The Throwdown
I went to Alabama for a family reunion this weekend. Well, not just any family reunion, it was the Bradshaw Family Throwdown. What is the Throwdown? It is kind of hard to describe. There is a cooking competition, with outside judges who are brought in for the occasion, relay games, a two story tall blow up water slide, pool, food, drinks, and lots and lots of children. My family is a fertile bunch.
The main part of the Throwdown is the cooking competition. Planning for this competition begins a year in advance. As soon as the winners are announced, people begin plotting their dish for the next year. The Grand Prize Winner receives a personalized apron and the title for the entire year. But there is also a gold spoon, a silver spoon and a bronze spoon awarded. I received nothing this year. My dad won the Grand Prize - you would have thought he won the lottery. He kept telling everyone that he was having "Master Chef" embroidered on his apron. I can't tell you how many times he said to me, "I told you I was going to win." I can't deny he is the best cook I have ever met in my life. I know that is a bold statement, but he really is.
Oh, and I am guessing you probably would like to know what he cooked - his seafood gumbo. The gold spoon was awarded to my cousin who made a low country boil. He used snow crab legs instead of shrimp or crawfish, and I must say it was delicious. The silver spoon was awarded to a cousin who made philly cheese steak sandwiches. I must admit they were good. The bronze was awarded to a cousin who made a pork tenderloin with a cheese, bacon and pepper sauce. And of course it was tasty.
I tried to go outside the box this year and made a "watermelon drink". It was good, but it didn't hold a candle to any of the winners. Last year, Granny and I were awarded a special Honorable Mention for a key lime pie that we created. I didn't have my cooking partner this year, because Granny fell and broke her hip on Wednesday. She had surgery late Wed. night and was still in the hospital - so, she missed all the action. She is headed to rehab on Monday and hopefully will only be there for 21 days. Please say prayers that she will be up and around soon.
Oh, and don't worry we didn't leave her alone while we had the Throwdown - someone came and kept her company. Although, I realized tonight why she was ready for everyone to leave her alone at the hospital for a while - she needed to talk on the phone and catch up with what was going on. It took me thirty minutes to get through to her tonight. Then after we had talked for about five minutes, I heard the nurse come in and tell her someone was trying to get through to her and was calling the nurses station. Obviously, Granny is much more popular than me.
And did I mention all the children? If you are in the market for some children, I bet you could probably rent some of these for a couple of days. There are 25 great-grandchildren between the ages of 15 and 7 or 8 months. Every single one of them is soo cute to me, and they are all soo funny. We were having cake and ice cream for one who just turned one. I was standing at the table and one of the little four year olds grabbed a shrimp to eat. I gave him this look like - what are you doing. He looked at me and said "what, I'm hungry." It was hilarious.
We had relay races and our teams this year were "The Flays (Bobby)" and "The Deens (Paula)". The Flays pulled it out after a tie breaking relay race in the pool. Pretty funny. Some of the highlights for me were going down the water slide in the rain; when some of the little children let me throw them in the pool (I don't know why that is fun but it is); and laughing at my dad who was so happy to win. Hopefully someone will forward me some pictures and I will post them for you all to see. Until then - best dishes from our family to yours!
The main part of the Throwdown is the cooking competition. Planning for this competition begins a year in advance. As soon as the winners are announced, people begin plotting their dish for the next year. The Grand Prize Winner receives a personalized apron and the title for the entire year. But there is also a gold spoon, a silver spoon and a bronze spoon awarded. I received nothing this year. My dad won the Grand Prize - you would have thought he won the lottery. He kept telling everyone that he was having "Master Chef" embroidered on his apron. I can't tell you how many times he said to me, "I told you I was going to win." I can't deny he is the best cook I have ever met in my life. I know that is a bold statement, but he really is.
Oh, and I am guessing you probably would like to know what he cooked - his seafood gumbo. The gold spoon was awarded to my cousin who made a low country boil. He used snow crab legs instead of shrimp or crawfish, and I must say it was delicious. The silver spoon was awarded to a cousin who made philly cheese steak sandwiches. I must admit they were good. The bronze was awarded to a cousin who made a pork tenderloin with a cheese, bacon and pepper sauce. And of course it was tasty.
I tried to go outside the box this year and made a "watermelon drink". It was good, but it didn't hold a candle to any of the winners. Last year, Granny and I were awarded a special Honorable Mention for a key lime pie that we created. I didn't have my cooking partner this year, because Granny fell and broke her hip on Wednesday. She had surgery late Wed. night and was still in the hospital - so, she missed all the action. She is headed to rehab on Monday and hopefully will only be there for 21 days. Please say prayers that she will be up and around soon.
Oh, and don't worry we didn't leave her alone while we had the Throwdown - someone came and kept her company. Although, I realized tonight why she was ready for everyone to leave her alone at the hospital for a while - she needed to talk on the phone and catch up with what was going on. It took me thirty minutes to get through to her tonight. Then after we had talked for about five minutes, I heard the nurse come in and tell her someone was trying to get through to her and was calling the nurses station. Obviously, Granny is much more popular than me.
And did I mention all the children? If you are in the market for some children, I bet you could probably rent some of these for a couple of days. There are 25 great-grandchildren between the ages of 15 and 7 or 8 months. Every single one of them is soo cute to me, and they are all soo funny. We were having cake and ice cream for one who just turned one. I was standing at the table and one of the little four year olds grabbed a shrimp to eat. I gave him this look like - what are you doing. He looked at me and said "what, I'm hungry." It was hilarious.
We had relay races and our teams this year were "The Flays (Bobby)" and "The Deens (Paula)". The Flays pulled it out after a tie breaking relay race in the pool. Pretty funny. Some of the highlights for me were going down the water slide in the rain; when some of the little children let me throw them in the pool (I don't know why that is fun but it is); and laughing at my dad who was so happy to win. Hopefully someone will forward me some pictures and I will post them for you all to see. Until then - best dishes from our family to yours!
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