A Texas Chili Cookoff in Chicagoland

The last 6 days has been unbelievable.  I have had the pleasure of hosting a family reunion with my mom's sisters.  We have been reminiscing and making wonderful new memories!  How often can we do that?  It's wonderful that my kids can get to know their maternal side of the family even though we are spread out throughout the country.

Saturday my mom and step dad decided to compete in a chili cookoff, complete with palate cleaners and judging.  Can I just say...this was SO.MUCH.FUN!  When you go to a chili cookoff you have a specific time you must turn your chili in.  They cook their chili grind (the meat mixture) and add spices called "dumps" at certain times during the cooking process.  

 My mom

 This is the set up...in front of our house :)

 Preparing for the turn in.

 Doyle's painted stove he won after winning 1st place in the Texas Open in 2004!

 My mom's stove.

The Beans!

I should also mention, because it's part of this great memory; we had a huge storm the night before and were without power for about 20 hours.  But the SHOW (cookoff) must go on!  The chili was amazing!  Both recipes were delicious!  After all the scoring was in, my mom had the better chili with the scores: Doyle 45 Melodie 48.  

I still have one more day with my family here, and I will relish it!  

When all is said and done, family is what you have, cherish them!!

CHEERS!

Jeni