Pizza Remains

That's a photo of the 11 ounces I had left.

I think things started going badly toward the last half of piece 6 (of the 8 pieces in a pie). I started collecting too much in the cheeks. Up until that point I was clearing really really well. With 12 minutes to go I started on piece 7. It was looking good!

But in those 12 minutes I finished #7, got through a little over half of piece #8. At 30 minutes, the 11 ounces was the last half of piece 8 and the pile of droppings from pieces 1 through 7. Damn!

0-2

As our host of Man v. Food might say: Food wins. This time. Food wins.

Me, T-bonz, Mommye, and MarciaMarciaMarcia (3M) went to take on the pizza challenge again. They did wonderfully as the athletic supporters. I did better than last time on June 14th, but still came up a little short.

Last time, Stork had 14.9 ounces remaining, I had 1 pound 3 1/2 ounces to go, and Mike had 1 pound 4.8 ounces left. But this time I had 11 ounces left on the pan after 30 minutes. Bitch!

Next up: hot dogs, cupcakes, hot dogs. Maybe wings. Possibly then hot dogs.

MJ. Truth.

You know what *REALLY* killed him? Food poisoning. All the 12 year old wieners he was eating.

My Herpes

I guess this was going to come out sometime. So why not now? I have herpes. Red, infected, not-yet-open-sore, herpes. Leg herpes.
They appeared out of nowhere.

Three on each leg. All about the same size.



The herpe in the front is washed out by the flash but you can see two on the other leg

There it is. I say it loud, and I say it loud. I have herpes. Leg herpes.

Pizza Challenge

This is more or less just a placeholder for the write-up of the pizza challenge.

Me, Mad Stork, and Merciless Mike took the challenge with Bee-Renda and T-bonz as athletic supporters.

None of us finished in the alloted time. But the cannoli afterwards were divine (and on the house!).

More details and pics soon.

Nathan's in Denver

Pete and Mongo right after time expired.

What a battle! Maybe a hundred people gathered under the big white tent erected in the Sam's Club parking lot in Lone Tree.

There was a warm-up act before the big show. An amateur contest, 5 minutes, featuring some Sam's Club employees and town dignitaries. A cop was 2nd, 7 1/2 dogs. The employee who was 1st downed 9.

Mongo before.

After the pre-show, Ryan Nerz mounted the stage and got the crowd fired up.
He brought the contestants on stage. They fiddled with their drinks. And it began. Pete and Mongo got out fast. After a minute each of them were around 5. Pete separating the dog and bun, and Mongo submerging the dog still in the bun and getting them down the way he does. I thought that'd be tough to maintain. But he did! It was close throughout with neither guy pulling ahead by more than 1.

Stork on his way to a personal best (?) 18.

At the end, it had to be close. Ryan took a few minutes to inspect the detritus, and he arrived at some results. Tied for 3rd: Sexy (your Wing Bowl champion) and Mares (he was the runner-up to Boone in the WLOCE cupcake event in Boulder in May). 2nd: Davekos, with 29. So:
Mongo, getting announced as the winner. He downed 30 hot dogs and buns to become the 1st eater from Colorado to qualify for the July 4th finals in Coney Island. Before this, I had seen 9 people win their Nathan's qualifier. While I am sure those 9 people were happy to win and make it to Coney, not one seemed genuinely as happy and fulfilled to win their qualifier as Mongo. Sure, it may be because I know him better than the others and I know how hard he has worked for this and I know how much he wanted this and I'm really happy for him. But I bet this win feels much better to him than it does for Joey or Sonya or whoever.

If the emcee had been that new IFOCE guy, I would have tried to get in. There were only 9 contestants. Instead I watched. I didn't really know what to do. It felt sort of weird watching. But after the contest I did grab a plate of 5. Who knew, but Nathan's are really pretty good if you don't dunk and actually take time to savor the flavor. Excellent juicy and garlicky meat. The delicious buns were Sara Lee. Hey Woody's, use these buns next year and maybe the foot long buns will not be stale toast.


Here is a complete gallery of pictures.

Cupcake 4

Tonight I had the last cupcake that T-bonz bought at The Shoppe when she signed us up for their cupcake eating contest. Definitely I saved the best for last. Lemon.
Lemon icing with lemon-flavored crystals sprinkled on it!

The cupcake was stored for two days in an air-tight container not in the refrigerator. Very moist. Very flavorful. Very delicious. The lemon cake? Killer. The lemon icing? Wow. The lemon curd in the middle? Smooth.

Too bad I didn't eat this on day 1. Just great. We'll go back to The Shoppe soon!

Cupcakes 2 & 3

Continuing with the cupcakes from The Shoppe...

Tonight -- Death by Chocolate. A pantload of chocolate frosting on a chocolate cake. The chocolate frosting is very liberally sprinkled with mini chocolate chips. And then the creation is drizzled by a chocolate liquid.

And here's the prize! Inside the choco + choco + choco is MORE CHOCOLATE! A chocolate truffle.

DBC - whoa.

Next up was the Chocolate on Chocolate. Similar to the Vanilla on Vanilla from last night.

Chocolate cake topped by another pantload of chocolate frosting.

Yikes! Blood-sugar-explodingly sweet. Here's hoping the contest cupcakes are not chocolate.

Cupcakes!

T-bonz stopped by The Shoppe to sign us up for their cupcake eating contest on July 4th. She picked up a few of their product:



Flavors here are: Chocolate on Chocolate, Lemon, Vanilla on Vanilla, and Death By Chocolate. The DBC looks to be a chocolate cake topped by chocolate frosting, the frosting is covered by chocolate chips, and then the thing is drizzled by a chocolate sauce.

Here is the Vanilla on Vanilla. Look how the frosting is taller than the cake itself is. And below is the VOV cut in half. The cake is beefier than most normal cupcakes. And the frosting, wow.

So I wonder how the competition cupcakes will be.

Brighton Review

I love the smell of hot dogs in the morning. Especially these Vienna Beef Woody's Chicago Hot Dogs. Each one is a foot of all-beef deliciousness with a nice snappy natural casing.

T-bonz, Mommye and I got to the Main Stage at the Brighton Culturefest about 11:30. Great day for a hot dog eating contest. There were 12 contestants competing including the defending champion from last year (he won with 6 1/2). Going in I did not know who the 10 others were, but I knew something was up when earlier in the week I contacted a marketing guy at Woody's about the competitors and he "wasn't prepared to name the contestants at this time". Menchetti? Maybe. Boone? With the satellite WLOCE office in Boulder and with him having competed 2 weeks ago in Boulder: Perhaps.

I got the answer when I arrived on scene and saw Boone. Exchanged pleasantries, and then waited to sign in. And got a look at the dogs and buns.

Sign up. Woody's got it right. On the form our name, address, dates ... already filled in. We just read and signed. The goddamn form everyone had to completely fill out before every IFOCE event always pissed me off. They know who is coming. Have the forms ready for Pete's sake! IFOCE, AICE, WLOCE, learn that, do that, show some class.

We were called up on stage by our shirt numbers. 12 to 1. The defending champion got #1. I do not know how 2 to 12 were decided, but I was #3 and Boone was #4. Each of us has a plate with 8 foot longs. 3 bottles of water.

Contest time: 10 minutes. No dunking, but you could separate the dog and bun. I did that - dog, bun, dog, bun, etc. The dogs were OK - good temp and actually still kind of juicy. The buns were quite unlike what I would have expected. Dried out, firm, and crumbly. Stale toast? I don't know how Boone choked down 9 of them. The 2nd place guy downed 7. In 3rd was the defending champ with 6. My 5 was tied 4th. Followed by a few trailers. 3 guys bowed out around the 5 minute mark.

I was pretty disappointed in my 5. But if I didn't win the Hawaii trip, I did win by not being in 2nd or 3rd. The Hawaii trip was for 1st, then both 2nd and 3rd scored sign William "Refrigerator" Perry jerseys and signed baseballs. That seems to be a pretty dramatic separation of prizes between 1st and 2nd.

Aloha, Boone. See you next year Brighton for the Woody's Chicago Style 4th Annual Footlong Hot Dog Eating Competition!

See all the photos and a slideshow here.

Brighton Hot Dogs

I am here. So is Dale Boone.