Day 11- Jimmy and Marisa
Bio: Marisa is another of my long, long-time friends. I have known her since we were both five-year-olds. Many of my church memories include Marisa, from making snow cones at Falls Creek as 4th graders to Super Summer to Silvercliff camp in CO to driving out to I-35 and 15th street as high school seniors to pray over undeveloped land that is now our church. (The church already owned the land.)
One of my favorite Marisa stories (and there are so many) is when, as a sophomore, she declared that a particular junior boy named Nate that she had her eye on would be her husband some day. The church group laughed and dismissed it. “No,” Marisa insisted. “God told me. God himself told me I will marry Nate someday.” At first I rolled my eyes and wrote off her claim like my friends. But Marisa stuck by her guns and didn’t let the peer pressure get to her. She kept insisting God told her she would marry Nate long enough that I actually started believing her. So it made for some fun teasing when that didn’t happen.
Even though she missed it a bit on that one, Marisa is someone who faithfully pursues and listens to God. She is at once assertive and inquisitive, yet laidback and casual too. She’s worked a variety of jobs like feature film distribution and mission work in small towns. She has a fun, bursting laugh and a quick smile.
Jimmy is Marisa’s hubby, and he loves God, he loves his girls, he loves sports, and he REALLY loves football.
Eleventh Day Challenge: “Ben, we are honored to write this challenge. If you have ever watched the TV show ‘Man vs. Food’, you will know Adam Richman travels the country looking for food challenges to conquer at local favorite restaurants. Last summer, he traveled to the Steak & Catfish Barn at I-35 and Waterloo to eat All-You-Can-Eat catfish. His challenge was to eat more catfish than anyone previously, which was 28 pieces. He prevailed. Can you? Your challenge, Ben, is to attempt to eat 29 pieces of catfish in one sitting. Let’s see you beat Adam Richman! You can do it! We’d love to eat with you and cheer you on.”
Initial reaction: Aww crap. I got busy and didn’t open this challenge until AFTER I ate cake for breakfast and Pizza Hut buffet for lunch. I should have skipped those meals so I could cram more in. But…29 pieces of catfish? My stomach turns just thinking about that much of anything. Man. This one will be a challenge!
Recap: My roommate Jerrod graciously volunteered to come and photograph the proceedings, so he captured most of the night’s milestones. I met Jimmy and Marisa at the store, which from the outside looks like a beat-up old shack. From the inside it looks… a little better. We sat down and our waitress came by. I asked what the current record was and she said 42 pieces, which is outrageous and a WHOLE lot more than even Man vs. Food. She said it was Coach Vaverka, like we would automatically know his name. I inquired who he was. Turns out he is football coach at Westmoore who sets records when he visits. I shudder to think what his cholesterol level is.
Jimmy and Marisa asked how many pieces I thought I could eat. I said 13. Marisa said she thought I could do 14. Jimmy said he thought I could eat 10. Jerrod said less than 10. (Thanks for the votes of confidence, bro’s.) I felt nervous, but more an excited nervous than a scared nervous. I mean, it’s just eating. I’d just shove it down till I couldn’t shove it down anymore. Simple enough.
We ordered, with me declaring I wanted the “all-you-can-eat CATFISH,” with some flourish. Our waitress did not bat an eye. I could tell I would have to work a little harder to impress her.
While we waited for the first round of fish, Marisa reminded me why she is such a memorable person. Within five minutes of meeting Jerrod, she had prodded him into sharing his top three qualities he is looking for in a wife. Along with a brief story about a past relationship. If you know Jerrod, your jaw will be on the floor as mine was. I’ve lived with the guy for over a month and I’ve never thought to dig into his dating philosophies or history. Marisa had him talking about it in five minutes. Astounding.
The first round comes out, with five pieces of catfish on it. A crucial part of my eating strategy immediately goes up in smoke. I had planned to cram the pieces into my mouth as fast as possible, hoping to get plenty of fish already eaten before my stomach figured out what I was doing and protested. But the first bite reveals that the breading on this fish is chewy. Very chewy. I have to gnaw on it several bites before I can swallow. None of these pieces will be crammed anywhere. I’ll have to chew them up thoroughly just to get them past my throat.
The fish pieces vary a little in size but are about the size of a cell phone. Well, I guess there are a lot of cell phones, so that probably doesn’t help much. Here are some pictures.
My salad. Side dish A
First round of 5, with green beans (Side dish B) and hush puppies.
This tastes so ... good.
Further slowing me down, Marisa wants to TALK. I eye the remaining four pieces worriedly, answer politely, and gripe internally. “Yes, I know we are good friends with a long history together, and yes I know we don’t get to see each other as often as we like. But geeze, I’m in an eating contest, woman! Stop asking questions!” (However, Marisa does help me finish my green beans later, so I decided the two actions canceled each other out.)
With the first round I have two sides, green beans and house salad, which helps to break up the flavor of the fried fish. If I had planned to only eat the five catfish pieces, it would have been a great dinner. But I am on a quest. I finish my first five and order more from the waitress.
I have to wait about five minutes for the next batch to come out, which is another hole in my eating strategy. I had planned to shovel them down continuously, but I waited too long to order, so now my stomach has plenty of time to figure out exactly how full it is.
While waiting, the four of us discuss the benefits or disadvantages of water. Marisa remembers her father telling her as a child that you should drink water, because it helps you digest your food. Jimmy thinks that water will fill you up, and make you feel more full. Therefore I should drink as little as possible so as to save more room for the fish. What he says makes sense to me, but the fish, while good, is a little dry, so I find myself drinking more water than I intended as the meals goes on.
Round two arrives with five more pieces. Whereas the first five pieces tasted just fine, my first bite of this batch brings a mental protest. The flavor of the breading has gone from “tasty” to “too much!” If I were to sum up how the fish tasted, the breading was salty and strong, with some pepper flavor too, but it also had sweetness in it, from sugar or honey. And the salt vs. sweet contrast in flavors grew stronger with each additional piece. I tried to focus on the conversation we were having and ignore how my taste buds reacted to the flavor of the fish. My stomach still felt OK, it was more my mouth that did not like the next five pieces (does that make sense?). While I had the two side dishes and the hush puppies during the first round, there was no other flavor to break up the taste of fish pieces six through ten. The same flavor, bite after bite, swallow after swallow, over and over again.
I made it through nine pieces and ordered five more, working on the tenth piece while they cooked.
Jerrod helpfully pointed out that Jimmy and Marisa’s challenge said “pieces” and that if I broke the catfish filets into smaller pieces, I could very quickly beat the 29 amount. Technically. It was a good point, but I wanted to see how far I could push myself, so I didn’t pay attention to each bite as if it was a piece. (Though I could have.)
Catfish pieces eleven through fifteen arrived, and I was really dreading them at this point. I found myself drinking more and more water to break up the intensity of the flavor of that batter. Which I would then think, “Oh no, more water! Gaa!” But the cycle continued.
I made it through two more pieces, bringing me up to 12.
Marisa continued talking to me, and while I had at first though the conversation breaks were a hindrance to the goal, at this stage I actually think they helped. Each bite was a force of will, and so taking breaks to talk to her helped the flavor of that breading fade a little, so I could handle it better. Oh, and by this stage, I was drowning each bite in ketchup, which helped with the dryness but couldn’t mask the flavor of that breading.
I know I keep going on and on about the catfish breading, but even more than feeling full, that was where the mental battle was. I was just so sick of that taste, the same sweet/salty flavor on my tongue was a disgusting thing, and I had to really focus on other things to get the bites down.
I started work on number 13. I was at least glad I had beaten Jimmy and Jerrod’s (low) predictions, and figured I could make it past my own. But how much farther did I want this to last…?
I finished number 13. Jimmy and Marisa (and kiddo, sorry I haven’t mentioned her up to now) had to leave, so they applauded me and left. I started number 14. Seriously, I was having slight, momentary flashes of nausea during this one. I would swallow, take a long sip of water, sit for moment, then take another bite. It was miserable. I definitely felt very full.
I started piece number 15. And while chewing my first bite of that piece, I considered whether I wanted to order any more. More flashes of nausea. I decided against it. I figured I could finish piece 15 alright, but did I really want to sit here and cram fish down until I threw up? No. Fifteen was more than any of our predictions, it was three full loads of catfish, and I was content with that. So I waved the white flag and finished the last few bites. They didn’t come any quicker than the rest, but I made it through.
Jerrod and I paid and took a picture of the leader board (which doesn’t give Coach V quite as big a record as our waitress had.) I didn’t make it, but I set a PR that day, so it’s all good.
We drove straight over to our guy’s bible study, and I continued to have flashes of nausea on the way over. I pictured myself hurling chunky catfish/ketchup/stomach acid soup all over Brian’s immaculate floor, and while that sort of tickled my funny bone, I really didn’t want that to happen. (I’ve never seen Booker enraged, but then again I’ve never seen a male moose in raging heat either, so why start now?)
However, I needn’t have worried. Within 30 minutes, I felt just fine.
Which is a little worrying, in itself. I should have felt worse after eating that much fried foods. It is a bit distressing that my stomach is totally able to handle massive amounts of fat, flour, salt and meat. What does that say about my normal diet….?
I weighed myself before and after this challenge, and according to the scale, I gained three pounds. So, thanks a lot, Jimmy and Marisa, and when I have triple-bypass-surgery, you’re getting the bill.
Challenge: Accomplished!
- BD
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