American Royale Barbecue Weekend

Today marks the last day of the American Royal Barbecue Competition. It's the World Series of barbecue, held in Kansas City and hosted by the Kansas City Barbecue Society. I wish I were there. I could drink beer this time! Last year I went as part of my research for She-Smoke. I was pregnant -7 months along - and could not imbibe in the liquid festivities. My dear dear friend Amy came with me to the Royal, acting as assistant and stand-in for me at the beer line.

I met so many wonderful people, including the venerable chef Paul Kirk, but by far my favorite "barbecue connection" was with the gals of Squeal of Approval. I'd read through the list of competitors in search of female teams to interview for the She's Smokin' sections of the book. We walked right into their full o' pink set up (even their smoker trailer is pink), and they stopped everything to talk with us and share their beer. As I write this, they are most likely taking a good luck shot right before their first turn-in. Turn-ins for the open begin at 12:00 noon. Betsy and Allison, I'm sending you good barbecue vibes right now.

The results for the Invitational are already in here. I'm interested in the team that placed 4th overall - Mt. Dora Bar-b-que Co. I have some family who used to live in the small town of Mt. Dora, FL.

Here are just a few pictures of my trip last year. Many were unfortunately lost with my laptop, but a few made it on to the stay-at-home computer.