New Hampshire State, Hudson, NH - June 1, 2013

 

The month of June had been gearing up to be a very busy month with work and other travel for Michael, so originally we hadn't given much thought to this cookoff, but about a week before we decided - let's do it!  Neither of us were able to take a full vacation day so got on the road around 2pm for the 7.5 hour trip.  The drive from New Brunswick through Maine can be very boring, simply highway and trees, not much to look at.  Anyone who has travelled with me knows that I spend a great deal of time searching the scenery for moose or bear, rarely seeing either!  So I was pretty thrilled when Michael woke me from a short nap with "moose, wake up, moose!!".  We pulled to the side of the road and I actually had a lovely chat with this beautiful guy:

 

Millinocket Moose

Michael had stopped to fill up when we crossed the border (gas is MUCH less expensive over the line) and his tank filled and automatically stopped at $100.  This, along with our moose sighting, convinced him that we were obviously in for a very lucky weekend, they were clearly signs!



 

We arrived at the Radisson in Nashua around 10pm.  We had been told that most of the cooks would likely be staying at the Hampton Inn but decided to take our chances with Hotwire - we ended up with a rate of $62 a night, so were happy with that.  An extra $10 was handed over to have a mini fridge brought to the room and Michael got down to business with his salsa chopping.

 

Saturday got off to a very warm start and continued to get hotter as the day went by, it was a scorcher, 98 degrees!  Apparently last year it was cold, windy and wet so we were all glad to see the sun, although the heat was definitely hard on some.  So glad I bought one of Adriane Cropley's neck coolers at the last cookoff, it definitely worked and came in handy.  (will be wanting an extra so we each have our own in Palm Springs!)

 

 

The first sign that Michael's luck may have run out was at around 8:30am am as we are setting up the booth he realized that the chili he had made last week for the giveaway people's choice was home safe and sound in the freezer.  As this is a part of your registration fee, we could not be without chili to give out, nor would we want to - for me it's the fun part!  So off he went to the local grocery store and picked up enough ingredients to make a very large pot of chili.  The funny part is that we got more comments and votes (19) than we ever have for the giveaway chili!! 

 

All of the ICS sanctioned cook-offs are in aid of a charity or to help out a non-profit, and this one was to raise money for the local high school music program.  The venue was a 6 acre field right across from the school itself.  There was actually a caution regarding discretion with alcohol as we were on school property.   We didn't see anything on there about Jello shots - thanks Vicki!

 

 



The crowd was great and the turnout was perfect - steady all day, but not huge crowds.  There were lots of events going on for kids and other fund raising booths - I bought 10 tickets on a basket of cooking and grilling items, but darn it, didn't win... There was misting tent to help with the heat, a dunk tank and all day on stage were music acts from the school, including the jazz band - they were awesome.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

I won't bore you all again with the chili schedule - Philip did a great job last month providing an overview of what happens.  There were a lot of great cooks there, including a couple of previous world champions which Michael was fortunate enough to spend some time chatting with and gaining knowledge that you can't get anywhere else than from those that have done it that well before.  He got some great comments on his chili, and lots of constructive criticism which he appreciated.  He competed in all 3 events and got points for all 3 pots, which he was really happy with.  Here are his final stats:

                                       Salsa       3 points       8th out of 10 pots

                                       Verde      5 points       Tied for 5th out of 11 pots

                                       Red         3 points       8th out of 14 pots

 

So definitely making progress.  One of the cooks did tell me though "It could take 5 years for him to hone his recipe and skills before he has a win".....I sure hope it doesn't take that long.  But - at least we are having a great time trying!

 

Here are some more pictures from the day.

 

                                                                       Hard at work

                                                         I bought 8 bottles of water here!

                                                                    Michael telling his stories!

                                                            Vicki and Mike turning in chili!

The trophy for Best Booth!!........

                                                           And the actual winner, Anne-Marie!

                                                                    The winning booth
                                    

                                                                    Jack choppin' salsa!

Chief Judge and Scorekeeper

                                                           

Tailgate party!

 

 

 

 Of course now that we're famous come the inevitable press interviews-lol!  Here's local cub reporter Chloe attempting to pry Michael's chili secrets out of him:

 

Mike and Mary Alice in the background

 - she beat him by 1 point to take the

 top spot in red

 

And once again, we made the local papers!  Here is a picture from the Nashua paper, along with links to two articles that were published

 

 

 

 

http://www.nashuatelegraph.com/news/1006808-469/hot-chili-hot-weather-equal-fun-at.html

 

http://www.newhampshire.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20130603/NEWHAMPSHIRE02/130609868

Nashua has a couple of our favorite US restaurants that we don't have access to at home.  We are both trying to watch what we eat lately, but definitely fell off that wagon this weekend.  Saturday night I had the most delicious Mango Margarita, or as Michael referred to it "a slushy" since it was a virgin!

 

 

Then on Sunday morning all thoughts of eating healthy went out the window when we got to IHOP, this was one of our very favorite breakfast spots when we lived in Vancouver.  I was really happy to see that the "Rooty Tooty Fresh and Fruity" was still on the menu!  Here it is:

 

We hope to get to at least one more cookoff this summer before a 2 day event in Wells, Maine in August.  But I have to admit, my real focus these days is the countdown to Palm Springs!  Only 4 months and we will be in sunny California for 2 weeks.  We've booked our flights and will be spending 2 days each in San Diego and Los Angeles before we move into the rental house in Palm Springs. 

                                                        The front of our Palm Springs house

                                                       The pool at our house in Palm Springs

 

Until the next one.....Chili out!

NERCC - Somers, CT - May 4, 2013

I invited my brother Philip to join us this weekend, so have asked him to be our first " Guest Blogger"

to give you all a break from my ramblings!  So, without further ado, here is his commentary:



Philip and Penne

So a few months ago my sister says to me “You know you should come with us on one of the chili cookoffs. You'd really enjoy it. The people there are your type of people and you'd fit right in.”

Now you have to understand that my sister tends to mock me, a lot. So that comment did not encourage me to want to tag along. But eventually Michael (A.K.A Big Mikey chili chef extrordinaire) said that most of the people there are hard working down to earth types, that enjoy good company, great food and the occasional drink now and then. They are also very competitive but very good natured about it. I inquired about how many people would be there and big sis told me that about 60 cooks would be competing. She gave me the dates and I figured why not, and booked my vacation.

Anyone who knows me knows I am NOT a fan of crowds. I avoid them at all costs. I suppose the fault really is mine for not asking more questions, or for assuming that 60 cooks would indicate a small contest. I was wrong, so very, very wrong.

 

If you have never been to any type of food competition before you owe it yourself to go, at least once. Just make sure you ask how many people will be attending, not how many people will be competing. Because the two numbers will bear absolutely no relation to each other.

Full disclosure here, nothing I write will be able to fully describe what going to a chili cookoff is actually like. You honestly have to see it for yourself to believe it. The sheer number people of that were there was a little overwhelming. There number of people at this event was larger than the population of the village I live in, by at least a factor of 2, perhaps 3. And this was just a regional event held in a small town in Connecticut!

So lets start from the beginning. We left at 7 AM Friday morning, which was out target takeoff time, so score one for us. It was beautiful day for a drive and Michael did all the driving leaving me to sit back and enjoy the trip with the occasional nap thrown in. we arrived at our destination late Friday afternoon without once having to rush. Traffic was never an issue and Michael has an awesome truck to travel in. Back seat was all mine and I stretched out and made the most of it.

Philip providing a "healthy" snack for the trip

 

Cherry blossoms in full bloom

 

The first hint that I may have bitten off more than I bargained for was at the meet and greet Friday night. The organizer of the event, Mad Mike, was cheerful, energetic and gregarious. He was in my estimation, the perfect man for the job, the guy you want running any type of event focusing on the public. He shook everyone's hand and treated us all like friends. He was also highly enthusiastic about the fact that this was going to be “second only to the world's in size.” When I asked what that meant he said that probably 10 000 people would show up. Suddenly I wasn't feeling so great about my decision to tag along.
 

                                  Mad Mike Freedman, with Michael & Philip over his shoulder

                                    

Friday night in the hotel was a little bit of prep work for Michael, getting things ready for the next day, then early to bed for a 6AM wakeup call. Have I mentioned I HATE early mornings? I really do. Sat dawned early and we grabbed a quick breakfast before heading to the venue for the competition. And let me tell you, I was dead right about the guy in charge. When we arrived we were directed to our spot, and no less than four people were right there to help us unload all the gear and place it right where it needed to be.

 

 

A quick word about the venue. It was being held at a golf course and the presenters booth site was bigger than two football fields in size. This was just the area where the tents were set up. Each tent is 10 feet by 10 feet in size and placed in rows next to each other. There were 150 tents set up. Both cooks competing and venders, selling everything from homemade jewelry and honey, to Italian ice cream. Truly an incredible place to walk around.

 

                                                    View of the venue from the road

 

There were three ICS events here, salsa, chili verde, and red chili. Michael was competing in all three. Not everyone was doing this, in fact some people were only competing in one event. However for those competing in all three it was a busy day.

After setup, there was the cooks meeting for Michael and while he was there I helped set up the booth. Lots of decorations went up to make the booth look great and they have won a prize in the past for their booth decorations so even though there was no judging being done for the booth setups, my sister worked as hard as if there was prize money on the line. Along with decorations there was setting up the stoves and cleaning station. This isn't just an event you go, toss some ingredients in a pot, and see what happens next. This was a competition every bit as serious as if it was being done in a commercial kitchen, except it's outside. This means doing everything you would do in a kitchen, in a field next to a golf course. Not easy to pull off, and yet these cooks did it. I, as the newbie, had to fetch hot water, which meant lugging a 5 gallon pail of water over 200 meters so we could set up the wash station. Luckily I only had to do this twice on the day so it wasn't too bad.

 

After the cooks meeting things kicked off for real. Start time was 10am and this is where the prep from the night before really helped out. Michael had to start making both salsa and chili verde.

Turn in for the salsa was 11:30 and for the verde was 1pm. Along with doing all of this was also cooking up chili to pass out to the crowds that would be attending. This is known as the people's choice. How it works is this, when you show up to the event you pay your entry fee and you are given a sample cup, spoon, and a puzzle piece to drop off at the chili cook you think is the best. People go around, sample all the chili and vote with their puzzle pieces. So having chili to give away to the public is important. So in effect you are cooking for two competitions at the same time. Michael makes this look easy. Just imagine if you had to cook a three course meal for your boss, in a field, with a few thousand people wandering by asking you random questions and you will get some small idea of what it is like to cook in a chili cookoff.

 

 

 

By 11 AM the day was starting to become a bit of a blur. Michael was in full on competition mode, as were the other cooks. My sister is a natural at dealing with the public and easily fielding question that come our way, the most frequent being, when will our samples be ready. The crowds have me a little overwhelmed but Michael and Penne seems completely oblivious to it all. I stick close to the tent trying to stay out of the way while watching Michael work like a well oiled machine, checking his spices and timing and asking me to keep an eye on the time so he can get everything spot on. His calm was incredible to watch. And I have to say that not once did he ever get upset at the stupid questions I was asking him.

                                             A neighbor's pot of People's Choice Chili
 

Finally our sample chili was ready and we started handing it out to people. I was finally able to contribute to the enterprise and spent the next few hours giving away over TEN gallons of chili. Yes you read that right. Michael cooked up over ten gallons and we gave it all away. In little once ounce cups. I have no idea how many people I handed out a sample too, but I will admit that it was fun!. As Michael cooked away I schmoozed the public, handed out samples and generally tried to keep out of the way of the cook. Not easy in a 10x10 space.

 

 

Along with being a chili cook, Michael is also a certified judge. And after he had handed in his chili for the competition he was pressed into service as a judge for the youth division. Talk about multitasking. I was lucky enough to sample both his verde and his red before he passed it in and let me tell you, if you have never had chili verde before, you owe it to yourself to find some and try it before you die. It is indescribably good!

                                  Had to replenish by heating up a second pot of People's Choice

I'm not a huge chili fan but I do enjoy a good bowl of traditional chili. That means NO BEANS! And this was the kind that Michael made for the competition. The people's choice chili did have beans in it because for some weird reason people associate chili with beans, which is just plain wrong, but I digress. His verde scored some point and got some great feedback from the judges. But more impressive is that when we started to give away samples of the verde after the hand in, people were coming up to the booth and asking for it as a sample! It was that much better than the people's choice chili! It was all gone in no time at all.
 

                                                        Chili Verde ready to go!

                                                      Ready to pass in the pot of Red!
 

Now while I thought Michael's verde was awesome it is clear I am no judge. He got points for his verde but his red made it all the way to the final table, falling just short of placing in the competition. In a field of 55 red pots, making it to the final table was a pretty big deal, considering that this is only his third time as a competitor. He got some great feedback on his chili and some ideas on how to tweak his recipe for the next event. More important was the experience he gained.
 

                                              Tied for 15th out of 16 on the Final's Table

 

For me, as a small town guy,  this was a great weekend out. Yes the crowds were intimidating, but my sister was spot on. The people there were all people I fit right in with. They were all down to earth people, that have a love of good food, love a great day out, and enjoy a bit of spirited competition. They come from all walks of life and if you were to judge a few of them by looks alone I am sure some of them would be people you wouldn't know what to say to, which would be your loss, because one and all, they are a fantastic bunch of people and it was true privilege and honor to have been there this weekend.

 

                                                 Chatting while waiting for the results

 

Thanks to Penne and Michael for letting me tag along. And thanks to all of the people that were there. You made it a great weekend.

Philip Childs
Port Williams, Nova Scotia
Canada

Thanks Philip!  I think you summed up the weekend perfectly.  It was great to have you along, I know Michael appreciated the help and enjoyed having someone to share a cigar and a pop with!

 

There are a number of cookouts in New England over the summer and fall, we plan to try and make a few more before October and the World Championships in Palm Springs roll around.

 

Until the next one......Chili Out!

We're famous!

While we were preparing the People's Choice giveaway chili last week at the Chilly Chili Stroll competition in North Conway a very nice gentleman, Dennis Coughlin, from the local newspaper stopped by for a chat and picture.  He said to check in on Thursday with the online version of the "Mountain Ear" and head to the "Out and About" section for his coverage of the cookoff.

Sure enough, yesterday - there we were, in the top right hand corner.  Our first press!!

 

We also got a nice shout out from Dick's Chili World as being the "International" in the ICS competition.  Here's the link:

http://dickschiliworld.wordpress.com/2013/03/04/monday-mar-04-2013/

We are starting to prepare for the next cookoff in May in Connecticut and may just have recruited a new member for our team!  My brother Philip hopes to join us behind the booth and see what this chili world is all about! 

 

So until the next time......Chili out!

UPDATE:  Just saw this link on Facebook that is a You Tube video from the Chilly Chili Stroll, we are interviewed twice!!   
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5DAwwFhXg9A
 

 

 

Chilly Chili Stroll Cookout - North Conway, NH

It's been quite awhile since we've had anything significant to write about in the chili arena since the world championships on October.  We've both been very busy with the holidays and our day jobs, so not much time for Chili.  Michael has prepared a few practice pots of both red & green to see what tweaks need to be made and I have added a few items to our booth set up.

 

Rick and Wendy left West Virginia and headed straight to the Great Lakes Regional Cookoff in Plymouth, Michigan where Rick had been the reigning Verde champion for the last 3 years.  Obviously a lot of pressure, and more than a few cooks were set on knocking him off the top spot!  Unfortunately it was not to be this year, Rick's Verde pot was chosen in 2nd place.  Apparently that lit a fire as the next day he WON with his red!  An awesome start to a new chili year! 

 

The Chauvin team then left the cold Windsor winter for sunny Florida, and in January at the Sunshine Regional in Kissimmee Rick took the Verde title securing his qualifying entry for both red and green at the World Championships at Palm Springs in October.  Since then we have been firming up plans for accommodations in California and a deposit has been placed on a ridiculously fabulous spot: http://www.vrbo.com/330769 .  There will be 7 of us staying here for 10 days - so looking forward to it!!

 

We had thought that we were not going to get to a cookoff until the New England Regional in May, However a last minute change of plans freed up our weekend and Michael submitted his application to cook both red and green at the Chilly Chili Stroll in North Conway, New Hampshire, about a 6 hour drive from where we live.  He immediately went into action preparing test pots of both red and verde, the red he bagged to use as part of our PC giveaway but the verde was very well received by our test group guys at Skillsoft!  All comments were fabulous, although 1 did think it was a bit salty, the rest did not.  Always comes down to personal taste and preference.

 

We packed up and set out around 7:30am AST and arrived in North Conway at about 2:30 after a couple of stops for supplies and brunch.  We checked into the motel and went for a quick look around the town before checking out the outlet malls in town.  I was excited get a great pair of Rockport sandals for our upcoming trip to the Dominican and yes, I am happy to say - a new Coach purse. 

 

Back at the motel the other cooks were starting to arrive and after a quick change we met up with Mad Mike, Judi with an i, and Josh and headed off to the Wolverine Pub for dinner.  Great place and good food - the owner dropped by our table to announce that he was actually going to be one of the judges for the competition tomorrow.  With lots of prep work still needed, we were back to the motel by 8pm.  Michael had not intended to prepare salsa, however the number of cooks was low so he decided to throw his hat in the ring and got down to chopping.

 

 

Set up started at 7am so off we headed to the site, which was the parking lot at the local Chamber of Commerce who were very involved in the whole event.  We were among the first 3 or 4 cooks to arrive so picked our spot and got to unpacking and setting up.

 

With an hour to spare before the cooks meeting at 8:30 we headed off to Priscilla's diner for a delicious breakfast with Mad Mike, Josh, Judi and Scott - thanks again to Mr. Freedman for picking up the tab, most appreciated!

 

We got back to the cook site and things were in full swing with more cooks having arrived and set up.  While the cooks were meeting I went around and chatted with a few of the other sidekicks who were finishing up last minute decorating of their booths.

 

 

Before getting down to business, all of the cooks and helpers gathered at Mad Mike's booth for a toast to the day - complete with a shot of peach moonshine!  I truly wish I had a photo of this, but somehow even I was prodded into trying what I was promised tasted just like Kool-Aid!  For the first time ever, it was true!!  There was absolutely NO hint of alcohol flavor or aftertaste....maybe I have finally found my drink of choice!!  There were other options throughout the day.........

 

The fireball was not for me!  But the Jello shots were pretty yummy!

The rest of the day went by in a blur - with Michael submitting in all 3 categories, here was the official schedule:

 

7:00 Setup / Unload and move your vehicle to the parking area.
8:30 Cook’s Meeting
9:00 Start prep for verde
10:00 Light stoves for verde / start prep for red
10:45 Judges sign in
11:00 Light stoves for red / judges meeting / Gates open – PC must be ready
12:00 Salsa turn in
1:00 Verde turn in
2:00 Red turn in
4:00 PC Ends / Bring vehicles in to pack up
4:45 Winners announced at Rafferty’s restaurant.

Here are a few shots I was able to take in between passing out people's choice chili and helping out any way I could within the booth:

 

The crowds started to thin and everyone had pretty much run out of chili by 3pm, so cooks starting tearing down a little bit ahead of schedule and the next thing we knew Mike Kropp was calling all cooks to the area in front of Mad Mike's tent to announce the much anticipated results.

 

Let's just say, we had a great time and learned a lot!!!  Unfortunately there seems to be a bit of work to be done to cook with the big boys and girls!  There was some good news, Michael's salsa tied for 5th place (not bad for never having made salsa in his life).  He did receive 2 points for his red chili and got some good feedback from the judges comments.  His verde was definitely not well received, he only wishes he could have replicated the pot from last week which he knew was much better.    Not to worry, back to the stove for practice to make perfect.

 

Here's a picture of Jack Cowell who won red and the coveted entry to the World Championships:

And here are the final table results for each category:

                                 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Thanks very much to Mike and Mary Alice Kropp for all they did to make this event a great day.  Super glad that the weather also co-operated - while it was slightly chilly when the sun wasn't out, it was still a really beautiful day with no rain or snow.  The crowds were great and very appreciative and the town was exciting and in full support of the Chili stroll!

 

A lot of cooks left immediately after the winners were announced as they had long drives home.  We were staying on for one more night so headed to Rafferty's for the trophy's and prizes.  The whole town had been involved in the people's choice competitions and a local hotel won it.  A nine year old girl who wasn't at the bar won the silly hat contest, so they called her mom during the announcements to let her know!

 

We went for a quiet bite at a local Chinese place (China Chef) which was yummy, then an early night and early morning checkout.  Got home around 3:30, tired and ready to relax.

 

There are a few more chances before the big event in October - likely the New England Regional in Connecticut in May and the Wells, Maine cookoff in August.  So until then...

Chili out.