WEDNESDAY - November 21, 2007

South Mississippi Regional

Congratulations to all the winners of the "Lost Lake Reg." and "Good Luck" to those competing in the two "AVI Regionals" this coming weekend in Laughlin.

If you have not gotten your fill of Chili and/or Turkey, by then, you may want to come to Pascagoula, MS. on December the 8th.

Carla Todd and Linda Johnson, of the Jackson County Chamber Of Commerce, have extended a special invitation to all to join them in the first South Mississippi Regional in Pascagoula.

Pascagoula is about 20 minutes east of the Biloxi/Gulport gambling Mecca right on the Mississippi Gulf Shores.

I can personally attest to the Great Southern hospitality you will experience with this very friendly group of folks of Jackson County.

Carla and Linda have partnered with the La Font Inn as the host hotel. They have secured a rate $79 per room at this very nice hotel and just a couple of blocks from the cookoff which will be held at the Chamber of Commerce on Krebs Ave.

The weekend starts of on Friday with "Downtown for the Holidays," with an assortment of restaurants, entertainment, carriage rides, shopping, antique car show and a whole host of activities with a short drive to the Mississippi Gulf Coast night life and Casino's.

Saturday will be the cookoff and parade. The cookoff starts early so that there will be time to enjoy the other activities after the cookoff announcements.

All of this info can be found at the ICS web site.... http://www.chilicookoff.com/

Or you may go to........ chamber@jcchamber.com for more info.

You can call Linda Johnson at (228) 762-3391 or write to her at... johnsonl@jcchamber.com

Not only does this promise to be a fun filled weekend we are also honored to have our

2007 World's Champion Jerry Buma in attendance to Judge and to greet and help the cooks.

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Hope Ya'll can make it,

Bob Hall (Chief Judge)

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Check out Carroll Shelby's - Win a Ford Shelby GT

Does any Chili Cook want to win a SHELBY FORD GT - just sign up.

Carroll Shelby's - Win a Ford Shelby GT

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March 1 & 2, 2008 Back 2 Back in Phoenix (One Location)

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TUESDAY - November 20, 2007

RIVER RESORTS REGIONAL

This is a very unique cookoff. It is best attended in an RV. Park your rig and cook right under your awning. How much fun is that?! This was the 21st consecutive cookoff to be held at Lost Lake Resort. (No, Fred, I'm not going there---annual or whatever.)

The weather could not have been more beautiful---temperatures in the mid 80s and absolutely no wind all weekend! Cooks and judges began arriving in their RVs on Thursday. In fact, when we came in about 2:00 pm, there were already several in place, claiming "their" traditional spots.

Friday is cooking day, as we serve breakfast to all of the cooks and judges, and some of the "groupies", too, on Saturday morning. While Captain Jim Maehl was setting up the cooks, Bill Ray and Bob Dyer cooked all day, preparing maple bacon, sausages and potatoes for the morning meal. They were assisted by Larry Jones (or at least by his stove). Joel Erickson, who has been a breakfast cook in the past, was sorely missed, having been "grounded" by his foot doctor from attending this event. While this cooking was going on, Karen Ray held a "hen party", cutting fresh fruit for the morning salad and preparing the palate cleansers for the cookoff. She was assisted by Patti Summers, Patricia Sanchez, Anne Marie Jones and Willma Maehl.

We are lucky to be able to rent a lovely mobile home at the resort. Our housemates were Barry and Sylvia Steinberg, Jim Stoddard and Steve Wolf. We shared food and camaraderie on Friday nighr, and then-----at 4:40 am on Sunday morning, Bill nudged me in bed and said, "Honey, where are the biscuits for the biscuits and gravy?" Oops---they were in Riverside, in our freezer! Fortunately, Safeway in Parker opened at 5:00 am; fortunately, they had a case of biscuits; and, fortunately, Steve Wolf was willing to travel to Parker to get them!

As we heated the food in the ovens of various motorhomes, Armando Sanchez served Bloody Marys, Mimosas and Screwdrivers to all comers. There was also a huge pot of coffee for those who preferred that beverage. Finally, everyone full of good food and drink, we proceeded to have a chili cookoff.

One of the features of this cookoff is an optional People's Choice Chili contest. About half of the red chili contestants brought chili for the public tasting. We sold tasting kits for $3 each, and raised a total of $990. The winner of the contest, by ballot, receives half of the proceeds, and our special charity, English Springer Rescue America, receives the other half. Since it was so close, we added $10 to make it an even $1,000! Of the ten contestants who furnished People's Choice Chili, the top two contestants garnered almost 75% of the votes, and the winner won by a margin of 12 votes!

We were honored to have a very special contestant from Cincinnati, OH compete in our cookoff. He was George Phelps, "Chili Rock Cafe", who happened to be in California on personal business. George finished fifth in the Chili Verde contest, and won a trophy for Best Booth!

Our Chief Judge, Tony Dalbis, is fighting a bout with cancer. Bob Dinnewith of the Lake Havasu Chili Checkers graciously stepped in as Chief Judge. Donnie Gordon, the Assistant Chief Scorekeeper at the World's Championship Chili Cookoff, served as Chief Scorekeeper. After all of the ballots were tallied, the winners were:

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Best Booth:

3rd, Ron Harris, Hillbilly Chili

2nd, Tony Inglese, Wannatouchama Chili

1st, George Phelps, Chili Rock Cafe

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People's Choice Chili:

2nd, Tony Inglese, Wannatouchama Chili

1st, Bill Woodring, Blue Sky Chili

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Salsa (11 contestants):

3rd, Barbara Nelson, NV

2nd, Cindy Haught, NV

1st, Patricia Sanchez, CA

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Chili Verde (13 contestants):

3rd, Nancy Swenberger, AZ

2nd, Patricia Sanchez, CA

1st, Paul Whitney, AZ

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Traditional Red Chili (21 contestants):

5th Paul Whitney, AZ

4th Jim Stoddard, TX

3rd. Bob Dyer, CA

2nd, Mike Austin, CA

1st, Bill Woodring, CA

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Thanks to all of you who supported us at this event! Love you all!

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Check out Carroll Shelby's - Win a Ford Shelby GT

Does any Chili Cook want to win a SHELBY FORD GT - just sign up.

Carroll Shelby's - Win a Ford Shelby GT

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============================

If you have articles for posting to Dicks Chili World BLOG, they can be emailed to GWTWChili@aol.com

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Tell your other Chilihead Friends about the BLOG and how it works.

SUNDAY - November 18, 2007

FLORIDA STATE – CHILIBLAST 2007

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Once again, Carolyn and Doug Roy managed put on yet another superb cookoff.

Almost 50 cooks, from nine states, competed Saturday November 10^th at beautiful Coachman Park in Clearwater, on the waters of Clearwater Harbor. This, on a postcard-perfect, "Chamber of Commerce", Carolyn and Doug ordered weather day on the West Coast of Florida.

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Not even cooks having to be at the site relatively early (7:30 AM), in order to avoid surrounding street closings caused by the start of the "Ford Ironman World Championship 70.3 Triathlon", could put the slightest damper on the cookoff. This traffic problem had passed by "crowd time", and the crowd certainly came to enjoy the chili and festivities.

Now for the results:

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Best Booth/Showmanship

2^nd Place Chili in Paradise – Michael Whitehouse

1^st Place Pirates Cove Chili – Joel and Randy Gilchrist

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Salsa (21 Cooks)

3^rd Place Reyna Martin

2^nd Place Bonnie Tomasek

1^st Place Robert Simpson – Will represent Florida at the 2008 WCCC

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Verde (21 Cooks)

3^rd Place Ron Dahlgren

2^nd Place Bob Hall

1^st Place Bonnie Tomasek – Will represent Florida at the 2008 WCCC

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Red (44 Cooks)

Finals Table

Bonnie Tomasek, Jim Stoddard, Doug Smith, Doug Essing, Bob Hall, Ronnie Eavenson, Dave Sinclair, Ray Fredrick, Rhone Carr, Michael Whitehouse, Don Sprouse

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5^th Place Dave Sinclair

4^th Place Michael Whitehouse

3^rd Place Jim Stoddard

2^nd Place Bonnie Tomasek

1^st Place Bob Hall – Will represent Florida at the 2008 WCCC

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If you didn't notice, Bonnie Tomasek was "on fire" – two 2^nd Places and one 1^st Place. CONGRATULATIONS TO BONNIE, AS WELL AS ALL THE WINNERS!

All in all, an absolutely great cookoff in every respect…and some great Champions to represent Chiliblast at the 2008 WCCC. In closing, the biggest possible attaboy to Carolyn and Doug; this for all their efforts to insure it is such a superb event.

Sergei Kowalchik

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============================

If you have articles for posting to Dicks Chili World BLOG, they can be emailed to GWTWChili@aol.com

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