BCHC Mid Valley Unit President's Monthly Message

Howdy everyone,

Well, April is here and so is the snow and rain! Up in Sonora it went from snowing last Thursday, Friday it was 75 degrees and now back to raining on Saturday! I know we need all the water we can get, but in my line of work, I think I have had about enough for this year.

I had a great time at Rendezvous, most of the time, and I'll get back to that in a minute. I really liked having everything together so you could just mosey around, and before you know it, you had seen everything. The Perrys were kind enough to allow me to set up camp in the back of their trailer. I'm not sure Julie knew I was staying until my feet got to kicking and rocking the trailer. Of course Carl could not pass up the opportunity to tell Julie he didn't know who I was back there with, especially since Jody had already left! (Don't worry, honey, he made the whole thing up. LOL!) Oh, did I mention that it rained, and when I say it rained, it flat got after it, and it's a whole other sound in the back of that trailer. As my daddy used to always say, "It's raining like a cow pissing on a flat rock out there!" I hope that doesn't get me into trouble!

I helped Carl and Julie with the registration for the Packing Competition, and that was kind of interesting and fun all rolled into one. It was 100% completely satisfying being able to hang out and watch those kids pack. The older generation was a bit more entertaining, as they put on quite a show. The best for me was being able to watch Doug and Garrett Dollarhide compete together as a team in the odd load and get reserve champion. For Garrett it may have been just another buckle, but for Doug it was something way bigger than that. Not only did he finally win a buckle for packing, but he won it with whom he would refer to as "G."

I was able to enjoy both dinners with Jody, which nowadays seems to be a rarity as we just get pulled in so many different directions and it is sometimes hard to land in the same spot at the same time. Thanks for being there, honey. I truly enjoyed your company.

Okay, now back up to the beginning of this. I mentioned I had a great time most of the time. It all started fantastic with a good, solid month of mental meditation and great planning to enter the almighty famed Dutch Oven Competition! I had finally decided to make chicken with a mushroom-white-wine sauce over a bed of wild rice, a for-sure winner. After all, how could it not be with as much planning and thinking I did on this. After all had been planned, except for the dessert, I gave Carl Perry a call, as he has often been my sidekick when cooking. I said to Carl, "Seeing how you wanted to help, you are going to be in charge of the award-winning dessert." Well, who would have known how that would circle back around to flat-out steal all of my fame and glory right there in front of the entire world!

We started, or correction, I started prepping all my chicken, fresh chives and mushrooms, while Carl was out being the social butterfly that he is. So, as I continued to masterfully prep and brown the chicken, I decided it was time to call Carl and remind him he was in charge of dessert. Carl came over and started his prep for the dessert dish when he asked me where the cake mix was. I just gave him a kind of stupid look and said, "It's right here on the table where you put it." That's when he gave an even stupider look and said, "No, it's the one you bought for me." Now who's the stupid one? Now due to my complete failure of supplying my little buddy with all of the ingredients, we had no choice but to beg for a cake mix from someone, somewhere! After digging through Vickie Whisler's bag of goodies, we came across a lemon cake mix. I yelled "Hallelujah! We are saved!" I will tell you right now Carl was having no part of it. After a near mental breakdown, he finally agreed to use it, mixed with his yellow cake mix. I mean, after all, what could go wrong? I was really good about things and that's when Rudy Dezzani broke out the Stagg Chili. I thought to myself, "them boys at Staggs have been at it for a long time and this might be a tough one!" Little did I know we had some new blood over in the corner at their first Dutch Oven Competition making a meat loaf. I thought surely my chicken-white-wine-mushroom sauce over a bed of wild rice could just stomp that meat loaf all over the place!

Now it is time to declare the winner. Let's keep in mind that at the first Dutch Oven Competition I entered I won best costume and, oh, that's right, my little buddy Carl won first place. That was six or seven years ago, that's how long it took for my wounds to heal before I could enter another contest! So, here we are, waiting for the judges to declare the winner. My heart dropped when they crowned the meat loaf newbie as the champion. I started to have flashbacks for losing to upside-down pizza a few years back. It doesn't end there. No, it's time for the dessert winner. You guessed it. Carl won first place with his thrown together cake mix thing. Once again my little buddy claims the fame. I have no choice but to hang up my apron. LOL! In closing, the meat loaf and dessert was both outstanding, and the overall pleasure in cooking with a group of friends makes it all worth it. Thanks everyone

David Rumsey, President

(Our President writes a message every month for the newsletter.)