The April issue of the Terlingua Trails is available for viewing on the CASI website. Thanks to everyone for their articles and pictures. I could not do the Trails without your help.
From Lisa Bone:
2nd Annual Spring Fling BBQ and Chili Cook-Off held at Colet Inn Bar and Grill, 3023 Camp Colet Rd., Victoria, Texas. Friday, March 26th, 2010, Cook-Off Benefits: VASA POD Local Charities,
Registration from 4pm to 6pm
Jackpot Margarita Off: Entry Fee $10.00; 6:30pm Turn-In
Jackpot Chef's Choice: Entry Fee $10.00; 7:30pm Turn-In
Saturday, March 27th, 2010,
Cook-Off Benefits: Jim Scribellito Medical Expenses
BBQ Cook-Off:
Head Cooks Meeting at 10am
Chicken (1pm Turn-In), Pork Ribs (3pm Turn-In) and Brisket (5pm Turn-In)
Entry Fee $125.00 per Team
Cash Prizes for 1st ($125.00), 2nd ($75) and 3rd ($50) in All 3 Meat Catagories
Each Item Can Be Cooked Separately for $50 per Item
Jackpot BBQ Sauce
Entry Fee $10; 11am Turn-In
Jackpot Beans
Entry Fee $10; 12 Noon Turn-In
CASI Chili
Entry Fee $20; 2pm Turn-In
Bake Sale Saturday 10am, Live Auction 5:15pm
Sunday, March 28th, 2010
Cook-Off Benefits: VASA POD Local Charities
Jackpot Breakfast Casserole
Entry Fee $10; 10am Turn-In
CASI Chili
Entry Fee $18; 1pm Turn-In
Plenty of RV Parking, Limited Hook-Ups Contact: Linda McDonald 361-578-2575; Ashley Hoefling (BBQ) 361-564-7296, or Lisa Bone 361-645-8699.
From Barbara Taylor:
Chuck Taylor's Dad died St Patty's morning. He was 90 years old. Please keep Chuck and Barbara Taylor in your prayers.
Other Barbara Taylor, Terlingua
From Sherry Boswell-Mulbauer:
From Lee Kroenke:
TAKE A LOOK AT THIS UPDATE:
DUE TO WEATHER PREDICTED FOR SATURDAY-
*** THIS WILL BE AN INDOOR COOK-OFF! ***
THE AMERICAN LEGION POST COMMANDER HAS APPROVED COOKING INDOORS EXCEPT FOR LARGE FRYERS FOR BUFFALO WINGS WHICH WILL STILL NEED TO BE COOKED OUTDOORS
SATURDAY - MARCH 20 - AMERICAN LEGION POST 64 LOCATED AT 2815 NORTH JOPLIN STREET, PITTSBURG, KANSAS - CHILI GRIND ONLY - NOON TURN IN
Letter to Ken Rodd from the Soldier who is the first entry for the Baghdad CCO. It is long, but a Great Lettter:
Thank you very much Sergeant Major, and thank you for the recipe too, in fact I'm going to run a batch of it tomorrow night. I'm still undecided yet on what recipe to go with. I've promised my wife's Aunt Deb from Valley Mills that I would also give her recipe a go since she competes in CASI events also and is estatic that I get to compete over here. The end result will probably be a combination of several recipies.
I hope that in my chili madness to ensure I had secured a spot in the competition, I haven't caused too much of a stir between the services especially since the good Captian and the Air Force have been gracious enough to organize it with yall. I just hope I haven't already used up my luck by getting First Place in the registration competition. Just in case, I've enlisted the help of our Chaplin, MAJ Mike Allen, of Bulverde to belt out a few Willie and Waylon tunes as the Show Team and I figure since he has some connections pretty high up, that wouldn't hurt either. Even if my chili does ends up being a fiery Armageddon that would eat through a stove lid, that's OK, because its great to see the proceeds are going to support the Boy and Girl Scouts of Iraq.
As for me, I am the S-4 (Logistics Officer) and unofficial master of culinary delights for the 1st Medical Brigade from Ft Hood, Texas. I was born in Fredericksburg, Texas and graduated from Boerne High School where my dad taught. After that I roamed the dancehalls from San Antonio to Marble Falls and mysteriously managed to end up with a BA in Anthropology from the University of Texas at San Antonio and a comission as a Medical Service Corps Officer to boot. During college I also served in A Company 1-141 "First Texas" Infantry of the Texas Army National Guard. Unbeknownst to me and Mike Allen untill about three months ago when we suddenly figured it out, he was also my chaplin in the 1-141. I keep telling Mike that it was probably a sign that I was a project he needed to do some more work on.
After completing the Officer Basic Course at Ft Sam Houston I was fortunate enough to get stationed at Ft Wainwright in beautiful Fairbanks, Alaska for 3 years. I returned to Texas in the Summer of '99, met my wife Cene' the following year, and our daughter Emma came along the year after that. After completing my company command at Fort Hood, we headed back to Fort Wainwright as a family. Our youngest child, Ellen came on the scene while we were in Alaska. Sadly, I had to take leave of Alaska longer than I wanted to when I deployed with the 172nd Stryker Brigade for 16 months in Iraq. After that it was back to Fort Hood and was it great to be home. Sure enough though, good things don't last forever and I had to return to Iraq where I am 2 months away from going back to Texas. As the S-4 for the 1st Medical Brigade I am responsible for keeping all of the U.S. military hospitals in Iraq going with medical supplies and equipment and making sure the doctors, nurses, and medics have everything they need to save lives. My other mission is to begin shipping equipment back home as we begin to withdraw the troops. So far I have knocked almost 15 years out in the Army and after I retire I intend to move from competition to competition, be it Chili, BBQ, or beans.
I do love to cook outdoors, and my wife loves that I cook outdoors too, especially since I have a tendancy to leave a trail of tasty destruction in my wake. I guess its in my blood. As a young boy I could always remember wanting to help my uncles work the huge pits of briskets and caulderns of beans and chili at family and social gatherings in Fredericksburg where the men pumped beer out of the keg in the bed of an old five window Ford. I would relish my father's stories of State BBQs along the banks of the Pedernales during his time in the Army when he worked for LBJ at his ranch in Stonewall. Sometimes if I shut my eyes, I can recall the sights and smells of the festivities at Luckenbach and hear the stories the old folks told of the good old days before Hondo passed away.
Now I'm becoming the old man working the pits and the cast iron kettles. Most the cooks in my family have passed on now so I feel the responsibility to keep the old recipies and ways alive since none of my generation has taken much of an interset in it. Now a days I enjoy passing it along to my daughters. Emma my oldest, is almost 9 now and she learned long ago how to get a good fire going and keep the coals just right. In the winter she begs me to get out the well seasoned cast iron laundry pots that belonged to my wife's grandfather when he used to make chili for the annual picnics of the Chemical Lime Company up in Clifton because she says its cold enough to have a bonfire and invite folks over for a bowl of the red. It breaks my heart though, when my wife tells me that Emma misses me so much that she has gone to sit in the old latterback chair under the pecan tree where our firepit is because it reminds her of when we are together. Ellen my youngest, who will be 6 next week, is just learning how to measure and mix the "greediants". I guage my cooking by Ellen, because if she comes back for seconds then I know I have done something right. Where there is smoke there is Ellen.
I couldn't do any of it without my wife Cene though. I know it throws her into a whirlwind of activity and frustration when the girls and I announce that we have decided to have a get together, but I'm greatful we share the same nostalgia of the joy that we had as kids when you could smell the smoke and food and know that friends and family would be coming over soon.
Because of this I am almost moved to tears by what CASI and the Captain have done by putting on the Last Battle Over Baghdad because it is more than just a competition, it brings people together. Anytime you can bring folks together with food and good times, make people realize that strangers are just friends they haven't met yet, and most importantly invoke fond old memories and forget for a moment that you are away from your family and in Iraq, you have accomplished something beyond measure.
I know I have probably rambled on a little to much, but I hope that I have at least provided you with a glimpse of who I am and why I did not hesitate for one moment to enter the cookoff. Its more than just the chili, its remembering the good times and looking forward to the good times to come. Thank you CASI!
Sergeant Major, if you happen to be around Ft Hood on Memorial Day weekend stop by for a beer, brisket, and bowl of the red at the annual cookout we have at the house.
Very best reguards
Damon Cleaton
Hope you all have a great weekend!
