Last Updated: May 30, 2009
Statistics: 153 guests, no fatalaties, 2 incidents
Our last hotluck was in 2005, a long 4 years ago. Much too long, but this was because our crappy deck had become unsafe. Over the past two years, we ripped out the deck, replaced part of it with a new deck, and replaced the rest with some cool paving stones.
This year, we held the Phoenix Hotluck, rising from the ashes of the old deck. Yes, there was a little of the old deck in the wood I used to smoke 25 pounds of brisket and 9 racks of baby back ribs, although most of it was from our cherry tree (which happened to have ripe cherries ready for the picking).
As is always the case, everyone brought outstanding dishes, displaying lots of creativity and courage. Some of the chileheads did comment that the food could have been hotter, and they are likely right. Mark brought a new double-strength batch of Demon Rum, but the small syringes (dispensing only 1 ml) led people to think that it was not as hot as in the past. Michelle brought our first-ever dish with the infamous Bhut Jolokia chile. (A little known fact: if you transpose the name to Jut Bolokia, it means "you're lying" in Hindi.)
Thanks again to all the photographers who contributed this year: Marty & Jane, Bill Lampeter, and Peter Ashkenaz; Scott even had a chance to shoot a few. Speaking of thanks, we'd also like to thank Peter, Diane, and Bill for their wonderful help in setting up and dismantling. We could not do this without the support of our neighbors, especially John and Maritza, and those who put up with the parking chaos that must exist. Finally, we must thank our wonderful guests for their food and presence; without them we'd just be standing around looking at each other.
