The day: October 25, 2014
Setting: Santa Cruz Beach Boardwalk.
6:00 Wake up. The idea is to get out of bed and get ready.
6:30 Actually get out of bed and get ready.
6:50 Purchase a dozen donuts for chili helpers.
7:20 Arrive at the beach boardwalk. Receive text from the head Chili Mama herself saying they’ll be there soon, so we kill time by feeding birds stale chips we have in the car (this is HIGHLY entertaining) and playing Ticket to Ride on my phone. Danny wins, 168 to 100.
8:00 The Chili Mama, Sara, arrives, with husband and kid in tow. We load up a cart, say goodbye (Her husband and two youngest headed off to a soccer tournament) and head over to our spot.
8:00-8:45 Setting up the area. Tent, tablecloth, signs, chili banners, unpacking, getting the propane and the burners ready, watching Shai (young son of another Chili helper, Sarah) and trying not to get wet (at this time it was still raining.)
8:45 Sara and Sarah head off to a meeting.
8:50 They come back. Apparently it was a very short meeting.
8:50- 9:00 hair and makeup. We got made up to look like Rosie the Riveter, so we had to do bandanas and red lipstick. Pretty fun.
9:00 The chopping began! Veggies were cut, beans were rinsed, Shai was watched. I was working on the Chili Mama sign for our booth. Once the cans were emptied, we rinsed them and cut sunflowers to fit in. Zoey (Chili Daughter of Sara) helped draw chili peppers to decorate the cans with. Ridiculous photos were also taken with our “Your face here” Rosie the Riveter sign. At one point Shai and I took a break (well, he started walking over the arcade and we figured why not) and he walked around to check out all the games. Some people playing skeeball let him through a ball. It was highly entertaining.
10:00 Cooking began! Lots of strategic adding and stirring at this point. We fashioned a little clothesline to hang up some signs with and decorated our taste ticket and People’s Choice box too. Anytime someone came by we posed or encouraged them to take a picture with our sign!
Also pictured: Shai helping.
11:00 Things are looking and cooking good. Danny and I take the free ride passes that came with the entry fee (thanks Sara!), go get wristbands for the rides, and buy our tasting kits (of course we were still going to taste chili!) Zoey comes with us and we go on some rides, killing some time until 1:00 when the tasting begins.
12:50 We get back just in time to help get everything ready! Toppings, including croutons are out and ready to go!
1:00 First taster of the day! He’s our number one fan who had been hanging around our booth for a while and voted for us on personality alone! He gives us our first People’s Choice ticket!
Pretty soon we get in the groove. Sara is scooping, and Sarah, Zoey, and I are taking people’s cups. Each taster gets five tickets and one little cup. They drop a ticket in our taster box and hand the bowl to us. One scoop and then they’re off to top it. We’re all smiles and we have a pretty steady line of people.
1:30 Sara goes to bring the cup of Chili to the judges, so I start scooping. When she gets back, I’m still in the groove, so she stays up by the table, which I think is better anyway, since she can talk to people about the recipe and explain how AWESOME everything is. Capoeira friends stop by to try our chili, vote for us, and cheer us on. At this point, Shai is asleep, thanks to a great walk with his Dad who stopped by after his capoeira class.
2:00 We have a little lull in the line, but not for long. Business is pretty steady. We are a well oiled machine. Danny is making sure everything is going ok, and even snags a trash bag to tape up as a makeshift sun blocker so we don’t get sun on us. People are taking pictures as Rosie the Riveter, eating up our chili, and loving it! Whenever someone puts in their people’s choice ticket, we play the tambourine and cheer!
2:40 We only have about 5 scoops left. Zoey’s looking pretty tired, and Danny and I still have to do our tasting kits, so we take her with us and go taste some chili. We quickly taste some from five groups; One from the East Side Eatery, a restaurant just down the street from where we live and a booth where I have a friend working, two great meat ones that later when on to win awards, another Veggie one because they came to our booth to visit, and one that is all decked out like a saloon! We have fun and Zoey has some of our chili.
3:00 We get back to our booth and we’re sold out of chili! There’s a sign that says, “So good it’s gone” on our taster box. Soon Sara takes the boxes to the judges, and we start cleaning up. Down come all the signs, hanging posters, everything. Sunflowers get consolidated. Tablecloths get folded.
4:00 Sara’s Chili Husband Jose arrives with the two youngest, and we get a picture of them all together with their pins 🙂 We start packing everything up to go back in the truck, and then head down to the amphitheater to hear the awards being announced.
4:15 Awards being announced! We’re excited and holding our breath.
4:30 We are sobbing hysterically because we didn’t win anything. Ok we’re not really crying but we’re putting on a good show. We get back to the booth and start bringing things out to the truck.
5:00 Danny and I are going to stay and go on more rides, and offer to keep Zoey and Izaak (middle chili child) with us if they want to ride more. Chili Mama Sara says ok, so they’re off back home and we go wild.
5:00-7:00 Riding rides! We go on some rides all together, and split up if some are too scary. We do rollercoasters, the log water ride, a tornado one where Danny spins us around so fast we can barely move, the Carousel, the new rollercoaster, the pirate ship, and the one that DROPS so fast. We get some water, Danny gets a caramel apple, and we make plans to go to Pizza My Heart.
7:10 In the parking lot on the way to the car, I suggest we can do to Yogurtland after Pizza my heart. The kids yell, “YEAHHHHH!” in unison, so excited. Ok then, we’re definitely doing that.
7:10-8:00 Pizza My Heart and Yogurtland. At Pizza My Heart we have to wait for pizza to be made for a few of our slices, and the kids learn the name I always give when they have to call my name for something. Spoiler alert: It’s Ellie. They NEVER get Kathy Ellen right and when I just hear the name Kathy it DOES NOT register in my brain. We eat our pizza and salads and cheer along with everyone as the San Francisco Giants come back to tie the 4th game of the World Series. Then we’re on to Yogurtland, where we load up our cups with yogurt and toppings. Izaak tries to go for 15 gummi worms, but I only let him have three. When we’re all finished, he’s almost done, and has ten gummi bears left! He stuffs them in his cheeks and we head to their house.
8:20 arrival at the Chili Mama residence. We commence chatting, viewing funny Ecards, and talking about our adventures. Danny reminds me a few times we should be leaving, but, as it is with fun friends, we just CAN’T stop talking. Finally we do and…
10:00 We head home.
10:30 Arrive home and get ready for bed. I start reading and….fall asleep with the book open.
Later in the week:
I made this chili picture frame as a thank you for Sara and Jose:
So there you have it.
That’s what it’s like to be in a chili cookoff.
Hope you enjoyed the story!
KE
