Chili, Brunswick Stew, Death, & Fast-Ones

At the dog park yesterday chili, Brunswick stew, and barbecue eateries were discussed.

Joe said that he, his wife, his brother, and his brother's wife as a team won first place in the Brunswick Stew division of the Stone Mountain Chili & Brunswick Stew Cook-Off. He said one year they won 2nd place and the next year they won 1st. .

Rocco’s Grill in Marietta… they won the Stone Mountain Chili-Cook-Off a couple of times, which their signs proudly say.

That reminded me of Vince DeSantes. a co-worker at the Post Office I worked at. He was a regular bar stool warmer at Rocco-s Bar and Grill. To hear him tell it he was a key team member that helped Rocco’s get all the awards. They even went to Texas one time with their chili recipe and got an award.

Vince was one day older than me. He was born July the 15th 1941. He retired from the Marines and had that gruff way of talking like lifer-Marines do. Well, being from Boston probably helped with his accent too.

Did you notice that I said Vince “was” one day older than me and not “is”? Vince reportedly or supposedly committed suicide.

The day before he was to commit the final act of his life the postal inspectors were going over his work. He was a window clerk. They believed he embezzled the Postal Service out of thousands.

Then the next day, the day a trap was set for him – the postal inspectors and management were waiting for him to come in at his regular time and he did not come in.

Later that morning the Acworth Police found a car with a body in it. It was Vince’s car. The body had a gun in one hand and Rosary Beads in the other hand. I don’t know who made the final decision but somebody identified him as Vince.

A few of his co-workers have their doubts. Vince was skinny as a rail with no body fat – he smoked all the time. Vince probably didn’t weight over 130 pounds. The body weighed around 225. There were other questions too… for one, he withdrew a large amount of money from an ATM 30 minutes before he killed himself. There other things that didn’t add up, but time has gone by – at least 15 years or more, so I forgot.

Back to chili: During our conversation about chili and Brunswick stew I asked has any body tried the chili on Brandi’s World Famous Hotdogs – not only does Brandi’s chili complement the hotdogs but so does the coleslaw and of course the other condiments.

Which brings up another fact I read recently: 3% of people prefer plain hotdogs. So, now I am wondering do 3 out of every hundred customers at Brandi’s ask for just plain hotdogs. If so, why are they eating at Brandi’s?