WHEN: Saturday, September 25, 1999

WHERE: Hassell's Castle (That's Billy Bob 'n Pam's house) -
210 Fern Rock Way in Boulder Creek

WHAT: Great tastin' homemade chili and side dishes - The Billmeister's homebrew - ribbons - music and fun. We love kids, but since space is limited, we ask that they not attend.

TIME: 1 pm

CHILI TASTING: Starts promptly at 2pm, and ends at 3pm. No late entrees!

RSVP: (831) 338-3023

DIRECTIONS: From Santa Cruz, take either Graham Hill Road or Highway 9 through to the stoplight in Felton. (Take a right on Hwy 9 if you're coming Graham Hill.) Keep on drivin' through Ben Lomond and Brookdale, and then into Boulder Creek. Take a left at the STOP sign on Big Basin Way, and go 'bout 2.5 miles (if you hit Jamison Creek Road, you've gone too far), then make a left on Fallenleaf. Go left when the road forks, and take an immediate right onto Fern Rock Way. Hassell's Castle is the second house up on the right-hand side. Cain't miss it...

So what's all the dadburned excitement about? Well shoot...first off, it's the

CHILI!

You'll taste some of the finest homemade chili ever at this place! Pam and Billy Bob invite you - the few, the proud, the chosen - to bring a pot of your best red (along with a ladle), and enter it in the contest. (You lilly-livered cowards out there who don't bring chili are still welcome of course...)

THE CONTEST:

Everyone who brings chili is asked to enter the contest by signing the signup sheet, and getting a number for their chili. Posterboard and those new-fangled colored marker pens will be available for entrants to create a colorful sign to draw attention to their chili.

CLUE: The first folks to sign up seem to have a leg up on the competition...so get there early if ya wanna run with the Big Dogs!

Shortly before the tastin' gets underway, everyone gets a ballot sheet (and that's ONE to a customer, pardner - cheaters'll be hanged at sundown), so they can rate each chili as they taste it. Chili tastin' will be done in "heats" with 4-5 chilis being tasted at a time. Chilis are served in numerical order.

Once all the chilis have been tasted, ballots are collected by the accounting firm of Debit & Credit, Inc., and the numbers fed into the computater. The three chefs with the highest point totals win the prizes!

PRIZES:

In keeping with an old Wild West tradition, the coveted (and customized) first, second, and third place ribbons will be awarded to the the three most popular chilis. If history repeats itself, fame 'n fortune will surely follow for these paragons of Western Cuisine.

RULES:

Just about anything goes as far as chili ingredients, as long as it tastes good! Goat head, cigar ashes, rattlesnake meat, etc. are encouraged. Beans or no beans - doesn't matter. Vegetarians: You're invited to bring some spicy stuff sans carne to enter in the cookoff, 'cause most of the chilis will contain some sort of meat. Jest don't bring none a that CANNED CHILI CRAP, or you'll find yerself in a heap a trouble, pardner!

CLUE: Even though I like my bowl a red REAL spicy, not everyone agrees with me on this point. So you might wanna keep the temp at "moderate" (or below) on the Scoville Heat Scale so you get more votes!

For those of you needing inspiration, see UCBerkeley's Chili Recipe Database