[CH] Recap of August 22, 1999, Midwest Chileheads Hotluck in Ames, Iowa
JJK (jknoll@cjnetworks.com)
Mon, 30 Aug 1999 17:24:48 -0500
A great big thank you go out to Stephanie "the (self-proclaimed)
disorganized" Bridges
StephB@truserve.com and Sandy Olson sandyo@willowtree.com for hosting
the wildly successful event, which drew participants from three states.
How popular was it? Let's just say the announced event hours were 1:00
p.m. to 6 p.m., and folks were still arriving at 2:45 or so! Traffic
was backed up on I-35 for at least an hour getting to the event! The
last person didn't leave until 6:45, and didn't go voluntarily, but had
to pried away from the table due to his dangerous chile-induced trance
resulting from endorphin overload. The event got so out of hand at one
point (when Stephanie was dancing on the picnic tables and Renee was
firing up some green stuff), that the Ames Police Department responded
in force, and all the attendees ended up with nice mug shots to go along
with their memories (and records). Just glad we all got to pig out
before the cops arrived, and its probably a good thing that no one got
into Gary's jalapeño vodka before things got too crazy. More about that,
later.
The food? Glad you asked. One word: INFU**INGCREDIBLE! A true Chilehead
gastronomiacal delight. I for one was glad I took a preemptive strike
dose of both Cimetedine® and Tums® on the way to Ames!
Appetizers included chips and salsa (of course), with no less than four
distinctly different salsas. Scott Parkhurst brought habanero & garlic
stuffed olives (recipe from the list), which were a crowd favorite. Gary
Bridges' (Steph's husband) pepper-oil roasted almonds went over well
too. Although he was disappointed with them, nobody else was. Two kinds
of soup were served. Stephanie and Gary (and their son David) brought a
Chipotle-Cheese Chowder (which I didn't try, but wished I had), and
Scott and Chery Parkhurst brought a really nice Green Chile Con Carne
that had a nice little kick.
The main dishes were wonderful as well. Stephanie brought chile rellaños
that seemed almost like a green chile soufflé (they were very yummy),
and also brought some nice very nice barbequed hot wings (and legs).
Sandy O and her husband Greg (the Norweigen) brought a zippy Mongolian
Noodle Salad made with spaghetti and peppers and a bunch of other good
stuff. Stephanie and Gary brought along a loaf of Chipotle-garlic
bread,
which nicely complimented the Mongolian Noodle Saled. It was to die
for. John Knoll (jknoll@cjnetworks.com) brought some smoked chicken
enchiladas that were supposed to be smothered with green chile, but he
pulled the wrong chile out of the freezer, so they ended up with red
instead. Although he had to warm them up on the grill and the bottoms
got a little scorched, he didn't hear many complaints. Renee Watson
rlwat@uswest.net brought Porketta, a really nice pork roast rolled in
all kinds of good stuff, including Calvin's rub. SandyO had the
forsight to bring some great-tasting Cole Slaw (and I
don't normally like Cole Slaw), to sooth the mouth. It was very
welcomed!
No cooling down for dessert, either. Sandy brought rich, moist,
wonderful chocolate, cherry & habanero cake, and attendees had their
choice of Gary's Mango-Habanero or White Chocolate-Habanero ice cream.
I believe Gary also brought some regular homemade vanilla ice cream, but
I didn't see anyone eating it. Tom (the Bridge's friend) may have
secretly been eating the non-CH ice cream, but if he was, he was too
ashamed to show everyone else!
Many thanks to a few of our sponsors. Big Daddy's Restaurant in Des
Moines, Iowa, sent a bottle of Big Daddy's BBQ sauce. It was one of the
better BBQ sauces I've tasted, and it nicely complimented both the hot
wings and the porketta.
Many thanks to Jim Campbell, who provided three bottles of sauce
(smoking Chipotle, Hot Habanero and Backdraft) and a good-sized sample
of THE BREAD. THE BREAD
certainly lives up to its well-deserved reputation as some of the
hottest stuff you will ever eat.
As events were winding down, Sandy issued a ridiculous challenge: dip
THE BREAD into some Backdraft® and eat it. Can you believe that three
people were dumb enough to actually try it?
With real, well deserved trepidation, Scott and John grabbed small
pieces of the THE BREAD and dipped it into a small dollop of
Backdraft®. Silly fools had no idea what they were in for. Stating
their praises to El Grande, both popped THE (Backdraft®-laced) BREAD
into their mouths and began chewing. The crowd started intently,
waiting for the inevitible eye-watering, face-sweating, air-sucking,
ear-burning, tounge-erupting-into-flames reaction from the two. The
crowd was disappointed - at first. In true hab form, the steam started
slow, then built to an intense heat wave that turned John and Scott's
face to a nice shade of crimson and made Scott's glasses and John's
contact lenses fog up! I've never seen contacts fog up in my life. With
all the btus
coming off those two, you could have roasted marshmellows just by
getting them in close proximity to them.
Not wanting to miss the intense fury of El Grande, Chery tried it too.
Her reaction didn't take quite as long, as she was soon on the floor of
the shelterhouse twitching, saliva pooling on the floor and, although
she was somewhat hard to understand, I could have swore she was
repeatedly saying "Take me, El Grande, take me!"
After twenty minutes, and two beers each, Scott, Chery and John were
able to speak normally again.
Definitely a blast, and it was great to meet others and talk about
Chiles. Until next year . . .
Receipes from the hotluck are available at the Midwest Chileheads site.
Point your browser to www.cjnetworks.com/~jknoll/midwestch.html and come
back often. There
will eventually be incriminating photos on the site.
--
John J. Knoll
jknoll@cjnetworks.com
ICQ #27382984
CH #1136