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Wednesday, August 10, 2005
Tricentennial: Turning 300 With Chile Scenes of Summer
By Aurelio Sanchez
Journal Staff Writer
Does your mother, grandmother or aunt say she makes the best green chile stew? Here's her chance to prove it.
Albuquerque's Tricentennial Baking, Cooking and Roasting Cookoff will be held from 5 p.m. to 9 p.m. Aug. 20 at Civic Plaza.
"We all have a grandmother or a tía who's always bragging she makes the best green chile stew, so we thought why not have a contest to find out?" said Millie Santillanes, head of Albuquerque's cultural services department.
"It's the Hispanic chicken soup," Santillanes said of green chile stew. "If you've got a cold, take some green chile stew. If your spirits are low, take some green chile stew."
Seven contests will fill the day and maybe even some tummies to celebrate the Tricentennial's agriculture and cuisine month. Along with the various contests, there will be live music.
And for the kids, there will be arts and crafts projects, fun jumps and face painting. Food will be available for purchase.
"We're going to have some fun on that day," Santillanes said.
Talk about hot! And we're not talking summer days. The green chile roasting and peeling contest will feature contestants roasting and peeling up to 8 pounds of chile.
The chile will be provided, but cooks must bring their own charcoal or gas grills.
"The judging will be based on the speed of roasting and peeling, and how clean the chile is," Santillanes said.
This won't be part of the judging, but the open air roasting of green chile will fill the air with the pungent aroma New Mexicans love.
Keeping with the hot theme, there's also a salsa contest.
"If it's hot enough, it will make you dance," Santillanes quipped.
The Tricentennial birthday cake decorating and baking contest will remind everybody why they're there.
"What's a birthday without a birthday cake?" Santillanes asked.
The pie-baking contest will feature a search for the best pecan, apple and pueblo pies (pastelitos).
The Flying Star is sponsoring a pie-eating contest with vanilla cream and chocolate cream pies, Santillanes said.
"The wonderful thing about a pie-eating contest is that you can't use your hands to eat it," she said, leaving us with all kinds of surprising images.
Another debate that's almost as old as Albuquerque is who makes the best bizcochito, biscotti, Mexican wedding cookie, Paximathia or other ethnic cookie. A cookie baking contest for youth will also be offered.
Deadline is Aug. 10 to enter contests, with a fee of $10 for the green chile-roasting contest, and $5 to enter the other contests. Ribbons and cash prizes will be awarded to the top four finishers in each contest.
Entry forms are available at all Albuquerque libraries. For more information, call 311; to register call Linda Ulibarri at 848-1321. Or visit www.cabq.gov/crs/specialevents.html. The event is free for spectators.