Judging the Texas Nectar

My family, like most, flies by the seat of our pants and most of our well laid plans are to the wayside as soon as we make them.  That’s why I make it a point to make a few “musts” each year. You know, honor some family traditions if you will. If you’ve read my blog before, you can see the yearly blueberry trip, the BBQ cookoff (which is coming up again soon), the Texas State Fair, and this yearly trip to Kappa Beta’s Annual Chili Cook-Off. (Sign below). 

 

The Welcome Wagon

This group of lovely ladies set up another fun event this year to benefit the Susan G. Komen charity, you know the one that is trying to help find the cure for breast cancer. You can read more on their website. http://ww5.komen.org/ . A great event for a great cause.

 

Well enough of the promotional stuff, let’s get to talking about the fun stuff. If you ever get the chance to be a judge at a chili cookoff, jump at the opportunity. It is a fun experience and these Kappa Betatonians have made this chili judging into a fun-filled and memorable experience. That is why I come back each year to be a part of it. Don't tell them this but personally, I feel I should be paying them to have a seat at the table.

 

Some of the chefs hard at work .

Or hardly working. I don't know.

  First things first. There are rules to being a judge. I won’t bore you will all the rules but here are a few:

1. You can’t talk to other judges about the chili itself (though a certain person at my table felt it necessary to interject from time to time).  

   

   One of these guys was Talkie McTalkerson... Can you figure out who?

2. You have to cleanse your palate in between each chili. This was made so much more enjoyable with the endless (well for me anyway) supply of beer these ladies provided and the cheese/veggie/cracker tray that was well prepared with what I am sure was loving hands.

   

   The Volunteer Palate Cleaners

3. You need to base your judgement on the 5 fundamental truths of true Texas chili:
1. Aroma
2. Red Color
3. Consistency
4. Taste
5. Aftertaste

Of course all of this is objective according to your preferences.  I for one enjoy my chili with a nice paprika/slight cumin and beef scent, with a deep red and amber hue, with a smooth consistency but with slight chunks (imagine home made mashed potatoes), a salty sweet forefront with a beefy but well seasoned mid palate and a smooth but strong chili bite on the finish, and I want the finish to last but the salt to dissipate.

4. You score the chili from 1-10 and each chili is scored on its own merit and not compared to other chilies you have tried.
5. You can have as many spoons of chili out of the same chili to judge as long as you use a new spoon. Also keep in mind that there needs to be chili left for other people to judge it too.

The Rules as Stated in Article....

Now that the rules are out of the way, there a few inside tricks that big eaters like myself should know. Get to the judging early. You might get the chance to judge the beans too! They have a bean-off prior to the chili cook-off and if you know the right people and have the room to store that amount of food, you can taste some of the beans. I wasn’t fortunate enough this year to judge beans. Last year I was and it was sure good eating.  I guess I saved some calories... 

If you have a small appetite and there are lots of chilies to judge, you want one of the preliminary tables to judge. For big eaters like me, you want the grand daddy final table. The best of the best chilies make it to the final table and you get more to judge (in most cases). In this case, I believe there were 21 chilies at the glorious final table. Yay me!

 

As I sat down at the final table this year, my lovely wife (who I have started to drag with me to the judgings) was sitting pretty on my right, some co-workers and friends around me, and a plate of palate cleaners and cups of beer right before me. This must be how utopia greets it patrons because you couldn’t wipe that smile on my face even if you wanted to. 

The fixin's as I call em.

One of many piles I needed to use.

My beer and the tickets that produced it.

Well, I loaded up my napkin with tasty treats and downed my first beer to get myself in the mood.  Out came the chili! The 1st cup is always the toughest to me.  I try to figure out how tough I am going to be. How strict I will be judging. My criteria for all the fundamental truths are for the day and such. First bite was a 5. For sure. It wasn’t great. It wasn’t bad either. The look of it was red in color but a crimson color with a light brown. The taste was really briny and salty on the front. Too much to be enjoyable and the spice that invaded my tongue in the background was almost a passing thought. The aftertaste was bitter and tasted as if some of the spices were thrown in to finish the chili instead of being cooked in. Not my cup of tea.

My first cup to judge.

Been judging her for a while now. I'm thinking an 8 due to the lack of red hue. She's definitely spicy enough though.

An inside look at what I was privy to.

 

The tasting went on as such with some really memorable highs and one really disgusting low. So terrible was one tasting that I wanted to know what the other judges where thinking at the time they rated this cup because there is no way it should be at the final table. Picture Chef Boyardee meets Wolfe Brand. Yes, it tasted about like that. Others were trying to be creative but failed with a one having tasted as if it was using one of those salt packets that's included in Ramen Noodles.  The king tasting for me was sweet lucky number 13. The perfect 10. Colored the way good chili should be colored, complex flavors in the front, really beefy and smooth with a little chew and the pow punch of real spice at the back that waters your mouth and tingles your face but not too much to make you sweat. A beautiful cup of chili right there. I had three spoons of it, not that I wasn’t sure of its greatness but because I just couldn’t help myself.

 

Usually with about 10 chilies to go, I gage my level of fullness to see how many spoons of the remaining chilies I want to eat. Yes, I plan on making myself miserable. This is also when my wife next to me looks like she will need to be wheeled out of her on account of her fullness. Lightweight. I start doubling up on my tastings unless it’s really bad or really good chili and I will up or bring down my intake accordingly.

 

This year I had only 1 perfect 10 and two high quality 9’s on my list. The rest of them were really ho hum and nothing noteworthy but I was happy, relaxed, and stuffed so what more could I ask. I want to thank Kappa Beta for allowing me the honor of being one of the judges again this year and I hope they keep up their great work in supporting the Susan G Komen foundation. I have the pleasure of working with some of these great women and I couldn’t ask for better people to spend my day with. I hope this entry has some of you itching to judge some chili. Just remember to come hungry, have fun, and take your time to enjoy it. If you come to the Kappa Beta cook-off though, my seat is taken. Find 

your own. 

These are random pics of the fun. I didn't stick around this year to hear the winners. We had to get back to our kids before grandma put them out on the curb.

The Mrs. with some random work guy and his lady.

Being seated.

Getting served.

The Recipe for the blog:

 The Bacon Wrapped Pineapple Spear

My recipe this time is simple. Bacon wrapped pineapple spears. It is as easy as it sounds. I take some pineapple spears and run a skewer through it. Then I wrap bacon on it and grill it. Nothing else is needed seasoning wise or anything wise. The pineapple is sweet and caramelized and the bacon is well bacon greatness. Here's a wrapped pic. None ever made it to the final product pic since they are that good. Enjoy. 

If you ever try any recipe I suggest. This is THE one to try. Simple and great.

Part II Vacation - The Big Apple

As with most people, I have always wanted to visit New York City. With all the food, entertainment, culture, splendid chaos, and hustle and bustle, it is hard to not be compelled to at least try a small bite out of the famed Big Apple. With the help of my sister (and tour guide extraordinaire), we set out to conquer.

She looks innocent but she's evil reincarnated. My kid sister folks.

Talk about a deer in headlights…

I tried to drive there. Tried is putting it mildly and drive is a huge stretch of the term. Of the most idiotic things I have done in my life, putting my key into the ignition had to be right up there. First off, everything you have heard about the New York taxis is true, actually, they are understated. Those guys are just nuts. Flat out insane.

I’m just a simple Texas boy trying to rely on my GPS to take me around this city and while I am trying to avoid the obviously suicidal pedestrians walking the streets, these taxis are weaving in and out of lanes by the smallest of spaces at breakneck speeds. Horns are flying, people are yelling and giving me gestures of the hands that I could only surmise as they thought I was #1.

Thankfully we had a simple plan of just picking up my sister at the hotel and dropping off the luggage and then returning the rental car and relying on the public transit for the rest of the time there. Right…

After missing our turn and having to circle around and getting stuck in traffic and almost dying an additional 4 more times, we make it to the hotel only to be greeted with a large delivery truck blocking the front entrance and no place to park. What’s a guy to do that is overwhelmed and distraught? Well, I just weaved in a tight spot in the road and squeezed the front of the rental in between the delivery truck and a parked car and had Michelle jump out and unload the luggage. The next 5 minutes were sheer panic with a flurry of grabbed bags and mayhem. As the last of the bags went out, my sister jumped in and I had to rejoin the traffic. Ugghh…

The rest of the drive to the airport to return the car was a blur. I think I blocked it out of my memory on purpose. We dropped the car off and realized we had a ton of stuff we forgot to drop off at the hotel. No big deal right? Wrong. Those small bags sure get really heavy when you have to walk a marathon carrying them. My sister didn’t tell me about how much walking we were about to embark on before we started this journey.

I was just glad my life insurance was paid in full.

The Katz’s

First stop after a quick cab ride (so much easier when you aren’t fighting against them) we arrived at Katz’s deli. Yes, the famed “When Harry Met Sally” eatery.  It was everything I could have envisioned. We were handed tickets at the beginning and was told there is a hefty fee to be paid if they were lost. We commenced in the exhausting ordering process but ended up with three sandwiches, a bowl of matzo ball soup, and some of their French fries.

Their pastrami is excellent. So rich, tender, and packed with flavor. The only thing that could beat that sandwich was the corned beef. POW. Flavor punch to the palate. Salty, briney, smokey, and well seasoned. Truly the best corned beef sandwich I’ve ever had. The roast beef sandwich paled in comparison to the other two. The Matzo ball soup was good, well seasoned and light tasting. The doughy ball itself was well cooked, had an excellent moistness to it and seasoned just enough. Very good meal to say the least. We went to the line to pay and made dang sure we kept our meal stubs to check out. Without it, I hear they charge you $75! Crazy I know.

I was stuffed to the hilt but my sister took us right next door to enjoy some of her favorite gelato. A vast array of variable goodies was found there. From Pumpkin, red peppercorn, mango, vanilla, to the three types of cinnamon ice cream it was a mecca for gelato lovers. My kids each had two flavors and Michelle and my sister enjoyed theirs. I sat there and watched them eat having had my calories from all the meat I just consumed.

Corned Beef

Pastrami

The Meat High

Mom tested and kid approved.

Gelato by definition is heaven on earth.

Enjoying the goodness.

Seeing Some Sites

Walk, walk and walk some more. At least it wasn’t that hot out even though the Yankees were all complaining about their heat wave. When we left Texas, we were hitting the 104 mark so the 92 degree heat wave was a welcomed site. Needless to say, the walking sure wasn’t.  I guess I needed to do something to work off the monster sized sandwiches I devoured. We headed over to Wall Street with a brief stop to see THE Founding Father, Mr. Washington himself. Then we decided to grab the bull by the horns before we headed over to see the monumental Statue of Liberty. After some pictures here and there and more walking in between, we had our first casualty. Leave it to Michelle to wear untested shoes in New York. She formed some nice blisters on her heels which required some bandages and such before we could go on.  We made it to the Staten Island Ferry and weaved our way to a great spot on the vessel where we stayed not wanting to actually go to the statue since we were lazy and the lines were long.We did have a chance to venture over to the Ground Zero Museum. It was breathtaking for sure. It makes you remember the loss our nation endured that day and was a beautiful monument for those fallen.

Shooting the bull.

The Great George Washington.

On the Staten Island Ferry.

Front of the ship with the best view.

Ground Zero Monument.

More Ground Zero.

NY Style Pizza

The plan for dinner was originally to visit Sik Gaek. I saw Sik Gaek on No Reservations and it looked mighty awesome but having been up since the crack of dawn, in the car for a few hours, all the walking and such, I was too wore out to make the plight out there so instead we decided to eat at this popular pizza joint my sister recommended, John’s Pizza. I opted for more wings (I know, I’m a glutton for punishment after the PA trip but I will not let the bad guys win!), and the kids and other adults split two pizzas. The wings were finally crispy, well seasoned with what I would best describe as a mix of Italian seasonings and parmesan chicken. They were meaty, well seasoned and most importantly fully cooked. Yay!!

The pizza was pretty good too but with all the specialty pizza shops popping up in my neck of the woods, this stuff was just above average but nonetheless tasty and filling.  It was here that I got introduced to the greatness that my sister claimed was the NY tap water and the local beer of choice Brooklyn Lager. The beer was pretty good and refreshing, the tap water tasted of well… water but it did have a very clean taste to it, not the bog water stuff we have here in Texas.

He no likey.

But he likey very much. Notice the clean bone. That's how Texas does things.

Just happy to be eating.

Times Square Part 1

After dinner we walked over to Times Square to see what all the hubbub was about. It was like someone hit the light switch on the night and it was pretty impressive. Tons of people were out and about. We even saw the lady from Law and Order, the later years when the show got a little tired. With so many cool places to go to and see it’s a wonder how we ended up in the M&M shop of all places.  Like the kids didn’t get their fair share of chocolates on the trip yet!

After filling the bags with goodies, we decided to head back to the hotel to get some well deserved rest.  I believe it was close to 11:00 before I finally was about to lay my head down to rest….

The Toys R Us Ferris Wheel.

M & M & M... (Michelle)

Another day…

My sister comes knocking at 8:30 and looked like she was ready to go so off we went…

Thank goodness she knows me well enough to take me to eat breakfast first. We stopped at the Ess-A-Bagel for some famed NY bagels. In another head banging display of food ordering chaos, we finally somehow got our bagels. The youngins got a bagel with chocolate chip cream cheese, my wife got garlic bagel with light, the sis got egg sandwich bagel and I got some smoked salmon on a bialy. Let me say first that the bagels were really good, large and plenty filling. The downside is this place knows it and charges accordingly.  As with most things in New York, we have discovered that all the good places seem slightly overpriced and the cheaper places are cheaper for a reason.  Now, when I say pricey, my smoked salmon bagel ran me a whopping $13.45!! Yes, that’s right, $13.45 for a breakfast sandwich. It was mighty fine tasting but I felt a little ripped off.

I had bites of everyone else’s bagels too (except my sister’s who has cooties) and they were all pretty tasty.

$13.45 Nuff Said.

Priceless... I guess...

The long and winding road….

After we left bagelopolis, we headed over to Central Park with a stop at one of the play areas there. We then took sometime to test our hand at the fine art of sailing. It was a tough day at sea since the wind wasn’t blowing we ended up with stagnant boats that just leaned here and there. It was still amusing though since you can people watch.  I couldn’t take my eyes off this couple just going to town on some weights, jump ropes and running. They had a full blown workout right there in the mists of crowds of tourists and boat captains.

New Yorkers are incredible in their sheer use of their parks. People are laying out in bathing suits soaking up the sun, bike riders are out and about and people are eating meals right next to sleeping vagrants trying to get out of the heat. I guess the lack of having a yard in this city makes one appreciate the parks a lot more.

After we left the ships, we headed over to the Met but stopped for a hot dog and some delicious waffle and dinges. Man, those waffles were awesome and affordable and in this state that’s a real bargain.  

As we left and made our way to the Met. After three u-turns on foot and what seemed like 4 miles of walking, we made it to the front of the museum where we promptly bought another hotdog since my son had become enamored with the hot dog carts. 

The Skipper.

"Captaining" the vessels.

Waffles and Dinges Cart

Dinges me son. (Their type of nut butter and creme)

Didn't get enough, dinges me some more. (Strawberries and creme)

Hot dog me my good man.

With deli mustard and sauerkraut. Slap me, it's better than mom's.

The Met

This museum is by far the most impressive, tiring, awe-inspiring, and colossal museum I have ever been to. Three solid floors of varying arts. We spend the next 3 or 4 hours looking around and soaking it all in. There were the Greek statues, Egyptian hieroglyphics, modern art, and contemporary pieces lining the wall, filling the floors and placed in a very well thought out manner. The sad thing was we barely put a dent in the museum. They said that people could spend three days in the museum and still might not take it all in and I believe they are right. But there is only so much art and viewing a 5 and 9 year old could take so we left the museum and headed on over to the Shake Shack.

Inside the Met. To the right is a class creating some real art.

Atop the Met.

An obstructed view of the city. You are welcome.

The Shack

My sister really outdid herself here. This place is like In and Out if In and Out was delicious. I am not a big fan of the highly overrated California based burger place but I do love me the Shack.  The burgers were crispy, cooked perfectly and served on great buns. Their fries were really simple and classic. The shakes were really good too even though I didn’t get much, having made the mistake of sharing mine with the kids. At least they served beer there so I could have something to wet my whistle. My only complaint was that I wish I got another burger but I didn’t have the time since we needed to get back to the hotel.  Michelle and I needed some rest before our big night out in New York on our own, kid-less and carefree.

Shack Me. Top 5 burgers of all time.

He ate that entire thing. Washed it down with that shake too. He's small but he eats.

Date Night!

Date night began with a quick taxi trip to the Basso 56 a small Italian eatery with a nice quaint feel.  The food there was pretty good. I got the oxtail with gnocchi that was the special for the night and my wife got the cheese ravioli. She enjoyed a glass of pinot noir with her meal and it paired really well and I enjoyed my first glass of Laphroaig 10 year scotch, an extremely peaty and smoky single malt that was a tad strong at first but then mellowed out and was sweet and complex with each subsequent sip. Very good stuff indeed.

Shredded oxtail meat with gnocchi. It was good not great.

Cheese ravioli. Just okay.

Wicked

I had wanted to watch a Broadway show while in New York since I felt that was always a must on everyone’s to do list. My sister recommended Wicked and it didn’t disappoint at all. It is based on the Wizard of Oz and is well written and well acted. It was a fun and humorous show to watch. My wife and I enjoyed it a lot.

The Stage.

The Awesome.

Back to the Hotel?

After the show we started to walk and see what was to be had. We went to a few stores and then remembered that my sister said there was a really good bakery named Magnolia Bakery so we decided to head over there. We made the walk (which turned out to be quite a hike) and were greeted by the wafting smell of fresh baked brownies and cupcakes. Now I’m not much of a sweets fan but even my mouth watered. We picked up a couple of cupcakes and headed out. I then thought to myself that I wanted a shish kabob from one of the street vendors. Why not right? So we walked around until I found one I thought would be great. I ordered a beef and a chicken since that’s how I roll. The guy had the chicken one ready to go but needed to cook the beef which was fine by me. While he was cooking my beef kabob a young guy decided to reach through the food cart to touch my kabob (if this was Texas, I might have handled things the old fashioned way but since this was New York I didn’t know if this was common or not) the food vendor yelled at the kid and the kid had the audacity to ask if he could have the kabob now since he touched it. Well yada yada yada, spicy smoke cleared out the entire street corner and my kabob was ready for me to eat. I figured the germs were cooked out of it with the heat and spice so I didn’t care if he touched it.

We then hailed a guy that was pulling a rickshaw since my wife thought it would be fun and she was tired of walking. What would have been just a $5 taxi ride ended up costing us $44 in rickshaw fees. We later found out that we were taken for a ride literally. Ah well, what’s a trip to New York without being ripped off. At least I got to eat my kabobs on the ride.

We made it back to the hotel and sat at the bar to enjoy our cupcakes. We didn’t get back into the hotel room until after midnight and my sister who was watching the kids staggered off back to her place looking worn out from having to keep up with our two lovely heathens.

Germ infested but wicked good kabob.

The thief.

The unsuspecting victim.

Still a happy ending.

The last day

8:00 comes… yes 8:00 and my sister is already there! We head on out to Chinatown for some dim sum. We stopped first for some delicious pork rolls though.  We had a tough time finding the dim sum shop since it looked like it was part of an apartment complex. We rode elevator floors, ran into a group of Asians waiting for the apothecary to open, the kitchen area for the restaurant and finally the dim sum place itself.  Now in my head, I was wondering why my sister was thinking taking us to a dim sum shop since I frequent a really good one at home all the time but I figured this place was going to rock, why else would she take to me one right? Well wrong. It was ok but the selection was lacking compared to the places I go to. My wife wasn’t eating much either, since she is a closet Asian food hater, and the kids were being grumpy and picky from sheer exhaustion. So we left after a few dishes and headed to a real Chinese food place where my wife enjoyed a bowl of ramen soup and the kids ate some of the meats they hang from the windows.

After the meal, we headed out for some shopping.  We bought a few items here and there and then ran into a shirt Nazi that ended up calling me a bad customer and told me he wouldn’t sell me anything. Dang shame too since the girl and I had two shirts we were wanting.  We shopped around for about an hour or more and then we headed to the Brooklyn Bridge. Man, did you know that was over a mile long? Well I do now. It’s really difficult since this was the hottest day of the trip, couple that with the lack of shade on the bridge and having to carry the rugrat on my shoulders, this walk across the bridge was difficult to say the least. We finally made it all the way across, and that’s when my sister told me that the best view in the city was within a couple of blocks from where we were. I said, “let’s go I guess”. That ended up being the longest “couple of blocks” I ever walked clocking in at more than a mile in distance!! We took some snap shots and got into a cab and headed over to my reward for all the walking. 

BBQ Pork Roll.

BBQ Pork Roll in my tummy.

Questionable way to the restaurant.

Dim Sum.

Tired of the complaining on lack of greatness.

Hanging window duck. Rock on.

Pork and cabbage. Money.

Ramen greatness.

Hanging Pork.

Even they can't complain about meat in windows. 

Strutting her stuff and saying it's the best view in all of New York. I say get out of the photo.

I love New York Taxis.

Peter Luger’s

My only other eating requirement for this trip to New York was the famed Peter Luger’s.  I have seen that this place was voted the best steak in New York for 20 some odd years in a row. How can you pass that up right? We started off with being served some really hard bread but I wasn’t going to be needing any of that. We ordered a bacon appetizer. Three THICK cut slices of bacon that was more like a lightly smoked ham. Fatty, meaty and very good. Then our steak for two came. It was plenty to feed 5 hungry people for sure. We had a side of mashed potatoes and some broccoli to go with it. It was really good and tasty. The almost crunchy outer crust on the steak with the perfect doneness in the center was nicely done. Their steak sauce was excellent too even though the meat was great on its own. I ordered a glass of Oban 14 yr scotch to go with my hearty steak.  The scotch was slightly sweet and sherried. It had some smoke to it but not peaty smoke and it was satisfying but nothing special given the price point. I have had a lot cheaper scotches that were a lot better in my opinion. Overall Peter Lugers was very tasty and very satisfying and a great experience to have at least once. Oh and you have to finish the meal off with their ice cream sundae. It made my two young kids very happy. The wife was indulging too of course.

This is he epitome of good living.

I couldn't even wait to take a photo before I started eating.

Loving some read meat.

He loves it too.

He cleaned his plate and loaded his bread of cow.

The reward for all the walking.

She just can't help herself.

We picked up a taxi and went back to the hotel where we got our bags and got in a black car and headed back to the airport. We had our fair share of this great city.  As the plane took off from the runway, I was left feeling exhausted and content. I was able to spend the last 7 days with the people I care about the most in the world, and my sister too I guess. We had a lot of fun and are able to share of fond memories of our adventures. That’s all that you can ask for on a family vacation and this trip was vacationing at its best.  Thank you if you read this entire thing. I have a feeling you might not have enough to do with your time though. I’ll leave you with this: if you plan on visiting New York, make sure you bring plenty of money, a healthy appetite, a sense of adventure and comfortable shoes. Keep your eyes open and your spirits high since you really are in the greatest city in the world.