En Fuego

So who would have ever thought entering a Chili Cook-Off would be so hard? I mean... some cookware, a tent over my head, beer, and some people helping me, right?? Not the case here people.

If I could only tell you how many places I had to go yesterday in the attempt to find a tent that was "flame retardent." I mean, a few of my friends have tents that they use for football tailgating that they would gladly offer. That is, until each of them came back with the answer that the tent they had was "fire eating" or would torch with the speed of gasoline if met with fire. I mean, these guys have cooked under these tents for years without torching anything, and even so, what's a cookout without a little excitement?

So I had to search the Internet to find a tent that specifically said it was "flame retardent," only to not find said tent at 3 different stores. Geesh, you would never think it would be this difficult to cook for some people in the middle of an asphalt jungle. Forget terrorist threats, we are worried about our PARKING LOT catching fire!! Anyways, I eventually found a tent, but without a tag or sticker saying it was flame retardent so I ended up having to fax in my reciept along with a link stating that it was, in fact, "flame retardent."

Now I wonder how hard of a time they are going to give me for having a propane tank that is exactly 20lbs, or whether they meant 20lbs is too much because the brochure actually says "less than 20lbs." Or whether by "water" they mean Deer Park bottled water instead of tap water. Or by "air" they are looking for a specific nitrogen/oxygen ratio...

My buddy Wes came up with a killer idea for the chips I am going to serve with the salsa I'm gonna whip up at the Cook-Off. Can't wait to see how hard it will be to pull it off at the event!!

Sorry, no secrets divulged yet, the event is still a month away....