It's cool outside....ok, not actually today, it's supposed to be 80, but in theory, it's fall, it's cool outside, stay with me...which makes all of America think of hearty home cooking. Pot roast in the oven, tomato soup and grilled cheese for lunch, beef stew, for some reason, lots of casseroles...and chili. Mmmmmm, chili.
Last weekend was the first annual (maybe...give me a few months to recover and then we'll talk annual or one time only) Rooted Chili Cook Off!! Sometime back in September, the idea came to me and this past weekend (thanks to the help of a lot of folks), the idea became a reality, and it was beyond stressful fun!
Each City Group competed for 3 prizes. The Golden Ladle for best chili. The Golden Gnome for the best booth decor. The Golden Pear for the best dessert.
It was fierce battle, everyone competed well....and our booth didn't win anything! Although we did come in second place in two categories, the dessert (which was a pumpkin trifle that we threw together last minute at the park) and the booth decor, which was absolutely lovely!
Check out the blog and video of the award ceremony on the church website.
Will someone PLEASE force me to wear lip stick? I mean seriously. Don't even be nice about it. I'll thank you in the end!
Now that we've had the inaugural go at it, I can already think of ways we can improve and a list of things people can help me with next year. You know how when you're planning something for the first time, you have no idea what you're doing, much less can you tell people how they can help you, because you don't even know what you're doing? Yeah, that was me.
Probably the most stressful time of the whole deal was Saturday afternoon. I'd arranged to rent a generator (who wants cold chili?) from a place close by our house. Check that off the list! Or so I thought. We went to pick it up on Saturday around 12:30...and drove up to an empty parking lot, I realized that they closed at noon on Saturday. Really? REALLY? Think you could have mentioned that on the phone when I was reserving it?
After a panic attack, I did some scrambling on my phone to find a place open on Saturday afternoon (who knew that was a rarity?) and found that Lowes rented generators and was open on Saturday afternoon. Thank you, Jesus, for making that work.
It was a super wonderful time together with brothers and sisters, and I am truly hopeful that as we get more comfortable with the event, it will be a great place to bring neighbors and friends who are in need of a church family.
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