THE NEXT UEPa MEETING?

It's definitely eatin' season again. For that reason, the UEPa needs to start thinking about its next meeting. Ian emailed me and reminded me about the annual August hamburger eating contest in Hamburg, PA (which they will be doing again), but we have to meet before then.

We should meet in May. Will it be to eat giant pancakes at the Niner Diner (or try their burger challenge again)? Will it be for the North Philly Cheesesteak tour (remember the South Philly tour?)? Will it be another meeting at Denny's Beer Barrel Pub? Or will it be something completely different? I'm open to suggestions. To get the creative juices flowing, here's a sweet picture of some cheesey hot dogs.

EAT THIS BLOG!

As first reported on EatFeats, the world of competitive eating blogging has two new high profile members now that Joey and Pat have begun co-authoring a blog over on YardBarker. They must have noticed that I stopped writing for a while and felt the need to fill the void with some chatter of their own. Or they just got really bored during the off season.
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To state the obvious, it's pretty awesome that Chestnut and Bertoletti are online and talking. I'm looking forward to checking in regularly (I've added them to my blogroll in case you ever need the link). We need more inside perpectives from top ranked eaters and they're the #1 and #2 eaters in the world, so you can't get much more inside or top-ranked than that.

I'M BACK AND HUNGRY

Back from my self-imposed "blogcation" that is. (You like that? "Blogcation." It's like a vacation from blogging. I just made that up, but feel free to use it or add it to the list of other annoying blogging-related terms. Damn, it looks like I'm not the only person to use that unoriginal mash-up.)

Of course, the last 19 days have been the longest I've ever gone without a post here on Mega Munch. My longest fast before that was four or five days. I should have warned you all that I was stepping away from the table for a bit. I really just did it to cleanse the palate before the start of the competitive eating season.

Anyhow, lots of topics kicking around my head. I'll be sure to cover them all. For now, I'll leave you with this image of my nephew, Colby, throwing down on his cake at his second birthday party this past weekend. He's even striking the signature Mega Munch pose, just like his Uncle Dave. More pics here.

"A HOT DOG AT THE BALLPARK IS BETTER THAN A STEAK AT THE RITZ." (HUMPHREY BOGART)

VOTE! VOTE! VOTE!

As some of you know, in my day job I work in an advertising agency (my picture is on that website somewhere). Specifically, I work in public relations and even more specifically I do a lot of writing and advise clients on how they can use blogs to sell more widgets. One of our clients -- Turkey Hill Dairy -- has a blog called The Ice Cream Journal. It's a fun little project that gets about 1,000 visitors per day and tons of comments on every post and it's one of the reasons I love my job.

Taking a cue from March Madness, Turkey Hill is doing something on the blog called "The Ultimate Flavor Tournament." It started with 16 flavors of ice cream facing off in sidebar polls with winners advancing to the next round each week. This is the final week. Vanilla Bean versus Chocolate Peanut Butter Cup for all the marbles.

Honestly, I don't know how Vanilla Bean cruised through the first three rounds and into the finals. I mean, seriously, it's vanilla. The flavor is synonymous with "plain." Most of the commenters who support vanilla point to its versatility and its ability to be topped with so many different things. That's a little unfair because the poll doesn't ask you to vote for "Vanilla Bean with chocolate syrup, peanuts and a cherry on top." Chocolate Peanut Butter Cup, however, has all of that delicious goodness already built in.

Feel free to register your vote on the Ice Cream Journal, but only if you're voting for Chocolate Peanut Butter Cup. Seriously, don't even think about voting for vanilla. I mean it.