On Oct 29, 7:12 am, Pierre > wrote:

> Nail: Great post. It brought back memories of the event; >I went to Chilizpiel in 1979; there was no bbq, just chili; >too many cooking teams to count.

I wished I had started going earlier. There are/were so many of these
things within a couple of hours from here (2 hours drive translated in
Texan to "just up the road") that I just missed this one. In San
Antonio, I am an hour and 20 minutes from this event, and have driven
by it for all 30 years and never stopped in.

>The crazed Texans do know how to party. Texas flags
> abound, music everywhere, and anything goes.

It isn't any different there now. We stayed for the family portion of
the events, the sack race, the three legged race, the egg toss, the
backseat driver race, etc. The band fired up around 12, and they were
still going strong when we left around 5:30. More entertainment was
on the way.

And I am VERY aware how much a lot of folks hate and resent Texans. I
don't recall having done anything to offend other states, and I don't
feel like listening to some overfilled beer sack spout off about some
other Texan he knows that was a loudmouth, so I don't usually say much
anymore about being a native Texan around other folks. Not that there
are too many native Texans anymore.

It was a lot of fun to see the bluebonnet paintings, the western
shirts made from the state flag, and the BBQ pits with the flag
stenciled on it. It was fun to see the kids with the state flag or
the lone star painted on their faces. I think that state pride, no
matter what state you hail from is a good thing, as no one seems to be
too proud of the nation these days. It was good to see someone proud
of something.


> Fun part, was the crownation of "Chili Queen". Here >they "promenade" around the stage, all in a costume of >sorts, (points for shomanship are the norm)

The Cziliqueen this year was about 12, skinny as a stick and a mouth
full of braces. Her runner up was another giggly girl about the same
vintage. But the king was about 9 or 10, and he was about a foot and
an half shorter than these two girls. It looked funny to see them
posing for the photo ops, but it sure didn't bother them any. That
boy had enough ham in him to feed a family of 50.

>from a caldron of chili called fuzzy tongue

MIA this year was the perennial favorite, "Cigar Butt Chilli". The
guy that made it competed all over the state, and he actually put the
cigar butt in the chili after he smoked it down the the nub. There
were plenty of others though to fill the gap, and with all the inbred
competitors there, "braggin' rahts" was a lot more important thant any
points towards a competition circuit.

Can't wait until next year.

Robert