Thursday, June 10, 2010

Bland Chili with Ocho Cinco



Have you ever been to Cincinnati? I hadn't until last week. I just spent nine days there for work. It seemed like an okay town. I was working most of the time so I didn't get to experience everything. The people were friendly and it seemed like when asked if they liked Cincinnati, the general consensus was that they were all happy they didn't live in Cleveland.
The other consensus opinion I encountered was that everyone thought I should try the Skyline Chili. When I think of Cincinnati, or Ohio for that matter, I don't think of chili, but this was not your usual chili. First of all, they eat it on top of spaghetti. My first thought was, that's odd, but after the idea sank in it started to appeal to me. The only problem was the chili itself wasn't what I would call chili. It was sweet instead of spicy. I guess they season it with cinnamon and chocolate. The one thing that really saved the experience for me was the ridiculous amount of cheese put on top, plus they had hot sauce at the table in case you wanted a little extra kick. Final conclusion, I don't think it is something I would eat again and again, but it was worth trying.




There was one thing I did that saved the trip from being as bland as the chili, that was sneaking into Paul Brown Stadium, home of the Cincinnati Bengals.



I walked down to the stadium with a co-worker because we heard the Bengals were practicing. As we were walking to get around to the practice facility, we saw a truck driving out and the electric gate shutting slowly behind it. We had just enough time to slip in. Once on the inside we saw a security hut with two guards sitting inside. I expected them to throw us out on our ear, but they seriously just looked at us and then went back to their conversation. So we walked under the stadium and found a tunnel that went onto the field. To our surprise we walked right into the middle of a celebrity meet and greet for all of the corporate sponsors. We acted like we were supposed to be there and ended up getting a free lunch while rubbing elbows with Carson Palmer and Cedric Benson. I didn't get any pictures of that, but I did get some pictures inside the their locker room. You'ld think they would keep that door locked.


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