NYC 2010

Lessons learned from this trip:

-I would be worth the extra money to take a direct flight after a night of mayhem.

-US Air Shuttle gives free beer and wine.

-In the future, if it is 100 degrees, sunny and no breeze I will not be standing outside for 5 hours.

-There is no really good place to see the contest at the actual contest. Honestly, you’re probably better off watching it on TV... but that’s no fun :(

-You know you are a special breed of girl when you spend a weekend in New York with the gals NOT drinking martinis and going shopping, but instead spent it watching an eating contest and tossing back tequila.
-It is funny when you get personally introduced to others as 'Hungry Sisters' and 'Silly America'
-We (Sadie, Jamie, and Carrie) can actually go on a trip without getting into one single fight!

This year we opted out of the ‘Great American Road Trip’ and flew to New York City for the event of the year: the Nathan’s Famous Hot Dog Eating Contest. Lots of controversy surrounded the event this year, from rumors of cheating to contract disputes.

What we did:

We got to NYC on Friday around lunch, and immediately set out for some pizza. We found a little hole in the wall pizza place and it was quite delicious. After walking around Times Square, we headed back to the hotel to meet Valerie, our roommate for the weekend! None of us really had any plans going into the trip, so we just kind of played it by ear.

That afternoon, we decided to go out to Hoboken to find the Cake Boss, but our plan failed. I think a show was being filmed and the line was really long to get in…so we saw the outside of Carlo’s Bakery. Unfortunately, we didn’t get to eat any of the Cake Boss’s baked goods, BUT our hotel had free warm chocolate chip cookies waiting for our consumption in the lobby, and that was awesome.

Friday evening, we tried to go to Bamn, an automat, but it ended up being closed. We did find a good little burger restaurant Mark, that has a simple menu: sliders, fries, and drinks.  They even have a Guinness milkshake but we didn't indulge.  We also and had our first Pinkberry experience in East Village, so the night ended up being pretty awesome! We even walked into a filming of ‘Curb your Enthusiasm’ around Washington Square, so that was pretty cool too.

(...we really are hungry. always...)

Saturday, we had our NYC tourist-y day and tried to do as many cheap/free things as we could. We rode the Staten Island Ferry (for free), we had a picnic at Union Square park (cheap), we toured the Brooklyn Brewery (free), and we sampled Brooklyn Beers (not free but delicious). We were going to go mess around in Central Park and find scenes from Home Alone 2 and Enchanted (free), but we were tired, so we just sat and watched people in the park. We met up with Valerie again and we went to the hotel, basked in the glory of the air conditioner. That night we ate at this Mexican restaurant, Cancun, and wandered around Times Square.

Sunday, we woke up around 7, had some breakfast at the hotel, and set out for Coney Island. We got there around 8:45. We got close to the front, but our location was pretty crappy.  We were around some interesting folks: two crazy dudes who kept invading our space and some Jersey Boys with their guidette girlfriends.  You probably saw them if you watched the broadcast on TV. They were cool and all but we couldn’t really see around them. By about 10, it started getting a little bit miserable; it got hot.  Really hot. I expect this weather here in North Carolina, but not in New York! I guess all of ya’ll northerners got a taste of what it’s been like here for about a month and a half.

Anyway, the  pre-contest festivities occurred--neat eating contest, circus things, trampoline people, Badland's rapping, etc. (you know, the usual...).  The contest started and was over before we knew it (also...the usual).  Joey Chestnut won by eating 54 hot dogs and buns.  To be completely honest, the contest was kind of anti climactic this year. We all knew who would win since Kobayashi was out of the picture.  Speaking of, at the end of the contest, while we were still standing there watching, Kobayashi jumped on the stage and got arrested, and somehow WE MISSED IT.  THE WHOLE DERN THING.  We didn’t even find out that this went down until like 15 minutes later.

We headed over to Ruby’s to sit down and finally feel a cool breeze...and finally found out about Kobayashi's escapade. When we got there the power was off and it was actually cooler outside than inside (and it was like 96 degrees outside). The power came back on while we were there (yay!) and a crazy drunk man gave Jamie money to play some jamz on the jukebox (yay!), I drank the most refreshing $2.00 bottle of water of my life (yay!), and all became right with the world once again.

Sunday night: the after party! What can I say that wasn’t said last year? It was fun and is always nice to get to hang out with people you only get to see two or three times a year. Tequila shots flowed like water and we supposedly walked back to the subway like zombies while cursing the name of Joey Chestnut who yelled at Valerie. haha.  It was (apparently) a fun trip to the back hotel.  The next morning's McDonalds brunch of chicken nuggets and french fries were just what we needed to recover from the night o' fun and prep for the day o' travel. The flights home kind of sucked; it was a little shaky from NYC to D.C. and then we had to layover for three hours in D.C. yuck.

We had an awesome time in the big apple, but were all three pretty glad to be back in home.  Being in somewhere as crazy and busy as New York City really makes you appreciate simple, small-town life in the south....but, of course, we do hope to be back next year!

Thoughts on Kobayashi:

From the beginning of the whole contract dispute, I have always had thoughts that this might just be a publicity stunt.  I've watched enough professional wrestling to know a 'work' when I see one.  I mean, when you think about it, and as much as I hate to say it, the whole Kobayashi controversy was what made the contest; what everybody was talking about the next day.  With the whole resistance to the police officers and all of these 'Free Kobi' websites, it almost seems too dramatic to be true.  But a small part of me thinks it is true.  Ahh.  I don't know.  I guess only time will tell and we'll see how this all unfolds! 

The rest of our pictures: NYC 2010 Photo Album

Related Items:
Carrie's thoughts and her new travel blog

Silly America & Val's Photos/Blog

Our favorite video commentary of the Kobayashi arrest

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

Day 6: 4th of July!

Yet another early start for us on our trip, but it was easy to get out of bed knowing what was to come on this 4th of July. Bagels in hand, we got on the subway again for the long journey to Coney Island. We got to Surf & Stillwell around 8:40 Saturday morning, trying to scope out a good spot to stand for today's momentous event. Gates were set up all around the stage area so no one was really allowed to get close to the stage. Around 9:30 security opened up those gates to let in the masses and we fought our way to the front like crazy women fight for a free snow globe on the day after Thanksgiving. We ended up getting spots right in the spray zone and were surround by fans from all over the country who soon became our friends for the day. A couple from California right in front of us came to cheer on Kobayashi. Some Pennsylvania boys beside of us were die hard Joey Chestnut fans who came to NYC without telling their parents, hoping they wouldn't be spotted ESPN.

Nathan's did a good job of keeping us entertained for the 4 hours we stood there in the hot sun before the contest began even though they passed out thundersticks. Ever since last year's Krystal Square Off I have decided that thundersticks have to be the most annoying thing ever invented. Anyway, some old school funk type band played for a while and there were a few circus acts performed on the stage including jump ropers, weenie dogs who can do tricks, and a contortionist/gymnast type person. George Shea also did a pretty sweet Michael Jackson tribute--moonwalking and doing the MJ lean.


One of the best parts of the pre-show was Badlands Booker's rap about saving Coney Island. It kind of got down right political; people were yelling "TAKE US NOW" right along with Badlands and everybody seemed to get into it. It was awesome to be there right in the middle of it. Badlands Booker: if you read this you should totally post a recording of that song online.

Finally, at high noon, the big show had begun. The bunnettes came out on stage and it was cool to see some of them after reading the bunnette boot camp stuff online. We had been reading Zoe's blog and were glad she made it as a bunnette this year. Next, the eaters were announced. The eaters only had one introduction this year, not really giving them a lot of time to flaunt their stuff on stage. The intros actually seemed a little rushed. Pat Bertoletti came to the contest dressed as Tony Clifton, and as a long time Andy Kaufman fan, I thought it was an excellent idea! The crowds screamed for the favorites as they were announced, and everyone was excited to get the show on the road. We did notice that one eater was missing--Rich LeFevre. We didn't find out until a few days later that he was absent because of an illness. The judges were brought out and Beautiful Brian Seiken was judging right in front of us and gave Jamie his camera to take some pictures for him.

Around 12:40 the countdown started and the eaters began eating the first few minutes were chaotic to watch, not knowing where to look. It was exciting to be right in front of the stage, but it was also hard to see around the judges. Joey and Kobayashi looked to be neck & neck throughout most of the competition and Eater X definitely held his own as well. From where were standing it was hard to see Pat Bertoletti but we knew he had to be close as well. We had a really good view of Hall Hunt, Juliet Lee, and Humble Bob so we cheered them on from our spot in the spray zone.


In the end, Joey Chestnut won the contest eating 68 hot dogs and buns in ten minutes, Takeru Kobayashi in 2nd with 64.5, Pat Bertoletti in 3rd with 55, and Eater X in 4th with 53. Sonya "The Black Widow" Thomas also set a new female record eating 41 hot dogs and buns.

After the contest, Jamie managed to get a left over hot dog and we went to the boardwalk. It was nice to finally sit down after standing up for five hours. We got a little sunburned during the contest, but that wasn't something a few beers at the after party couldn't fix. It was fun getting to hang out with some eaters and friends after the contest and we even met some people we hadn't met in person (Steakbellie, Crazy Leg's mom, & others). We even got a personal invite to the after-after party by none other than Crazy Legs Conti himself.

By 3:00, our stomachs were telling us it was time to go, and we headed back to Manhattan. We made a mad rush to McDonald's because we hadn't eaten in like 8 hours and nothing seemed more delicious at the time than a double cheese burger and a large chocolate shake. Bellies full and rested up, we got ready and went out to the after-after party. The night was filled with drinking many drinks, making new friends, blowing in a breathalyzer, and doing our best drunk white-girl dance. A fun night was had by all.

Sunday morning at 7:14am, we boarded our train and rode from Penn Station to Trenton, Trenton to Philly, and drove the long haul from Philadelphia to North Carolina, arriving back home Sunday night. Round trip, we spent 986 miles driving in a car and probably 200 miles on a train. Totally worth it--I would do it again tomorrow if I could.

Being at Coney Island on July 4th was the most American way I could ever imagine spending Independence Day. This will definitely be the first of many more July 4th trips to New York City!

For more pictures, from our trip click here!

We've got a few videos from our trip that I have yet to upload, so be sure to check back for those.

Thanks for reading, ya'll. See ya at Krystal on September 27th (...or maybe before, who knows)!
--Sadie

Our Favorite Foods #4: BOJANGLES

Based right down the road in Charlotte, North Carolina, Bojangles is a force to be reckoned with in the fast food world. I think I speak for both Jamie and myself when I say that Bojangles is the best fast food restaurant. EVER. I find myself visiting this establishment nearly once a week.

Bojangles is known for its homemade biscuits, cajun spiced chicken items, sweet tea, and the array of fixins' (cajun pintos, mac & cheese, dirty rice, seasoned fries, etc). One of the best things about Bojangles is that it serves breakfast all day long!

I usually get the Chicken Supreme Kids Meal which contains 2 chicken supremes, 1 biscuit, small order of fries and a sweet tea. I like this because it is just the right amount of food and it satisfies my Bojangles craving for under $4. The unique honey mustard sauce here is also the most perfect condiment ever created. The sweet biscuits (cinnamon biscuit and bo-berry biscuit) are also worth mentioning. I mean just imagine a homemade buttery biscuit filled with cinnamon and topped with a sweet glaze...it is pure heaven.

If you have never eaten food from Bojangles you truly haven't lived. Although food from Bojangles can be enjoyed at any time, it is most delicious when craving real southern comfort food and/or the morning after a long night of partying.

God Bless Bojangles and God Bless living in the South! I don't think I could ever move out of North Carolina for the sole fact that I couldn't imagine a life without Bojangles right around the corner.
--Sadie


Also, we'd like to wish Takeru Kobayashi a Happy (belated) Birthday!!!

Krystal Square Off 5

Re-Occurring Themes of our Krystal Square Off 5 Weekend:
gasoline, food, meeting cool people, and oh yeah… KOBAYASHI!

Our journey to Chattanooga started on Friday morning when Trey and I left Mooresville in the pouring rain to head towards the beautiful Blue Ridge Mountains. Well, I guess the real journey started a few days before when we went through the emotional torment of deciding whether the gas crisis in Charlotte was going to keep us away from Chatty…obviously it did not.

Anyway... Trey and I picked up Jamie in Asheville around noon on Friday and set out on our second annual expedition to the Krystal Square Off. Since the Asheville Krystal had recently closed, we had to snack in the car to hold our hunger until we found a Krystal—which to our luck, would only be about an hour away in Newport, TN. The Krystal in Newport was cool--kind of like a Cook Out or Checkers if you are familiar with those--there was no dining room and there was a drive in on both sides of the restaurant. Bottom line of our lunch stop: We ate lunch in Newport, God's Storehouse is in Newport (see pictures), we found a gas station in Newport, the rain stopped in Newport and the sun started to shine a little. We love this town!

After a few hours of driving, we finally arrived in Chattanooga and checked into the Day's Inn and tried to figure out how we would spend our time in the city. After checking out some websites (chattanoogafun/eatfeats/etc.) we just decided to have a fun night out in Chattanooga on Friday. There was some motorcycle thing going on Friday night so we saw what that was all about out on our way to the Big River Grille/Brewery for some food and drinks. The food was ok, but the Oktoberfest beer was divine.

On Saturday, we went to the Krystal on Cherokee Ave (which is the oldest Krystal still open, we think) and ate breakfast and decided to explore Chattanooga some more. We found this cultural fest going on near the water front and spent some time hanging out in the North Shore district of the city, which is really eclectic and interesting. The highlight of Saturday, however, was going to the Hixson Krystal (a few minutes outside of Chattanooga) for an eater autograph session + some free food samples!

We were pretty freaking excited going into the autograph session, because we knew that the time had come for us to finally meet Takeru Kobayashi. We've met most of the other eaters before at some point in time, but this was the big one, the one we have been wanting to see in real-life for a long time; we were finally going to meet the guy who ignited our interest in competitive eating. We got to the Hixson Krystal before the eaters did so we just hung out and sampled some milkquakes and stuff. We when they arrived, some pictures were taken and then Kobayashi, Pat Bertoletti, Joey Chestnut, and Humble Bob signed some autographs. We got in the autograph line (ok...we kind of started the line I guess…) and met Takeru Kobayashi and even got him to sign our Kobayashi trading cards. It was pretty thrilling. We also got to see the other eaters—-who we also really love :-).

One of the turning points of the day, though, was when I met Tiffany, who works for Krystal. Tiffany was helping with the autograph session in Hixson, and coincidentally, was the person who was in charge of the bunnettes. I was able to talk to her at the autograph session and asked her who I would be flipping for at the Square Off. She asked me who I’d like to flip for, I said Kobayashi, and the rest is history. September 27th, 2008, I became Takeru Kobayashi’s official 2008 Krystal Square Off Bunnette and I will forever live my life by the mantra: ask and ye shall receive.

I spent the rest of the day doing whatever I could to get my mind off of the Krystal Square Off because I was really getting anxious and nervous about being on stage (and behind a legendary eater, nonetheless). So, we ate some DELICIOUS pizza at Lupi’s downtown, had some Chocolate Therapy at Ben & Jerry’s, and checked out a band, Harper, on the waterfront. The band was actually pretty cool—the lead singer was Australian and played a didgeridoo, which ruled. We called it an early night and watched Sister Act 2 on TV. I doped up on some Advil PM and slept like a baby.

Sunday morning, Trey, Jamie, and I went to the City Café (adjacent to the Days Inn) for our second annual traditional Pre-KSO Breakfast of Chocolate Chip Pancakes. They were quite possibly some of the best pancakes I’ve ever had in my life, but I was pretty anxious to get the day started so I couldn’t finish them. Jamie, the president of the Clean Plate Club/amateur competitive eater, ate all of hers. After breakfast, we checked out of the hotel, packed up the car, and made our way down to Ross' Landing.

I hung out with Jamie and Trey for a while, scoping out the activities of the event, and went with them to find an up-close seat for the contest. After we sat down, we realized we were right behind Val, another competitive eating fan, who drove 10 hours just for the contest! It was nice to finally meet her in person after reading her stuff and looking at her pictures for a while. It was also fun to hear/see the Marshall Tucker Band play before the contest (ok it was also fun to see the mullet-clad MTB fans there too. Can I get a hell yeah for southern rock!?)

My bunnette duties officially started at noon; I helped hand out pompoms and thundersticks and balloons to the eating fans. Around one, we went and met the eaters on the water front to cheer them on as they walked to the stage for their introductions. I thought it was really cool that they came in by boat...it just kind of made me concerned for the ones who may get motion sick. ah well, it probably wasn't a long boat ride.

One of the highlights of the pre-contest was Badlands Booker's rapping! Until Sunday, I'd never gotten to see Badlands perform in real life so it was cool to see him from backstage. We were really excited to meet him too, and I must say...he is one cool dude.

The contest itself is all kind of a blur to me; it came and went so fast. I mean, at one point I was standing in the line getting ready to get on stage after the eater introductions, and the next thing I knew, I was up there flipping numbers to 86 (which was later reduced to 84). Thank goodness my wonderful husband Trey was there to video. It was so awesome to be on stage, though, being right in the middle of the action. Joey ended up winning, Pat came in second, and Kobayashi came in third. I was disappointed Kobayashi lost, but honestly, the whole thrill of just being there really overcame the disappointment. From what I could tell from behind the eaters, it seemed to me that Joey was pushing through faster and was on the track to winning throughout the whole contest. I was surprised, however, that no one beat the 100 mark; I expect to see 110+ burgers eaten next year!

After the contest was over, Trey, Jamie, Val, and I hung around to take a few more pictures. We also got to meet Rick Russo and his wife Sherri, SuperPaul, and a few others we hadn't yet met in real life. It sucked that we had to run off so fast after the contest; we'd have loved to spend another night in Chattanooga, but we had to make the 7 hour drive back home, back to the real world once again.

Overall, it was a great weekend; maybe the best weekend I've had in a while, but how could it not be good when it is based entirely around the mass consumption of burgers? This weekend couldn't have been possible without the fine folks at the Krystal restaurants we stopped at throughout the weekend, Brian and Tiffany who hooked me up with the bunnette gig, the people at Ford for building a car that can take us to many eating contests on decent gas mileage, and most importantly, Jamie and Trey my two compadres/fellow fans/sister & husband being the best travel buddies ever. I already can't wait until next year! Check back in with us soon, maybe Jamie will post with her opinion/thoughts from an audience point of view :-)

Sadie

March Madness!

Yeah, we have really been slacking our updating as of the new year. It is difficult when there hasn't been many eating events of 2008 thus far, in addition to the sad fact that we are girls and swimsuit season is quickly approaching. Despite lack of actual competitions and amazing food, March has been a great month for competitive eating: Birthdays, and St. Patrick's day. According to EatFeats.com, Kobayashi, El Toro and "Beautiful" Brian are all March babies in addition to yours truly, Jamie, Dr. Seuss, and our former dog, Lucky.

Aside from birthdays, I'm sure everyone had a delightful St. Patrick's Day. For the occasion, the school cafeteria served corn beef and cabbage as a choice for lunch; decent for cafeteria food.

Yesterday, during an exceptionally boring microeconomics class, I turned through the pages of my text book and was delighted in my discovery in chapter 8, on "Utility" that there was a small picture on the right side of the Tsunami himself, Takeru Kobayashi and Badlands Booker standing side by side at Nathan's on the fourth of July. It was there to demonstrate Utility: the relative satisfaction from the consumption of goods, and under the picture it said something in the manner of "in some cases, such as an eating competition, the utility is 0" meaning that there isn't satisfaction or desirability from eating a large number of food in a short amount of time (or so I understood), in which case, I beg to differ. Although competitve eaters may feel like total vomit after eating 20+ hot dogs in 12 minutes, the satisfaction of being at Nathan's and competing for the mustard belt is desireable enough to outweigh the possible disgusting feeling of a stomach full of hot dogs.

sad.

From Kobayashi's blog:

Having said that, to fill you in on the current status of my arthritic jaw, the results of examinations show that I am bruxing approximately 100 or more times each night while asleep. (Bruxism, in my case, is more clamping of the jaw, rather than grinding of the teeth.) Obviously I hope to try and put a stop to this as soon as possible.


Hopefully all will get better for Kobayashi. Nathan's just won't be the same without him competing for the mustard belt.

Sad News :-(

From: http://eatfeats.com/

Kobayashi has a new blog entry in which he describes his current physical state (automatically translated):

Jaw feel sick, the body-building also does not now, a meal is troublesome, and feel the day is a lot. Weight also has been gradually decreasing.
Seven years ago compared to the seriousness and heavy still, but that at the time, from a lot of muscle mass. Currently, 65 kg (143 lb), the body is really becoming skin, and the face is sunken store. Kobayashi also reports he recorded a television program for a Belgian network.

This really makes me want to cry. Poor Kobayashi.

Krystal Square Off--2007

Hey! We are Sadie and Jamie, the HungrySisters. For years, we have been obsessed with food. I know, it is somewhat weird, but we really do love food. Food is our hobby, our joy, our entertainment. We like to eat and cook and watch people eat and cook. Food has always been a big part of our lives--which is why we decided to create a blog. A food blog.

One of our biggest food obsessions is Dairy Queen. We are absolutely, 100% addicted to Dairy Queen Blizzards and could both eat them for every meal if it wouldn't have such a tremendous effect on our waistlines. Someday, we dream of owning our own Dairy Queen franchise and bringing Blizzards into the lives of those who just don't experience them enough.

Our other big food obsession is Competitive Eating. We have been following the Nathan's Hot Dog contest for years. We've seen the documentaries on TV and have witnessed a few amateur contests. We recently attended the Krystal Square off in Chattanooga, which was one of the highlights of both of our food-driven lives. We read all of the websites and blogs, and keep up with the IFOCE rankings. Competitive Eaters are our favorite athletes. We dream of attending the Nathan's Hot Dog Contest next July, and if we can save up enough money this year, we plan on making that dream come true.

The next few entries will probably be used to update on food events of our lives from the past--because some are very noteworthy but occurred in real life before we decided to create a foodblog.

The following post was copied and pasted from Jamie's post on our Family's Yahoo Group:

October 29, 2007
Last night, Sadie, Trey, Logan and I got back from our journey to Chattanooga to see the World Krystal Burger eating championship, the second best eating competition in the world! We were excited to say the least.

Saturday morning, Sadie and Trey picked up Logan and me from UNCA, and we set off to go, stopping at the Krystal in Asheville for breakfast in order to set the mood for the trip. I ate an original BREAKFAST SCRAMBLER which was delicious and Sadie ate a Chicken Biscuit--the chicken was dipped in sausage gravy. Delicious.

On the way to Chattanooga, we stopped for lunch at another Krystal (right outside of Knoxville) where all four of us enjoyed Krystal Burgers. We also sampled some of the new chicken sandwiches. When we got back on the interstate, we saw a sign for Mayfeild Dairy Farms and tours, so we decided to stop there. We took a free tour of the factory, where they filled the milk cartons, made ice cream etc. We didn't get free ice cream, but we bought some and it was delicious. I had a cookies and cream milkshake and Sadie had a scoop of birthday cake ice cream.

We finally got back on the road and eventually arrived in Chattanooga. We checked into our hotel, which to our surprise was right beside the Krystal Headquarters! We stayed in the Days Inn Rivergate. Great location--right downtown--and the price was right. We explored the town and rode around just for fun on the free city-transit buses. BTW, CHATTANOOGA RULES.

We ate dinner, not at Krystal, though. We went to TGI Fridays instead. Our waiter, though, was wearing a Krystal Square Off T-shirt. We ended up watching part of Road Trip on TBS and fell asleep pretty early.

The next morning we were ready for the festivities to begin. We ate breakfast at this awesome cafe connected to our hotel. Sadie and I both ordered Chocolate Chip Pancakes. After breakfast, we checked out of the hotel and walked to the riverside where the contest was to take place. We arrived about 2 hours early, but we didn't have anything better to do, so we watched the Krystal People set up the area for the contest. While we were waiting, we met Crazy Legs Conti!!!! It was the coolest thing ever. It was our first encounter meeting a real-live competitive eater; one who we have seen on TV many, many times. Very exciting!!!

At 12, they opened everything up and began serving free Krystals and apple turnovers (which were delicious). We ate and walked around to the different games and activities that were taking place. We played blackjack and all won free Krystal coupons (and I won a free t shirt for getting 21 :]) and we bought fan t shirts to commemorate the day. Eventually, we had all gotten free t shirts by playing games--in addition to the ones we bought.

Around 1:30, we knew it was time for the eaters to come in and sign autographs, and we seriously couldn't wait to meet all of the eaters. We started the line as the eaters paraded in convertibles down the street. They came to the autograph stand one by one, starting with the ones who ate the least burgers to qualify.

Trey, Logan, Sadie and I were completely star stuck as we went down the line and talked to the celebrities. We got all of their autographs, and took some pictures with a few of them. They were all really nice, friendly people. I guess its because they are just normal folks who like to eat. When the competition was over they had to go back to their normal lives.

Anyway, after getting autographs, we got seats 2 rows back and waited for everything to start. There was an amateur contest with teams of two trying to see who could eat 12 krystals the fastest. Logan and I tried to enter, but they chose the contestants at random, what a letdown.

Finally, the cameras were on and the contestants came onto the stage! George Shay, who is one of the coolest men in the world, did a great time of "prepping the audience" before the contest began.

The contest started and it was pretty intense; everyone had hopes of breaking the 100 mark, because last years champion, Kobayashi, won with eating 97 Krystals. Speaking of Kobayashi, we were pretty let down that he wasn't at the contest. He initially got us interested in the sport of competitive eating. Maybe we'll get to see him at Nathan's in July.

Anyway, the crowning moment of the contest was when Joey Chestnut broke the 100 mark and stopped for a brief moment to smile. That was just awesome. Joey ended up winning the contest, eating 103 burgers, followed by Humble Bob in 2nd place, and Pat Bertoletti in 3rd.

After the eight minutes were up, we walked back to where the eaters were and talked to a few of them as we ate some left-over Krystals. It was a day I don't believe any of us will forget. The coolest part about it was that we could just go back stage after the contest and see our heroes, the gurgitators we admire and respect. There was no security to keep us away. Competitive eating is the best sport in the universe.

On the way home, we stopped at 3 more Krystals between Chattanooga and Asheville. We couldn't wait to get home and watch the ESPN recording and the video Sadie made of the trip.

Next Stop: NATHANS? WE HOPE SO.