At first glance, it started off like any other non-cheat day. I started out with an OG brotein bar. I downed a couple granola bars for lunch. This picture, though, is deceiving. I actually skipped the Luna bar today, in light of what was to come. I'll just eat it tomorrow.
But what was to come? It isn't necessarily the meal itself that was so outlandish, but the situation in general. Let me begin by providing a little background. Quinn, whom we've all come to know and love as the man who eats all the food, decided he wanted to attempt a challenge today. Granted this wasn't a quantity challenge per say, but still. The challenge in question is a spicy challenge. The challenge is to eat a double portion of ghost ramen at Ramen Bowls in Lawrence. Two more of our friends quickly jumped in on this challenge. Not being one for overly spicy foods, I decided to sit this one out. Andrew, also known to eat everything (mostly desserts), also decided to sit this one out due to fears of potential life-threatening anaphylaxis. We still wanted to support our friends in the challenge, however. Upon arriving at the restaurant, there was about a 20 minute wait for the food. Andrew and I decided to run up the street to Chipotle. We were challenged to get there, eat, and get back to Ramen Bowls in 20 minutes. It was on.
When we got to Chipotle, Andrew and I decided to make it a little interesting. We agreed to double pretty much everything. We got our burritos double wrapped and filled with double rice, double beans, double chicken, and then I got the medium green tomatillo salsa with sour cream, cheese, and lettuce.
This thing was as big as my head. The foil didn't even come close to wrapping all the way around it.
I don't know how much this thing weighed, but it was reasonably hefty. The interesting part is yet to come, however. Andrew and I decided to eat these things as fast as possible a la food challenge style. So it was on.
Sadly, I didn't have my video camera there to capture the two of us primally stuffing our faces, but since we were sitting in the window all the passers by of Lawrence got an extremely entertaining and at times disturbing free show. Nonetheless, we pushed on. About 3/4 of the way through I got some moderate indigestion. It soon passed, and I pushed on through to the end. Andrew had finished his about 30 seconds or so before me at a blazing 5 minutes 45 seconds or so. I came in at a respectable 6 minutes 15 seconds thereabouts.
The wildest thing about this experience is that neither one of us felt as though we had eaten a thing. We could've easily gone back for a second one. But we had a schedule to keep. We headed back to Ramen Bowls and rejoined our friends. We missed our 20 minute goal, but only by 3 minutes.
It was now time for their challenge. The bowls of stupidly spicy ramen were brought to the table, the rules were layed down, and it was on. These guys had 30 minutes to finish, they weren't allowed to throw up, and they couldn't share.
And though I didn't eat any of this ramen, I could smell it. And though it smelled incredibly spicy, it smelled even more incredibly delicious. I made a pact with myself that I would be returning to sample a selection of their non-death spiced food.
But the challenge was on.
By 10 minutes and 44 seconds, he was done. He had just won the right to a free meal. Spicy as it was, a free meal is a free meal. Over the course of the next 10 minutes or so, the other two finished as well. Gastrointestinal burning, hallucinations, numbness in the extremities, and profuse perspiration were all symptoms observed during the challenge, but all were overcome.
It was a successful day for food challenges. They stayed for mochi and then went to Sylas and Maddy's afterward. I had a physics lab to go to, but at least I didn't blow my cut too badly!
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