One bowl too many...

This is my gyudon bowl BEFORE the start of the contest.

For someone as tiny as me, registering for a contest that entails an appetite as big as Hercules is kinda illogical or just plain silly. Silly because at home I couldn't even finish one cup of rice, yet I joined an event that required me to eat lots and lots of rice. This was a Gyudon Eating Contest at Yoshinoya. To me, finishing even just a bowl of gyudon in 5 minutes would be one Herculean feat.

For those who have not seen me, I'm petite and weighs 105 lbs. I knew I wouldn't stand a chance against anyone there in the contest. I just happened to be interested in trying out something that was not for me to try to begin with. I just had to experience it even though it was way beyond my capacity.

When I got the email confirmation that I was one of the 15 lucky bloggers who had been chosen to compete, I got all excited! My husband was not amused. He was a bit apprehensive about my wanting to go to the event. But, nobody, not even him could stop me from joining.

That day (May 5, 2010), I didn't eat lunch. I had to condition my stomach for the big dinner ahead. My goal was not to win the grand prize but just to attend and contend with my rivals.

My fellow contenders

From my 8:30-5:30 job, I took a cab going to Megamall where the event took place. I arrived at the venue 20 minutes late. Good thing the competition was just about to start. I took my seat and sized up my opponents. Oh yes...I was the smallest in the group. There were nine of us who competed; five were males and four were females. The manager then briefed us on the contest rules: "The blogger who finishes the most gyudon beef bowl within 5 minutes will take home P3,000 Yoshinoya gift certificates." I was not nervous, not even a bit. All I wanted really was just to have a free dinner of gyudon, so why would I be nervous? Hahaha!

When the first bowl was served and I saw how plentiful the rice were, I immediately remarked to one of the servers, "How I wish there were no rice in it." But then again, without the rice, the contest wouldn't be called as such ("Gyu" means cow or beef and "don" is short for donburi which means rice bowl in Japanese).

When the timer started, I kept my cool and even poured some seasoning over my beef before I started eating. One minute elapsed...my gyudon still looked intact. Two minutes elapsed...I had not consumed even half of my gyudon. Three minutes elapsed...I started to feel so full already while the others were well on their way to their 2nd or 3rd gyudon. Four minutes elapsed...I WAS FULL, period. Five minutes elapsed...there was still rice in my bowl. Whew! I did my best. Hooray for me!

This is my gyudon bowl AFTER the end of five minutes.

After a few minutes, Yoshinoya proclaimed the winner who gobbled down 5 gyudon bowls. All the non-winners went home with 500 pesos worth of Yoshinoya GCs. So, you see, we didn't go home empty-handed. The 500 GC consolation prize was very much appreciated. Aside from going home so full and satisfied, I went home so happy and proud of my latest achievement -- finishing one bowl of gyudon...well, almost. I am an Explorer and I use IE8.

(This is also my post for the windows7ako - I'm an Explorer SUMMERBlog Contest)
Click to view windows7ako Facebook Page.