circuit cooking chili every weekend.

I have been excited about the new season, the new equipment and the new recipes we will be using. Also this year I will be entering the bean category and serving up my own special Texas style beans. My chili may suck, but my beans are going to take me places.  

It's going to be hot and I don't like cooking in the heat, but I have to do it for the points. This weekend we will be cooking in Durant at the Oklahoma State Championship. This is really not the place to try out new recipes and equipment but you got to do it somewhere. It you are around that part of the Oklahoma this weekend drop me an email and I will tell you where we will be. Get there in time and you can be a judge. I look forward in see you there.

The anniversary weekend went as planned. The Murder Mystery Dinner was a blast. I didn't know we would actually be a part of the play, this was right up my ally. I am really not a people person but put into that situation where I was put on the spot to come up with an answer in front of a crowd, it was fun. I didn't know I needed to make up who I was. So on the fly I was Wayne Walton, out on parole. I was with my prison wife Candy, an ex-stripper. 
The neat thing was, you did not know who the actors were. They would talk to you while you mingled just like they were part of the crowd.  It wasn't till they were shot or shot someone did you know they were part of it.
Well, now I can say "Been there, Done that"   


 I also wanted to welcome to the new members of MDR. Thank you for hitting the button. If you need anything just let me know. This is a rowdy bunch so please don't get scared.

And that's it. Another long, back breaking, hot week is ahead of me at the Job.
See ya in the funny pages,
MDR