Sadie gave a wonderful review of the events of the weekend, but after looking at Valerie's Pictures, I was inspired to give my thoughts. I read the previous post right after it was posted, so this will probably sound almost exactly the same.
So I woke up bright and early, before my alarm went off at 5am on Saturday morning. Sadie was already on the road and I anxiously packed way too many warm weather clothes and tried to kill time waiting on her. Sadie got to Asheville to pick me up, and we were off on I-40, but not without stopping for an egg and cheese biscuit on the way from Bojangles. I don't need to go into how delicious it was because we have only discussed it a million times on this blog and every day of our lives.
We got to Chattanooga amidst a downpour and road construction and ate our first Krystal in a very long time. I opted for the crispy onions on my Krystal and that was quite possibly the best slider I have ever eaten in my entire life.
I'm going to skip on to the fun things. At 6pm on Saturday night we went to the Krystal Square Off Reception and ate delicious pineapple and spinach dip with pita bread. They revealed the eater's jerseys which I thought looked very sharp. It was interesting to be behind the scenes, being a Business student, I was particularly impressed by the marketing strategies that Krystal has obviously mastered and I'm very curious to how they fit such an expensive event into their budget! (and that was my "business woman's special.")
Anyway, after the reception, we followed in a convoy to a Krystal where we could eat anything we so chose. I got the oreo caramel milkquake. It was delicious. We also kept getting sweet bites shoved in our faces and could not deny those tasty balls of fried dough. Sadie and I both thought our stomachs were going to explode when we got back to the hotel Saturday night. I tried on my Krystal Counter shirt and got alittle nervous because my stomach was so full, it almost didn't fit! Luckily, a night's sleep will always shrink my food-baby down to normal.
I'm going to skip on to the contest...
After looking at Val's pictures, and watching the replay later on Sunday, it has finally set in that I have finally been at a eating competition where Kobayashi won! After these past few years of our ventures into the world of competitive eating, we finally see the man who sparked our interest years ago dominate it almost brings a tear to my eye. He is back. 2010 should be a very interesting year in the CE world.
It was fun to be a counter, but I do kind of wish I could have seen the comeback as an onlooker.
Okay, you can read anything else about our trip in the post below here. I still have not completely caught up on my rest from the weekend and I'm back in the real world of waking up early for school and work and homework and no more fun in a land where it is over an hour drive to the next Krystal!
Jamie
Wednesday, September 30, 2009
Monday, September 28, 2009
Krystal Square Off--2009
This picture pretty much sums up my shock of what went down on Sunday at the Krystal Square Off. Kobayashi is back, yall.
This year, our journey to Chattanooga started bright and early on Saturday morning. We fueled our bodies with food from the ever-delicious Bojangles; eating enough to hold us until we made it to Chattanooga. The ride started out pretty pleasantly until we got to Knoxville, then it started raining. Like a lot. We had to make a pit-stop right outside of Chattanooga to buy a raincoat for fear that this rain trend would last all weekend. We also hit up our first Krystal during this stop, excited to try some new products (well, new to us at least): the Crispy Onion Krystal and Sweet Bites. Oh.My.God. The sweet bites were out of this world delicious. Honestly, how can you go wrong with fried dough? The Crispy Onion was great too--a nice additional taste and texture to an already delicious little burger. Dark storm clouds still surrounding us, we decided just to suck it up and drive and hopefully check in to the hotel early. After almost getting the car stuck in a flooded Chattanooga street, almost running about five stop signs, and almost ruining the transmission of my car, we made it to our destination and could (luckily) check in early.
We thought we would just relax in the room and maybe take a nap, but we were anxious to get out and about in Chattanooga. Even though it was raining, we still wanted to make the most of our trip. We decided against going to Rock City, frankly because we didn't want to pay money to be miserable walking around in the rain. Instead, we hopped on the bus and rode to the NorthShore District. At the time we didn't realize this but we were riding the bus with some of Kobayashi's entourage, sans Kobayashi. Anyway, the rain let up a little and we were able to walk around to some shops at the NorthShore. Getting hungry again, we decided to try out Clumpies for ice cream. Clumpies was really cool--they microbatch their ice cream so it is of a good (and deliciously creamy) quality and use more butterfat than most ice creams. I sampled the Animal Cracker flavor, but something about blue ice cream freaks me out. We ended up opting for scoops of Butterfinger and Espresso Chocolate Chunk--both were great!
After our adventure to the NorthShore, we went back to our luxury accommodations (aka the Days Inn) to relax before the real fun was to begin. Around 6:00, we made our way across the street to the Sheraton Read House as we were invited by none other than Kenny Hammontree of Krystal himself to pick up our Krystal Counter shirts/attend the pre-KSO reception. This was really cool because we were among the first to see the new jerseys for the contest (a baseball style shirt) and really see what goes down the night before a big contest. After all of the rules were discussed, everyone was invited to go on the annual 'night before Square Off' trip to Krystal. We tagged along and gorged ourselves on Milkquakes, cheese Krystals, and even more Sweet Bites. I hate that I did not get any pictures of this event, but it was very interesting to see that although many eaters claim they don't eat the night before a contest, the majority couldn't pass up a few bites of food or sips of Milkquakes. I might be mistaken but I believe I saw Sonya Thomas eat three Big Angus burgers.
The morning of the contest, we once again had our traditional City Cafe chocolate chip pancake breakfast-this time omitting the whipped cream. As usual, it did not disappoint. We met up with Valerie at Greyfriar's and caught up with her over an iced mocha. This girl has some dedication. After working all evening in Chicago, Valerie left in the middle of the night again this year to make the ten hour drive to Chattanooga only to turn around and go back later that afternoon. Making our way down to the river front, it was time to begin our bunnette duties for the 2009 Krystal Square Off. Being assigned count for Eater X (Sadie) and Tim 'Gravy' Brown (Jamie), we were excited for the day to begin.
After meeting the other girls, though, we realized we missed an important memo. We weren't blonde. Every single Krystal Counter (except for one) had long blonde hair. At least that made us easier to spot on the TV broadcast! Even though we weren't in the blond-tourage, we still did our bunnette/counter duties with smiles on our faces--passing out thundersticks, cheering for the sackful challenge, shaking our pompoms on stage--we were regular-old-fashioned cheerleaders.
The stage entrance was interesting this year; if you couldn't see it on the live broadcast the eaters were raised on a lift to come up from the ground to the stage--nice touch, Krystal! The contest was about to begin and we were ready to start counting burgers for X and Gravy. During the contest, we pretty much zoned out on everything except for the judges so we would be sure to get the right points on our counter cards. You could tell even from behind the eaters that things were getting tense in the middle of the stage. At the countdown from 10, people were yelling and screaming for Kobayashi in the audience. The next thing I knew, Kobayashi was slamming his fists on the table, water was flying in the air, and a shocked look was on many faces (...including my own). Kobayashi freaking won! Not only did he win the Krystal Square Off, he dominated it. Eating 93 Krystal/Big Angus points, Takeru Kobayashi is now the new Krystal Champion. This was the first contest we had ever been to where Kobayashi took first place, so that was pretty darn exciting. Coincidentally, it was also the first contest we have ever been to that Joey Chestnut didn't win. I guess you could say we were good luck for him...until now.
The rest of the results are as follows:
Kobayashi 93
Joey Chestnut 81
Pat B. 76
Humble Bob 71
Sonya Thomas 65
Hall Hunt 60
Eater X 59
Erik The Red 58
Gravy Brown 52
Buffalo Jim 50
Badlands Booker 47
12th Man 8
...yeah, our predictions were pretty off.
After watching the re-play of the broadcast back into the hotel room, it was insane to watch how it all actually went down. Kobayashi inhaled those burgers. He didn't even look like he was chewing. He went on that stage with his new hairdo and ripped abs and literally made those burgers his bitch. I have a feeling things are going to be interesting over the next few months in regards to rankings and wins. God I already can't wait for the showdown at Nathan's!
We made the smart decision to spend Sunday night in Chattanooga as opposed to previous years of driving back home immediately after the contest, getting home in the middle of the night. Since we had some extra time in town, we made our way to the Bluff View Arts District of Chattanooga. Finding ourselves hungry again, we found Tony's Pasta Shop and Trattoria. This was a neat little restaurant with inside and outside seating. They had a nice variety of pastas, the prices were decent, the portions were just right, and the food was really good.
Meeting up with a few of the eaters later, the rest of the night was filled with some very interesting moments--from encountering a shady guy with a dog, witnessing beer chugging challenges, the resurgence of a germ-filled breathalyzer, shutting down two restaurants, roaming the deserted Sunday night Chattanooga streets, and eating mediocre biscuits & gravy with new friends, I'd have to say overall, it was a very fun night.
750-something miles, only a few hours of sleep, many hamburgers, sweetbites, and beers later, we are back in the great state of North Carolina--back to the old grind of work and school. It was an awesome trip, I only wish we had taken more pictures! The pictures we did take can be found here. Once again, we can't wait till next year. The Krystal Square Off just gets better every year!
--Sadie
This year, our journey to Chattanooga started bright and early on Saturday morning. We fueled our bodies with food from the ever-delicious Bojangles; eating enough to hold us until we made it to Chattanooga. The ride started out pretty pleasantly until we got to Knoxville, then it started raining. Like a lot. We had to make a pit-stop right outside of Chattanooga to buy a raincoat for fear that this rain trend would last all weekend. We also hit up our first Krystal during this stop, excited to try some new products (well, new to us at least): the Crispy Onion Krystal and Sweet Bites. Oh.My.God. The sweet bites were out of this world delicious. Honestly, how can you go wrong with fried dough? The Crispy Onion was great too--a nice additional taste and texture to an already delicious little burger. Dark storm clouds still surrounding us, we decided just to suck it up and drive and hopefully check in to the hotel early. After almost getting the car stuck in a flooded Chattanooga street, almost running about five stop signs, and almost ruining the transmission of my car, we made it to our destination and could (luckily) check in early.
We thought we would just relax in the room and maybe take a nap, but we were anxious to get out and about in Chattanooga. Even though it was raining, we still wanted to make the most of our trip. We decided against going to Rock City, frankly because we didn't want to pay money to be miserable walking around in the rain. Instead, we hopped on the bus and rode to the NorthShore District. At the time we didn't realize this but we were riding the bus with some of Kobayashi's entourage, sans Kobayashi. Anyway, the rain let up a little and we were able to walk around to some shops at the NorthShore. Getting hungry again, we decided to try out Clumpies for ice cream. Clumpies was really cool--they microbatch their ice cream so it is of a good (and deliciously creamy) quality and use more butterfat than most ice creams. I sampled the Animal Cracker flavor, but something about blue ice cream freaks me out. We ended up opting for scoops of Butterfinger and Espresso Chocolate Chunk--both were great!
After our adventure to the NorthShore, we went back to our luxury accommodations (aka the Days Inn) to relax before the real fun was to begin. Around 6:00, we made our way across the street to the Sheraton Read House as we were invited by none other than Kenny Hammontree of Krystal himself to pick up our Krystal Counter shirts/attend the pre-KSO reception. This was really cool because we were among the first to see the new jerseys for the contest (a baseball style shirt) and really see what goes down the night before a big contest. After all of the rules were discussed, everyone was invited to go on the annual 'night before Square Off' trip to Krystal. We tagged along and gorged ourselves on Milkquakes, cheese Krystals, and even more Sweet Bites. I hate that I did not get any pictures of this event, but it was very interesting to see that although many eaters claim they don't eat the night before a contest, the majority couldn't pass up a few bites of food or sips of Milkquakes. I might be mistaken but I believe I saw Sonya Thomas eat three Big Angus burgers.
The morning of the contest, we once again had our traditional City Cafe chocolate chip pancake breakfast-this time omitting the whipped cream. As usual, it did not disappoint. We met up with Valerie at Greyfriar's and caught up with her over an iced mocha. This girl has some dedication. After working all evening in Chicago, Valerie left in the middle of the night again this year to make the ten hour drive to Chattanooga only to turn around and go back later that afternoon. Making our way down to the river front, it was time to begin our bunnette duties for the 2009 Krystal Square Off. Being assigned count for Eater X (Sadie) and Tim 'Gravy' Brown (Jamie), we were excited for the day to begin.
After meeting the other girls, though, we realized we missed an important memo. We weren't blonde. Every single Krystal Counter (except for one) had long blonde hair. At least that made us easier to spot on the TV broadcast! Even though we weren't in the blond-tourage, we still did our bunnette/counter duties with smiles on our faces--passing out thundersticks, cheering for the sackful challenge, shaking our pompoms on stage--we were regular-old-fashioned cheerleaders.
The stage entrance was interesting this year; if you couldn't see it on the live broadcast the eaters were raised on a lift to come up from the ground to the stage--nice touch, Krystal! The contest was about to begin and we were ready to start counting burgers for X and Gravy. During the contest, we pretty much zoned out on everything except for the judges so we would be sure to get the right points on our counter cards. You could tell even from behind the eaters that things were getting tense in the middle of the stage. At the countdown from 10, people were yelling and screaming for Kobayashi in the audience. The next thing I knew, Kobayashi was slamming his fists on the table, water was flying in the air, and a shocked look was on many faces (...including my own). Kobayashi freaking won! Not only did he win the Krystal Square Off, he dominated it. Eating 93 Krystal/Big Angus points, Takeru Kobayashi is now the new Krystal Champion. This was the first contest we had ever been to where Kobayashi took first place, so that was pretty darn exciting. Coincidentally, it was also the first contest we have ever been to that Joey Chestnut didn't win. I guess you could say we were good luck for him...until now.
The rest of the results are as follows:
Kobayashi 93
Joey Chestnut 81
Pat B. 76
Humble Bob 71
Sonya Thomas 65
Hall Hunt 60
Eater X 59
Erik The Red 58
Gravy Brown 52
Buffalo Jim 50
Badlands Booker 47
12th Man 8
...yeah, our predictions were pretty off.
After watching the re-play of the broadcast back into the hotel room, it was insane to watch how it all actually went down. Kobayashi inhaled those burgers. He didn't even look like he was chewing. He went on that stage with his new hairdo and ripped abs and literally made those burgers his bitch. I have a feeling things are going to be interesting over the next few months in regards to rankings and wins. God I already can't wait for the showdown at Nathan's!
We made the smart decision to spend Sunday night in Chattanooga as opposed to previous years of driving back home immediately after the contest, getting home in the middle of the night. Since we had some extra time in town, we made our way to the Bluff View Arts District of Chattanooga. Finding ourselves hungry again, we found Tony's Pasta Shop and Trattoria. This was a neat little restaurant with inside and outside seating. They had a nice variety of pastas, the prices were decent, the portions were just right, and the food was really good.
Meeting up with a few of the eaters later, the rest of the night was filled with some very interesting moments--from encountering a shady guy with a dog, witnessing beer chugging challenges, the resurgence of a germ-filled breathalyzer, shutting down two restaurants, roaming the deserted Sunday night Chattanooga streets, and eating mediocre biscuits & gravy with new friends, I'd have to say overall, it was a very fun night.
750-something miles, only a few hours of sleep, many hamburgers, sweetbites, and beers later, we are back in the great state of North Carolina--back to the old grind of work and school. It was an awesome trip, I only wish we had taken more pictures! The pictures we did take can be found here. Once again, we can't wait till next year. The Krystal Square Off just gets better every year!
--Sadie
Sunday, September 20, 2009
Predictions and a picture.
After much deliberation, we have decided on our predictions for the 2009 Krystal Square Off:
1. Joey
2. Humble Bob
3. Pat B.
4. Kobayashi
5. Sonya
6. Hall
7. Eater X
8. Gravy
9. Erik
10. Badlands
11. Buffalo Jim
We really don't know how the numbers for Joey and Kobayashi will compare since they didn't have to qualify without dunking, so we didn't predict the amount of Krystal Points...just the rankings. After Humble Bob's performance this weekend in burritos and grits, how could we not put him (almost) at the top? We have high hopes for him again this year at Krystal. We also have a gut feeling Pat might have an edge over Kobayashi this year. As the qualifiers have shown X, Hall, Sonya, and Tim B. will probably have close totals but Sonya will prevail. To come to this decision, we thought about qualifier totals, access to Krystals for practice, and overall non-dunking performances. We'll see next week how close our predictions were. What do you think will happen next Sunday?
--Sadie and Jamie
In other news:
In honor of his victory today, a picture from last year...
1. Joey
2. Humble Bob
3. Pat B.
4. Kobayashi
5. Sonya
6. Hall
7. Eater X
8. Gravy
9. Erik
10. Badlands
11. Buffalo Jim
We really don't know how the numbers for Joey and Kobayashi will compare since they didn't have to qualify without dunking, so we didn't predict the amount of Krystal Points...just the rankings. After Humble Bob's performance this weekend in burritos and grits, how could we not put him (almost) at the top? We have high hopes for him again this year at Krystal. We also have a gut feeling Pat might have an edge over Kobayashi this year. As the qualifiers have shown X, Hall, Sonya, and Tim B. will probably have close totals but Sonya will prevail. To come to this decision, we thought about qualifier totals, access to Krystals for practice, and overall non-dunking performances. We'll see next week how close our predictions were. What do you think will happen next Sunday?
--Sadie and Jamie
In other news:
In honor of his victory today, a picture from last year...
Picture from: KSO Blog: 5 Questions with Eater X
So are we shaking hands? doing a low-high five? Who knows, but it was exciting to see my picture on the KSO blog on Friday.--Sadie
Friday, September 18, 2009
Life.
Hello World! We have been out of commission as of recent--but fear not, we have not dissappeared forever.
A few quick updates:
-Jamie has started her third year of college; being a full-time student, is working 3 jobs (at the student health center, at the mall, and at a costume shop)
-Sadie is teaching high school full time, taking two graduate classes, and is in the process of becoming a certified personal trainer.
-Both of us are trying to find the time for sleep, a social life, and sanity.
We are, however, very excited to be taking a few days off of life next weekend to again make the drive to Chattanooga for Krystal Square Off (how could we miss it!??!??). Holy crap, we cannot believe it is next weekend! Where has the time gone?
Keeping up with our yearly tradition (well, it is only the second year we've done this, but who's counting?) we have for you our top reasons to be excited for the KSO this year:
-Obviously the new rules: No dunking!?!? The contest will be very exciting and tense this year
-Our new driving route: Instead of taking the interstate the whole way from North Carolina to Chattanooga, we are going to drive through the curvy mountain roads. The distance is shorter!
-Krystal Blitz/Big Angus Burgers: We're ready to taste some new Krystal products
-Rock City: Seeing as it will be the third consecutive year of being at the KSO, we want to do some "Chattanooga-ish" things. We both have been to Rock City, but it has been like 10+ years. We want to go back and see Fat Man's Squeeze and Lover's Leap.
-The City Cafe: Sticking to our pre-KSO breakfast at the City Cafe, we are CRAVING chocolate chip pancakes.
-Two Hungry Bunnettes??: You'll just have to tune in on Sports South next Sunday to see :)
A few quick updates:
-Jamie has started her third year of college; being a full-time student, is working 3 jobs (at the student health center, at the mall, and at a costume shop)
-Sadie is teaching high school full time, taking two graduate classes, and is in the process of becoming a certified personal trainer.
-Both of us are trying to find the time for sleep, a social life, and sanity.
We are, however, very excited to be taking a few days off of life next weekend to again make the drive to Chattanooga for Krystal Square Off (how could we miss it!??!??). Holy crap, we cannot believe it is next weekend! Where has the time gone?
Keeping up with our yearly tradition (well, it is only the second year we've done this, but who's counting?) we have for you our top reasons to be excited for the KSO this year:
-Obviously the new rules: No dunking!?!? The contest will be very exciting and tense this year
-Our new driving route: Instead of taking the interstate the whole way from North Carolina to Chattanooga, we are going to drive through the curvy mountain roads. The distance is shorter!
-Krystal Blitz/Big Angus Burgers: We're ready to taste some new Krystal products
-Rock City: Seeing as it will be the third consecutive year of being at the KSO, we want to do some "Chattanooga-ish" things. We both have been to Rock City, but it has been like 10+ years. We want to go back and see Fat Man's Squeeze and Lover's Leap.
-The City Cafe: Sticking to our pre-KSO breakfast at the City Cafe, we are CRAVING chocolate chip pancakes.
-Two Hungry Bunnettes??: You'll just have to tune in on Sports South next Sunday to see :)
Tuesday, September 15, 2009
My First Krystal Memory
With less than two weeks away from the Krystal Square Off, I thought it would be appropriate to post my first Krystal memory. I don't know why I haven't done this before...but in the spirit of the occasion, now is as good of a time as any to tell.
It was a Thursday morning, in the middle of the summer. I don't know how old I was...probably 6 or 7, but my Papaw Bob picked up Carrie and me at our house and took us to the Flea Market in Hickory, North Carolina. I don't remember a whole lot about this trip but I do remember helping Papaw pick out produce and seeing puppies at the flea market, going to Sam's Club, and visiting Krystal. I can remember going to Sam's Club because was a big deal--it was pretty new to the area and was the first time I had ever been. I can remember going to Krystal Burger for another reason.
As a 6 year old child, I was a VERY picky eater. I had a food repertoire of about three things: chicken nuggets, spaghetti, and rice. After leaving the Flea Market, my Papaw insisted that we eat at Krystal (which was right across the road). At the time, I thought this was the worst idea ever because hamburgers was not one of the three foods I liked. Papaw ordered for us and we ate in the car...Carrie and I both getting just one little Krystal Burger each (which was fine with me). Although I hated burgers, I decided to give it a shot, just to be polite. Low and behold, I liked the burger. I can't remember much else about that day but I do remember eating that Krystal burger in Papaw's car and liking it. Not only was it my first ever Krystal, it was my first ever burger.
That Krystal in Hickory is long gone but this memory will never be forgotten. I wonder if my papaw can remember this.
--Sadie
It was a Thursday morning, in the middle of the summer. I don't know how old I was...probably 6 or 7, but my Papaw Bob picked up Carrie and me at our house and took us to the Flea Market in Hickory, North Carolina. I don't remember a whole lot about this trip but I do remember helping Papaw pick out produce and seeing puppies at the flea market, going to Sam's Club, and visiting Krystal. I can remember going to Sam's Club because was a big deal--it was pretty new to the area and was the first time I had ever been. I can remember going to Krystal Burger for another reason.
As a 6 year old child, I was a VERY picky eater. I had a food repertoire of about three things: chicken nuggets, spaghetti, and rice. After leaving the Flea Market, my Papaw insisted that we eat at Krystal (which was right across the road). At the time, I thought this was the worst idea ever because hamburgers was not one of the three foods I liked. Papaw ordered for us and we ate in the car...Carrie and I both getting just one little Krystal Burger each (which was fine with me). Although I hated burgers, I decided to give it a shot, just to be polite. Low and behold, I liked the burger. I can't remember much else about that day but I do remember eating that Krystal burger in Papaw's car and liking it. Not only was it my first ever Krystal, it was my first ever burger.
That Krystal in Hickory is long gone but this memory will never be forgotten. I wonder if my papaw can remember this.
--Sadie
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