Chowdah!

That's right! Say it like a local! Forget your r's.

So Saturday was the Great Chowder Cook-Off here in Newport, Rhode Island. Luckily I'd purchased our tickets ahead of time. So we avoided that hassle. We were smart, this time around we parked near a friends house so we didn't have to pay for parking, which can get ridiculous as the season progresses. Thanks John and Ruth! We walked from their house to the event. Much closer than our house is. Props to you guys!

We tried a variety of clam chowders, seafood chowders and something called creative chowders. Jim had his favorites in the seafood chowder and I had mine, but we pretty much agreed in the clam chowder category. The creative category was a bit wonky. Most were more like soups than chowder. I like my chowder to be of a more creamy base than a soup consistency. I know I'm weird. Oddly enough the one we liked the best was one from a place in California. It's kinda cool that they came all that way to be in a cook off.

We got there early, thank goodness. Because by mid-afternoon it was getting really hot, so we decided to bug out. As we left we voted for our favorites and noticed how bad the lines were getting. Yikes! Crowds plus heat plus us does not equal a good thing. I'm not exactly sure who won, but it was lots of fun tasting all the different chowders. If you click the link they should update their site sometime soon. Hopefully they'll post the winners soon. I'm hoping for the Blue Mermaid to have done well in the creative category. Thanks to Bruce for pointing us in that direction. It was quite tasty.

And of course watching all the interesting people was fun. We saw lots of our friends there. It's always good to see your friends out of the work environment as the hubby would say. A giant clam was wondering about. At his own peril I might add. Hey it was a chowder cook-off. You never know when someone might need some more clams. :-) And, Colten you'll love this, there were a group of pirates wandering about. I managed to snap a picture of one of them, but haven't downloaded the photos yet. Hopefully I'll get them soon.

I was exhausted after that. We'd eaten, had a beer, been in a large crowd and had a bit too much sun. Hey I'm pink again. When will I learn to put sunscreen on?