Man Vs. Food

Since the beginning of our relationship, Jason and I have been watching the show Man vs. Food on the travel channel. The show's host, Adam Richman, goes to different cities across the country and visits some of their best restaurants. Then, in each city he visits, he takes on a food challenge at one of the city's restaurants. The challenges range from holding down an 11 lb pizza or 72 oz. of steak to enduring the heat of some of the spiciest buffalo wings made. We love this show, and Adam is such an entertaining host!

If Jason were to compose a '30 before 30' list, I'm pretty sure it would be a list of 30 food challenges to take on! A month or two into our relationship, Jason set out to tackle the 'Hellfire Challenge' at Smoke Eaters in San Jose. Unfortunately, they weren't offering the challenge on that day, so he wasn't able to do it. Instead, we went to Iguanas, which was also featured on the same episode as the 'Hellfire Challenge'. Here they serve a 5 lb burrito. While there is no challenge attached to this burrito, we decided to make one up. The challenge was for Jason to eat the entire 5 lb burrito in less than 30 minutes. It was painful to watch, and the whole time I was telling him to stop because I didn't want him to get sick...while his cousin Donnie was yelling at him to man up and not be a quitter. Haha - the difference between guys and girls. In the end, Jason made it through about 4/5 of the burrito, which I must say was pretty impressive.

Making of the burrito

Jason holding his 5 lb. burrito

Half way done and feeling good!

Starting to hit a wall...

And, we're done.

Ever since then, Jason has been waiting to do another 'challenge.' For a while he was talking about doing the 'Kitchen Sink' challenge at the San Francisco Creamery. He then came to his senses and realized how insane that challenge is!

Well, last Saturday we went down to Cupertino to buy a new bed, and Jason saw it as the perfect opportunity to try the Hellfire wing challenge at Smoke Eaters since we were so close. I must say that he was quite confident in his ability to conquer this challenge and was very excited about the free shirt he would get if he accomplished the challenge. Twelve flaming hot buffalo wings in ten minutes and then sit for another five minutes without a napkin or beverage to marinate in the heat. Just have to fight the heat for a few minutes, no big deal, right?

After signing the waiver (which literally said you are an IDIOT if you attempt this), Jason ordered the wings. There was a one inch binder thick of waivers, with only 11 people having finished the challenge.The server came out with the timer as Jason prepared to take down the hellfire challenge. My heart is pounding. Three wings in, and Jason was no longer able to sit on the stool. Soon, his body literally begins to shake as he spits out in anguish how freaking hot the wings are. Sweat is pouring down the side of his face, his eyes are blood shot, and by the time he finishes up the fourth wing, he is saying, "It is so hot I can't swallow. My throat is closing up." At that point, I was like..."Um, this needs to STOP." I seriously started having visions of taking my husband to the hospital as a result of a stupid wing challenge.

When all is right with the world...

The pain hasn't quite sunk in yet

He then throws the fourth wing bone in defeat and rushes to the bathroom to splash his face and try to cool off. For the next 45 minutes, we sat in the restaurant as he chugged down milk and sucked on ice cubes. In Jason's words, "That was the stupidest thing I have ever tried." (And if you know Jason, he has quite the adventurous past...).

As far as he got...

Sitting in the pain (note the bright red lips and swollen face)

The after effects lasted well into the following day...Never again will Jason attempt another wing challenge. I'm definitely okay with that, too!

Our Saturday night...