Harvard Fall Festival - Final Words

As usual, the Harvard contest was well-run and a lot of fun. Good job Chris, Ken, Kathie, and all the volunteers who helped to make it a success. No rain this year, so we really can't complain. Well, except for the freezing temperatures Saturday night. Brr. For those of us who sleep in tents, it was particularly chilly. Actually, we have been sleeping in the back of that Explorer lately, but that's really no better than a tent...just easier because we don't need to spend time setting up and breaking down the tent. Sully had his damn dip available to warm us all up, which was great. Good times.

I already listed our scores in each category, so I won't go through each one individually again. The only thing I'll say is that the chicken really does stink. I probably deserved an even lower score than I got. I was fairly happy with everything else. Pork seems to be our category. I just need to fine-tune the pork presentation, and I don't see any reason why we shouldn't finish among the top teams at every contest.

The chicken. For the first time, I'm handing over the meat to Suzanne. She volunteered to try some new things and attempt to improve our chicken score (which really can't get much worse). It's her task to practice chicken over the next several months and come up with a new plan. This may be difficult for me, since I'm controlling when it comes to meat duties, but I'm also excited to try new things.

I'm also going to work on fine-tuning the ribs and brisket. Both need a bit better execution and a lot better presentation. Now that we have it down pat in terms of getting things turned in on time, we need to refine a few things in order to improve the scores.

We plan on competing in at least 3 KCBS contests next year...started with one in 2008 (Harvard), added Maine in 2009, and will add at least one more next year. And hopefully the Snowshoe will keep happening...we had a blast at that earlier this year. Since this will be the first year we've competed in more than two TOY contests, we will officially be a candidate for rookie team of the year.

Oh yeah...and I found a $20 bill on the ground while walking around and trying to keep warm Saturday night at Harvard. So I nearly doubled my prize money.