2011 Peppers at the Beach Diary
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The weekend began after a smooth 2-hour-long flight from St. Louis to Washington's Dulles International Airport. Fellow blogger, chilehead brother and co-hort in hi-jinks Al "Buddah" Goldenberg arrived to pick me up and we agreed to grab a lunch in Downtown D.C.. Buddah had suggested Nando’s Peri-Peri, a famous worldwide chain specializing in chicken and flavorful pepper sauces, so we parked and hustled in there. Buddah ordered grilled chicken while I chose a chicken sandwich, which was extremely messy, slippery and ended up being a chore to even pick up and get a decent mouthful of bun and bird. We tried out several sauces and were more impressed with their flavor rather than their heat, and sampled some of Nando's fabulous spicy mixed nuts. I finished the meal off with a ginormous slice of carrot cake which got better and better as I ate it.
Chinatown in Washington, D.C.
Nando's Peri Peri
Full and happy, Buddah and I proceeded to hit the road to Rehoboth Beach, Delaware. If you know Buddah, then you know he has been blessed with the gift of gab. While teh conversation was non-stop, we ended up talking about several fascinating topics, including the idea of a Hot Sauce Hall of Fame, a cooking video series for sauce makers and chefs for I Love It Spicy, and the upcoming NOLA Hot Sauce Show.
On the road with Buddah. He's daydreaming about foo foo drinks.
I got a call from John "DEFCON Creator" Dilley and informed me that he and a few others were enjoying a few brewskies at Krabby Dicks, a local seafood haunt. We arrived at our hotel in Rehoboth Beach around 10:00 PM, went up to Krabby Dicks and had a drink with Rippin' Red Sauces' John Rizzoti.
Seaman Sauce. It's great on MOINK balls!
We then drove over to the boardwalk by the beach to see if the Hearn's ice cream shop was open. Right at closing time they let us try out a strawberry and Trinidad Scorpion ice cream called Scorpion Sting, which was mild enough for most chileheads. We also sampled an ice cream flavor previously concocted by Buddah which wasn't too bad.
A spoonful of the Scorpion Sting flavor at Peppers' ice cream shop.
The next morning, I gulped down my morning requirement of a couple cups of coffee courtesy of the hotel, and then Buddah and I and dropped in the K-Mart across the street from our hotel for quick supplies. We drove up to the mini-mall containing the Peppers hot sauce shop and spotted a few venders already setting their tents up for Day 2, which was mine and Buddah's first day at the event. We heard stories from Day 1 with relatively low attendance in the morning (what would you expect from a Friday?) and heavy rain in the afternoon. We were hoping that Day 2's warm, sunny and perfectly gorgeous weather would boast both attendance and vendor participation, and we were not disappointed.
Vendors' tents
I saw old friends and favorites such as Johnny McLaughlin of Heartbreaking Dawns, Thom and Nancy Edwards of Captain Thom's Chili Pepper Company, Tom and Diane Slosser of Tom’s Roid Rippin Hot Sauce and John and Maggie Dilley of Defcon Sauces. I was pleased to finally meet for the first time Dick Taylor of B More Nutz, Steve Zielinski of Crazy Steve's Pickles and Salsa, and John "Huvason" Grabiec of Fat Kid Sauces.
John "Creator" Dilley's new pajamas
Doug Spiros of Peppers and More made an appearance not only as a blogger, but as a vendor for his Jersey Boyz Jerky. Inspired by the contest winner of our recent Jerky Contest, Doug prepared a batch of his own Bacon Jerky, as well as chocolate-drenched habaneros and sugar & maple-coated super-hot chiles.
Doug working the Jersey Boyz Jerky Booth
While many in the parking lot had their grills and smokers to furiously cook up wings, Johnny commanded the main grill in front of Peppers, whipping up unorthodox foods like Beef Tongue Soft Tacos and Python Gumbo. The flavor maestro that Johnny is, I trusted that each one would be yummy and he did not left anyone down. I would have loved to have tried Johnny's Kangaroo Sausage Sliders from the previous day but beggars can't be choosy.
Just a few of the delicious delicacies being grilled up by Johnny McLaughlin.
Johnny also debuted his new ghost pepper chocolate chip cookie, as well as his bhutta brownies and blondies that used non-smoked jolokia. I swear, the blondies must have had 50% more chile pepper burn than the previous version. This snack would give most chileheads' tongues a fierce lashing and even I had trouble finishing one without a soothing dairy product within arm's reach.
I was saddened that many scheduled companies such as Cajun Island, Rising Sun Pepper Farm and Dragonfire Hot Sauce were not able to make the show. Cooked food on hand (in the case with Cajun Island and their blacked chicken and Rising Sun Pepper Farm's Three Cheese Beer Pepper Dip) is also a big draw and it was unfortunate not to have them amongst the ranks of gourmet companies in the parking lot.
Great artwork and sauces from Bonfatto's Wing Sauce
Dick Taylor and niece of B More Nutz
We estimated there to be 20 or 30 tents in the, with many occupied by local restaurants there to advertise their eateries and to enter any of the three wing contests held that day: Best Buffalo Wings, Best Restaurant Wings, and Best Unusual Wings. In the case of the Unusual category, there must have been 25 entries, with some VERY unique variations on the wing theme. Perhaps most notable was a wing fried in waffle batter, covered in maple syrup and dipped in ham gravy. It didn't do much for me, but I applaud their creativity.
Waffle batter-fried wing with maple syrup and ham gravy from Betty's
Chip Hearn told me that 4,000 wings were supplied by Mountaire Farms for vendors to cook up and for attendees to gobble up. Every single wing was eaten, so 10,000 wings are going to be ordered for next year's Peppers at the Beach.
Top dogs in the Best Buffalo Wing category, including First Place Winner Johnny McLaughlin (second from left) and Second Place Winner John "Creator" Dilley (third from left)
Speaking of wings, there was no Defcon Deathmatch held as no one had signed up! Dilley had received lots of responses like, "Hell no, I've seen what you do to people!" when pressed to enter the contest.
Tierney working hard for Torchbearer Sauces
James Beck and John "Creator" Dilley live on the Eat More Heat webcast after James consumes Defcon ZERO Sludge.
James Beck, John Scrovak and David Martin of Eat More Heat camped out a good portion of the day inside a corner of the Peppers store doing their live video show. Buddah and I filmed several videos of myself and others reviewing products. Since most vendors offered their sauces and food enhancers with food, we reasoned that on-the-spot video tastings were justified because they weren't simply sampling products "on a spoon".
Brian and Marilyn Meagher of Hot Sauce Daily and Hot Sauce Weekly gathered together several bloggers (and John "Huvason" Grabiec) for a roundtable discussion for their podcast, a follow-up to our successful roundtable from last year's Weekend of Fire. While we were doing this, I thought that within a minute or two (perhaps after Brian accidentally started with last year’s first question) that things sadly weren’t going in the right direction with this chat, and probably about halfway in I was feelting that this whole roundtable was turning into a quasi-trainwreck. While it was fun to do, it was far more informal, and it could have been organized and handled a bit better.
Brothers from different mothers: Doug and me
As the day wound down and sunburns were appearing on many faces (including yours truly), Buddah asked me sit down with Chip Hearn in his office for an impromptu interview. As fun as Chip is to talk to, it unfortunately had be cut off at around the 20-minute mark because of Buddah's video camera's memory filling up.
A free dinner was graciously provided that evening by Bethany Blues BBQ up the street. Most everyone (except a notably absent Doug Spiros and family) traveled up to the restaurant to congregate. Their ribs were horribly over-smoky in taste, but the rest of their supper offerings were scrumptious and the company was great. A great time was had by all.
After Event Party and Dinner at Bethany Blues
Sitting in the back: Diane Slosser, Tom Slosser, and Huvason
James Beck, Captain Thom and First Mate Nancy
James Beck, Christina Eastburn of Peppers, Buddah and I all met up at the Dogfish Head Brewery to consume varying amounts of adult beverages. We were attacked by a moth the size of a large bird (or maybe it just looked that way in the nighttime air), scaring several on the outdoor patio in which we sat. A few hours passed and many laughs were shared, and James went to use the restroom and never returned (the following day he claimed he was mobbed inside by Spicy RV "super fans" who bought him rounds of drinks), so we called it a night.
One of the (stupid?) activities I did earlier that day was to munch a few super-hot chile peppers for the camera. I scarfed down a chocolate-covered habby and a candy-coated 7 Pot (the later of which has been tested as having a higher Scoville Heat Unit count than an average bhut jolokia), both with little immediate effect on my body. I did feel it longer-term, as halfway through the night I got the "screamin' meemies" and had to get up every hour on the hour to deal with extreme, burning diarrea. Needless to say, my rear end got very acquainted with the toilet seat. A good night's sleep I did not get.
Sunday was a short day for Buddah and I, and we casually perused the Peppers store for our purchases, talked more with TheHotPepper.com's Jay Tippett, chatted a bit with Chip and the fine Peppers staff and munched on the fantastic flavor combo of grilled wings with Fat Kid Sauce's BBQ Rub and Rippin' Red Wing Sauce (seriously, ya'll should try this at home).
The weather did not play nice that morning as a blustery, windy slapped everyone in the face, so very few vendor tents were set up in the parking lot for fear of blowing over. John and Maggie left early while other vendors from the previous day didn't even bother to show up. Extreme Foods, AKA Blair Lazar's company, was setting up their tent for the first time that weekend just as Buddah and I were leaving, long before Blair himself made an appearance at the event. We said our goodbyes to everyone and hit the highway.
On the way back, I admittedly was dozing off every few minutes from lack of sleep, unbeknownst to driver Buddah who was chatting away at 100 MPH. I had sunglasses covering my sleepy, often closing eyes while Buddah rattled away about God knows what. You'd have to inquire Buddah on what was discussed on his part because half the time I was drifting off to dreamland.
Within two hours we were back in the D.C. area and Buddah wanted to go to a sit-down restaurant for a late lunch. I didn't think it was a good idea and we eventually settled on getting grub at the local mall's food court. I got a cheese steak while Buddah settled on Japanese cuisine. After scarfing down our meals, we hightailed it back to Dulles where exasperatingly long lines (strange for a Sunday afternoon) greeted me for luggage check-in and security. Thankfully I made it to the airport gate in plenty of time for my flight back home.
Next stop, New Orleans...
Comments
2011-05-25 03:04:29
2011-05-25 04:06:41
2011-05-25 08:08:05
2011-05-25 17:44:17
As for the roundtable recording, I agree with you that is was much more casual than the first one. We did have fun recording it, and we made some good points. Thanks for being a part of it.
2011-05-25 19:26:19
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