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Saturday, March 1, 2008

Vote for Pedro's Chili

Saturday was our ward's 4th Annual Chili Cook-off. Last year, Mary Karlee entered her chili into the contest last year, and not surprisingly, got no award or recognition for her first ever batch of contest chili. But this year...



we entered 'Pedro's Chili' - a recipe that Mary Karlee has perfected over the last 12 months. In truth, it's a little too spicy for her taste, but it's perfect for her South of the Border husband. We settled on Pedro’s because it came with it's own built in advertising campaign. We also considered 'Ch-ch-ch-chili', but didn't know where we could buy a Chia Pet in this decade. We went to the church early and decorated with fliers designed to build name recognition.

Most of the youth figured it out, but many of the adults in the ward were wondering why the cook-off had a Napoleon Dynamite theme.


Alas, we didn't win Crowd Favorite, but we did come in second with Most Flavorful and received several compliments from various ward members. As Mary Karlee walked up to receive the certificate, she stopped by the microphone and called out "Vote for Pedro."
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The also-memorable-but-not-as-enjoyable activity came that same night when I got suckered into the 'Chili Pepper Eating contest.' I ate 9 of the 10 chili's, including the green habanero, before I realized that the mixture of peppers in my stomach had eaten a whole straight through to my colon and was now forcing it's way back up my throat! I spent the next 20 minutes at a water fountain - being taunted by two 10 year-olds who claimed I was "weak"- until my Steve Tyler lips returned to normal size & my face changed back from red to pasty white.

This would all be forgivable, except that I went through this same ordeal in my college days. Back then I ate a red habanero on a dare and again suffered 'nigh unto death.' I’m still not sure why I thought it would turn out differently this time but Mary Karlee swears she heard me mutter something in my sleep about the 'glory of Longwood ward'.

P.S. That night I suffered my craziest dream in a while: something about my Bro dating a dancing ghost while his 3 trailers of dairy milk were hi-jacked by a rogue farmer.

7 comments:

Hyrum said...
This comment has been removed by the author.
erica e said...

I love that you two were the genius behind the Vote for Pedro campaign! How sneaky of you! And that was dang good chili. I think I need Pedro's recipe.

123 checkoutourfamily said...

Congrats Mary Karlee! We're Napoleon Dynamite fans so we think it was a great idea.

I think Ryan and Matt need to eat hot peppers together. As for the crazy dream, we'll be sure to remember to watch what we eat. hahaha

RonJohn said...

you two are crazy!! All of your posts make me laugh and also make me realize that i need to do stupid fun stuff like you guys! i love it. Keep up with the entertainment.

S+S said...

Man I wish I could have been there. I would have taken your "second most flavorful chili" any day! :D J/K. Sounds like a lot of fun. I liked the "decorations".

Julie said...

Hey Ryan, its your favorite 2nd cousin, three times removed--Jeremy! I came across your blog and wanted to say hi.

Nick, Jen and Spencer said...

Sounds like fun guys! Tell Ryan he should learn after the first time--it's less painful that way.