In the end, it was newly retired, drummer extraordinaire, Jim Schuh - although absent from the announcement - that won the prize for the best dish submitted in the First Annual Poo's on the Pond Spam Cook-Off contest.

Highlights of the contest were when Craig Roback tried to bribe one judge by slipping a $2.00 drink ticket from Irvine Bar into her hand; two recipes for SPAM Cordon Bleu were entered; a taste-off between the winner and second place recipes; and talk of culinary minds craving another cook-off-mentioning Velveeta Cheese as the "must have" ingredient! Wisconsin, the cheese capitol of the world, and some folks are suggesting Velveeta? Yikes!

Jim submitted a crock pot filled with a tasty and spicy dish he titled, "SPAMbalaya", which was darned good! So much so that the award winning recipe will be copied and available at Poo's on the Pond tomorrow.

The top five recipes were presented while Jim was busy setting up his drums for the entertainment portion of this fun Sunday event. He sat in with "Guitar" Howard Luedtke playing accoustic guitar and bassist Deb Klossner, Howard's wife. Jim was not forgotten, and did eventually have time to accept his prizes of cash and a very cool SPAM cook's apron, which was donated by Hormel, Inc. out of Austin, Minnesota. Other prizes they donated were also presented and folks are already looking forward to the next cook-off.

Yours truly and spouse left the festivities a bit early to spend some Sunday in the sun time with Molly and Brody. When we departed, there was a full house, rockin' to the great tunes, tummies filled with some very creative and tasty dishes!

Thanks to Kathy and Lori for joining in as judges. A special thanks to Jake (Tank) and Fred for setting up, and doing the serving for the judging... and to Poo for being a great host to what will most likely end up being an annual affair. Where in the world was Poo????? AWOL. Inquiring minds want to know.

A splendid time was had by all!