Hard to believe, isn’t it? We started her on solid food about a month ago. She loves eating carrots, sweet potatoes, bananas, green beans, peaches, and plums which we have been pureeing ourselves for her. Kidco makes these matching freezer trays and feeding dishes with lids. All we do is steam and puree the fruits and vegetables, then scoop the puree into the freezer trays. We can then put three of the frozen purees into the feeding dish and give it to Alma, Emiko’s day care provider. Pretty neat! There is one small problem, though; Emiko loves solid food so much that she doesn’t always want to drink her formula.
We are also having Emiko Christened next month at All Saints Episcopal Church in Ravenswood. I believe that Amy’s dad and stepmother are coming, along with my Aunt Diane. We will have a brunch afterwards at our place to celebrate. The menu isn’t quite set, but we still have a month to decide.
The following week will be Emiko’s first airplane ride - to scenic Shreveport, Louisiana! Amy’s great aunt will be turning 100 so and there is a big birthday party/family reunion planned. I have not met most of the people that will be there, so it should be exciting. Here’s hoping that Emiko doesn’t fuss too much in the airplane!
So Amy’s friend Kyle was in town this weekend to visit and I thought since the La Costena Jalapeño eating contest was on Sunday that we should go check it out. Pat Bertoletti, a fellow Chicago punk-rocker, was there to defend his jalapeño eating title. If you follow competitive eating, he came in third in this year’s Nathan’s Hot Dog Eating Contest behind Takeru Kobayashi and Joey Chestnut with 49 dogs. Last year Pat won the jalapeño title by eating 177 pickled jalapeños in 15 minutes, but we all knew he would smash that record easily. Oh yeah, I am friends with Pat’s cousin, Kate, as she is Windy City Roller derby girl Dayglo Dago.
Before the contest, we wanted to go to the Festival de La Villita, a huge street festival celebrating Mexican Independence Day. Traffic was a nightmare, and we decided to give up and head to Plaza Garabaldi where the contest was taking place. The web said that Plaza Garabaldi was at 26th & California, so we headed down there. There was a small carnival at 26th & California, but no Plaza Garabaldi to be found. We walked first in one direction, then another. Finally we found it - at 26th & and Washtenaw.
Plaza Garabaldi was obviously some sort of prison yard in a former life because it was completely fenced in with barbed wire at the top, and there was only one entrance which was mobbed with people trying to get in. While pushing our way through to get to the entrance, we were all wondering what would happen if something happened inside which would start a stampede to the exit. Finally we got inside. It turns out that the contest was happening all the way at the other end of the plaza so we had to push through the crowd. Oh, did I mention that we were some of the only non-Hispanic people at this festival? I might have been the only Asian.
So we finally get to the stage and wait a little while for the contest to begin. A few of our favorite competitive eaters were there - Sonya “The Black Widow” Thomas and Rich “The Locust” LeFevre. All eyes were on Pat Bertoletti, though. I.F.O.C.E. chairman, George Shea, warmed up the crowd and his hyperbole always amuses. The contestants came out and the competition was on. Pat jumped out to a quick lead and never looked back. In fact, the contest had end before the 8 minute mark because they ran out of peppers to eat! They had only plated 1400 jalapeños, and those were gone in 6 1/2 minutes!
After the count, Pat had devoured 200 jalapeños. However, he had 9 deducted because he had not completely cleaned them off of the stem. Still, 191 jalapeños in 6 1/2 minutes was way better than his previous record of 177 in 15 minutes! He was presented a trophy and a check for $2500. Sonya Thomas came in second with 141 jalapeños eaten, and won $1250. Rich LeFevre took third place with 120 jalapeños and a check for $500. The contest was really fun to watch, but I wish it had been held somewhere else. Immediately after the contest, we got out of Plaza Garabaldi and vowed never to return to that prison yard!
Afterwards, we were starving since we hadn’t eaten at the festival like we had originally planned. We drove by CJ’s Eatery on the way home, but it was closed. We decided to finally go to Sol de Mexico which is right around the corner from our house. It is supposed to be really good as the owner, Carlos Tello, is brother-in-law to Geno Behena who had two great Mexican restaurants in Chicago - Ixcapuzalco and Chilpancingo. Geno had previously worked under Rick Bayless for 12 years, eventually becoming managing chef of Topolobampo. Carlos worked under Geno for awhile, and Geno’s mother, Clementina Flores, makes all of the moles at Sol de Mexico from scratch. Oh, we had previously tried to go to Sol de Mexico with our friend Sharada the night before Emiko was born, but it is closed on Tuesdays.
We started off with guacamole and queso fundido served with handmade tortillas. For dinner I had the tampiqueña with a chicken enchilada covered in teloloapense red mole. The mole was amazing! Amy had scallops in a green mole and sour cream base, and Kyle had some sort of mahi mahi dish. We all agreed that the food at Sol de Mexico is great, and we definitely will be back soon (well maybe not Kyle since he lives in NorCal!)