BEEF AND BROCCOLI OVERLOAD

On Friday for lunch about 12 of us went up to the Jumbo Chinese Buffet here in Harrisburg. We normally don't lunch in such large packs, but the spectacle was our first annual (and hopefully last) Jumbo Buffet Eating Contest.

Long story short, it was the closest I've ever come to a post contest reversal in the parking lot. Eaters know what I'm talking about. Right before you get into the car, you look at the door handle, then you look at the ground, then back at the door handle and think of that long ride home (or, in my case, the long afternoon of work ahead of me). Then you look back at the ground and think about making a target out of that cigarette butt with lipstick on it.

In the end, I did the right thing and used the 10 minute ride back to the office to tally the totals for each of the five eaters. When all was counted and double checked I edged Beau by a quarter pound to take the title: 4.27 pounds to his 3.92. Other totals included Josh at 3.4 pounds, Billy at 2.9 pounds and Dave the IT guy at 2.5 pounds. About one pound of my total was pudding. Beau ate two big plates of pudding; one pound banana and one pound chocolate. Other eaters tried various strategies. The giant plate of fried rice, giant plate of runny mashed potatoes, giant plate of meat on a stick, whole baby squids (Beau showing off).

By the way, the running joke about eating Chinese food and being hungry half an hour later? Not always true.