SUNDAY - March8, 2008

Ken & Jan Brown

We have a new email address:
Poonchili@gmail.com
thanks
Poontang Chili

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Party/Practice Cookoff/Party

Dick and Nancy Swenberger left Phoenix at 4:00 am. Donnie Gordon left Las Vegas at 4:30 am. Other cooks, judges, groupies and friends took various amounts of time to arrive at Bill and Karen Ray's home in time to participate in their Party/Practice Cookoff/Party on Saturday.

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It was a picture-perfect day in Riverside. It was cool in the morning when the contestants set up in the Ray's spacious yard. Later the temperatures rose to the mid-70s, making a comfortable day for all concerned. It was a varied group who assembled for the event---chiliheads aplenty, Karen's coworkers and members of English Springer Rescue America, with dogs, rubbed elbows around the cooking and judging tables. We estimate that about 65 people were here in some capacity.

Early arrivals were greeted with coffee and cinnamon twists, followed by Mary Ellen's Bloody Marys. A generous lunch of hamburgers, hot dogs and hot links, cooked to order by Bill Ray, followed. Side dishes included an appetizer from Karen Angotti, deviled eggs by Mike Ford, Barry Steinberg's red beans and rice, salads from Aggie Wright and Karen Ray, desserts from Bob Dyer and Karen Cooley and assorted chips and condiments.

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Special thanks to Mary Ellen Weber, Chief Judge; Donnie Gordon, Scorekeeper; Claude Covington, who helped with the lunch orders; Kathy Stewart, who helped Claude help with the lunch orders; Dennis Macklin for his generous donations of gifts and prizes.

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Even if this wasn't a "real" chili cookoff, there were contestants, judges and winners. There were no losers. All of the chili that was cooked today was given to Mike Austin for a future "chili feed" for the caregivers to Maria Austin during her long battle to recover from a massive heart attack seven weeks ago. Mike was here and in good spirits despite his vigilance at Maria's bedside for the last weeks. He is optimistic that Maria will "walk out of there alive" in the near future. Prayers and good wishes are still needed for Maria.

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How it works at these informal cookoffs (at least here on the left coast) is that the cooks first judge the chilis (preliminary table) then everybody else judges the chilis (final table), which counts for the prizes (furnished by Bill and Karen) and $$$ (collected from the cooks). And the winners were:

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Chili Verde (3 contestants):

Cooks Judging:

3rd, Dick Swenberger

2nd, Allene Macklin

1st, Judy Barnes

Judges Judging:

3rd, Allene Macklin

2nd, Judy Barnes

1st, Dick Swenberger

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Traditional Red Chili (10 contestants);

Cooks Judging:

3rd, Dick Swenberger

2nd, Mike Ford

1st, Nancy Swenberger

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Judges Judging:

3rd, Red Brecke

2nd, Mike Ford

1st, Karl Smith

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