Beans, Beans the Magic Fruit....

I won't finish that--you know the rest.

Megan and I co-hosted a chili cook-off for our neighbors and friends yesterday and it was phenomenal! It came about in a whirlwind, as preliminary planning started a week ago. Everyone was very enthusiastic and we decided we better have it sooner rather than later if we didn't want to freeze our little tushes off. Overall, we had ten wonderful, tasty chilis and not one was even similar to the next.

There were cash prizes, beer to go around, tons of chili toppings to garnish the already wonderful chili and TONS of fun! Now of course, what would a chili cook-off be without football? Before the arrival of our guests my husband mentioned bringing a TV outside for the men to view the game. I laughed him off. Not five minutes after everyone's arrival he was told that all the men would end up leaving in less than an hour to watch "the biggest game of the season." What's a man to do? He sets up a TV of course! I'm not talking a 13-inch black and white, oh no. LCD-HDTV-Directv! He had the men all hooked up! And hey! They all stayed!



The children had a great time together playing in the backyard and on the swingset. We hardly even knew they were there. They all played nicely together and came by every now and then for a juice box or to roast a hot dog or s'more.




And all the women got to have conversations without being interrupted every two minutes! And of course we all had more than our fill of chili. Good times were had by all!


Cash prizes were handed out for First, Second, Third and Honorable Mention. We actually ended up with a four-way tie for Honorable Mention and more people left with a little cash in their pockets. Now, can you believe the winner, neighbor Katie, of the chili cook-off had NO BEANS in her chili? That's right! Not a single little bean. She HATES beans--can't stand 'em--won't eat 'em! And she won! Her chili was really, really good! And second prize went to Megan who only had a can of refried beans in her chili. No chunky beans--and even the Bean hater liked it!




Now, just beacause the top winners didn't have beans in their chili, doesn't mean there were no beans! There were PLENTY! Mark and neighbor Al joked about going into business together to sell cups and spoons before the cook-off and Gas-X after the cook-off. This may not have been a bad idea. I think all of our neighbors may have caused a small black hole to form over the neighborhood with all the toxic, musical gases that most likely took place in the bedrooms last night! Environmentalists--WE'RE SORRY!

If you are interested Megan and I will be posting the chili recipes later this week. Trust me, you don't want to miss these awesome recipes! Stay Tuned!