Our First Cook-Off

Bill is master of the BBQ, and some of our friends encouraged him to enter a competition. With one in town, we figured why not. We both dream of having a restaurant some day...Bill making beer and BBQ and me great appetizers and dessert of course!

Anyway, we packed up our smoker and about half of our kitchen and headed into downtown E-ville for a fun day.

Beth, Jason, and Bella joined us on our team. The cook off was basically like a giant tailgate party minus the tailgate. 20 teams competed against us. Some own restaurants or tour the circuit, and some were just back yard grillers out to have a good time like us.

Here is our little grill compared to our neighbors who has been touring the BBQ circuit in the area for about four months.

The prep is a family affair. Bill trims some of the unnecessary fat, I remove the skirt or thin membrane coating the rib - this makes them extra tender, and Brit gives the ribs a good rub with Bill's "Magic Dust."

Then Bill got the fire started and waited for it to get the perfect temperature.

Shortly after we put the ribs on the grill and sat back to relax. Lots of friends and family stopped by for a visit. This was our home for the day. TheBANK sponsored our team, which is why we are all wearing match BOE shirts, and lucky for us we were able to borrow the tent, which gave us a nice shady place to relax for the day. It was darn hot out there!

Our home for the day:

Brit got so comfortable she fell asleep.

Auntie did a good job and brought lots of good activities for the kids to do. Here's Brie and Bella coloring:

The ribs:

The 10 bones we turned in:

Me turning in our ribs:

The results, we weren't winners, but we sure had a wonderful time. We'd do it again in a heartbeat.