Award Winning Swamp Dip

For years our family tradition has included a smorgasbord after the Christmas Eve church service. Each kid could make requests and then magically they’d appear on the table.

This year my sister suggested we change the format to have a “dip-off”.  Everyone could enter one dip, which would be judged on taste, presentation, and originality. I knew the competition would be fierce so some standard cheese dip of guacamole just wouldn’t do. I knew I’d have to improvise.

The competition ended up being a chocolate cake dip, buffalo chicken dip, cowboy caviar, loaded baked potato dip, nacho dip, and cocktail sauce. I came up with my very own swamp dip recipe, inspired by my travels to N’awlins. I served it in a cast iron skillet for a rustic feal and relied on the festive green onion and red crawfish tails for presentation points.

I’m proud to say that this recipe bested the cake dip by 2 points to be grand champion of the inaugural family dip-off.

Note, the next morning I ate this on top of some eggs. I feel like this was made as a topping for eggs. When I finally get tired of corporate America and open my food stand this may be a breakfast special.

Swamp Dip

1lb Alligator meat, diced

2T Old Bay blackened seasoning

1T Olive Oil

1lb andouille sausage, diced

1.5 cups butter, diced

1 bunch green onion

20oz crawfish tails – peeled and precooked

4T flour

1 can condensed milk

2.5 lbs cheese (I used a mixture of smoked cheddar and white cheddar)

1. Heat olive oil in largest cast iron skillet you can find. Meanwhile mix alligator meat with blackened seasoning. When oil is hot sauté gator meat until done and set aside. Brown andouille in same pan and set aside.

2. Add butter to skillet. When butter is hot add green onion and crawfish tails. Cook on medium until crawfish is heated through, about 5 minutes. Add flour and stir to coat crawfish in flour. Cook another minute and then add condensed milk.

3. When condensed milk is simmering turn heat to low and slowly add cheese, stirring until melted. Add alligator and andouille back in and serve hot.

RAGBRAI Final

I didn’t sleep well before day 7. I was excited for the last day. I was excited thinking that I was going to conquer the whole state. Also, the tent was on very uneven ground so I kept sliding into the corner.

I awoke in Coralville around 5:30am sorer than ever before. That wasn’t going to stop me; I was 65 miles away from the east side of Iowa. I was 65 miles away from completing the most challenging physical endeavor I had ever undertaken. I was 65 miles away from making the prior days all worthwhile.

Despite being sore I was excited. For the first time I was completely certain that I could do it. Instead of being worried about how my body would hold up I was just hoping that my bike wouldn’t break.

On prior days I learned that the legs would loosen up after the first few miles. On day 7 they really didn’t.  My breakfast of pancakes didn’t seem to give me the boost I was used to from prior days. My knees started hurting. At least I wasn’t going to give up.

Some Christian Church in Durant was raising money with a spaghetti lunch. The spaghetti helped.

After the last pass through town I really started to celebrate in my head. We only had 15 miles left. At this point I’d walk those last miles if I had to. The adrenaline made these miles easier than most.

Arrival into Davenport was awesome. The feeling is hard to describe. I felt like I had just run up the stairs of the Philly Art Museum. It was awesome. To make things more awesome many of the fine folks of Davenport had taken to their lawn to cheer me on. They’d cheer and clap as bikes went by. I’d fist pump back which would increase the cheering. What an incredible feeling.

I wasn’t alone feeling that way. I could see the excitement on the faces of many fellow riders. We did it. I did it.

The final miles took us to the dip site where I reunited with Team Fist Pump to dip our front bike wheels into the Mississippi River. I haven’t been that excited for quite a while. The week was physically and mentally trying. I did something I didn’t ever think I could. I covered 446 miles and climbed 20,371 feet of hills in 7 days.

Each day something new started hurting: my quads, elbows, hips, hands, and knees. At the dip site my face started hurting from smiling so much. What an incredible way to finish the adventure.

RAGBRAI Part 6

Day 5 started early. Day 5 was still short, but had a good amount of hills. It was the last day with over 3,000 feet of climb. I woke up nervous. Would the legs hold out for another day of 3,000 feet of climb? The prior day only had 1,100 and it was hard! My legs hurt but I told myself that I’d be fine if they didn’t get worse. I set out knowing I had my phone should I need a ride to Grinnell.

The day went well. It started with biscuits and gravy in Mitchellville. I do love biscuits and gravy.

Colfax had a ridiculously unfair hill on the way out of town. We got sprinkled on a few times which felt amazing and kept the temperature reasonable. It was hilly but at this point the muscles weren’t getting worse. Hills that would have been a struggle earlier in the week became no big deal. Was I getting stronger? Or was I just numb?

By the time we relaxed in Rock Creek State Park we only had 6.1 miles left. I then learned a valuable lesson: don’t listen to the locals when they tell you how many hills are left. I was told there were three more hills once outside of the park. It turns out there were about 10. Either way we rolled into Grinnell alive. We stayed in the lawn of a host family. A shower after the day of biking was amazing. Dinner was at Pagliai's Pizza followed by bed. Day 5 was done.

I only had 2 more days to go. Who knows, I might just be able to bike the whole thing. I told myself if I could make it to Coralville, the longest day, I might actually be able to finish the whole week. At this point I couldn’t quit; I had 5 days done and only 2 left.

Day 6 started early because it was the longest day, 75.9 miles. Again, I was nervous. That was a lot of miles to cover. I remembered how hard the slightly shorter and less hilly ride to Boone was days earlier. Eek.

I’d be leaving out details to not mention that the morning nervousness was complemented a good amount of excitement. This ride would take me through towns that were just a quick ride from my house. By the end of the day I would have biked from the Missouri River all the way to Eastern Iowa. I’d only have one day left. I would have biked farther than ever before.

Day 6 at least had a lot of stops. I took advantage of all of them, except maybe West Amana which I apparently rode past without noticing. Lunch was at St. Patrick's Catholic Church in Marengo. The church ladies did a rockstar job for us. I had a loose meat sandwich and a super awesome frozen fruit cup. Too bad they ran out of pie by the time I got there. To compensate I had some key lime pie in Homestead.

The last chunk from Oxford to Coralville was the longest and hilliest of the day. Not fair having such a hard chunk at the end! It was tough but I couldn’t give up that close to the end of a day so close to the end of the week. Just keep biking I told myself.

I made it into Coralville. The town did a nice job of preparing for RAGBRAI. They had a tailgate theme with grills decked out in university colors. I noticed a grill in cyclone colors with Cy on a rotisserie. Way to stay classy UI.

By the time I rolled into the Coralville campsite I was super excited. I had finished the last hard day! I only had one day left! Sure my body hurt like nothing before. My quads, calves, hips and elbows hurt. Walking was painful. I had lost feeling in my pinky finger on my right hand, likely from a pinched nerve.  I hurt, but I beat 6 days of RAGBRAI. I was going to conquer the whole state! I was excited! One day left!

RAGBRAI Part 5

Day 4 was supposed to be easy. It was short (55mi) and flattest day of all RAGBRAI. It was supposed to be a recharge day mid-week. I woke up looking forward to an easy day with an early arrival into Altoona.

Come to find out after 3 continuous days of riding nothing is easy. The day was hot with a slight head wind. If I recall correctly the heat index was around 110 degrees.

Early in the day my bike developed an awesome automatic transmission feature. About every quarter mile it should change gears. While annoying it didn’t slow me down too much. A bike repair guy in Slater fixed me up in a few minutes.

I definitely wasn’t the fastest member of TFP. I’m sure by day 4 the teammates were getting tired of waiting for me in the pass though towns. Next year I might train a bit more.

Either way the short day was welcomed. We rolled into Altoona with tons of daylight left. The welcome was incredible. We stayed with a teammates Aunt/Uncle. Lounging on their deck was amazing. Their shower was even better. There was an amazing dinner complete with tasty peanut butter cup cookies. Sleeping in AC felt amazing.

My body ached more than before. Walking down stairs took a huge amount of work and was slow going. Nevertheless I was excited to have finished over half of RAGBRAI! Four months prior I didn’t even own a bike. Who woulda thought I’d make it that far? At that point I thought I might actually finish the whole week. Wouldn’t that be crazy? Day 4 was over.

RAGBRAI Part 4

Day three started in Carroll at day break. When crawled out of my sleeping bag I think every joint in my body cracked. My legs still ached. Moving my elbow took effort.  I was excited for the day though. The Carroll to Boone route took me on roads I had driven dozens of times before. I was familiar with the countryside and was ready to conquer it on my bike. The ride was the longest yet, 70 miles, but only had 1700 feet of climb.

It took about 5 miles of biking to get the body loosened up again. I felt a lot more confident about finishing day 3 than I did the prior days. The first few towns flowed together. Breakfast was a sausage and egg croissant at the fire station in Lidderdale. I did a little happy dance when I saw a Greene County roads vehicle at an intersection. Holy crap! I biked from the Missouri River to my home county!

We stopped in Churdan for lunch. I was all excited about supporting some Greene County cause. Too bad the local groups had already run out of food. I settled with a breaded tenderloin the size of my head from one of the traveling RAGBRAI vendors.

After relaxing in the Churdan park we set out to leave. Much to my surprise I had my first mechanical failure, a flat tire. My training included a couple flat tires so no big deal. We pressed on to Paton and then Pilot Mound.

While the day was flat, everyone on the ride was aware of the huge hill outside Pilot Mound. I decided I needed energy so I enjoyed a taco in a bag at the Pilot Mound community center.

Going down the monster hill was scary. I hit the brakes frequently and still got to almost 40mph. Eeek! Getting up the hill was even scarier. By the time we hit the hill I had already biked over 60 miles for the day. My legs were shot. In addition to the quad and elbow pain my hips were hurting. I walked my bike up most of the hill. Even walking it hurt.

From the hill to Boone was slow going. Seventy miles in a day is a long ride. It felt amazing getting into Boone.  Three days done!  I started to wonder if I could actually do all of RAGBRAI. Maybe, almost half done!

RAGBRAI Part 3

The breakfast burrito and some lounging in someone’s lawn hit the spot. The stomach settled and it became time to push on. The next section from Silver City to Carson was harder: 19.5 miles with 1800 feet of climb.

The reward for the arrival in Carson was a giant American flag flown over the road. USA! USA! Legs hurt but day one was half over. The locals in Carson were trying to raise $8k to renovate their community theatre. In Cedar Rapids it takes $8k to think about getting permits to build. I helped the cause by devouring a slice of their strawberry rhubarb pie. I hope the theatre turns out nice.

From Carson the rest of the day blended together. The excitement turned into exhaustion. Atlantic had their town sign at least a mile and 2 hills outside town. That mile was tough but the shower at the fairgrounds was heavenly. The night included grilled burgers. If you ever want to test your patience, try grilling (or doing anything) around a half dozen engineers.

I woke around sunrise with aching legs for day 2. It turns out that day 1 took its toll on several of our team. Riding SAG to Carroll was an option; some TFP veterans took it. I considered, but my most awesomest friend Stephanie arrived and was excited for her first day of RAGBRAI.  I couldn’t wuss out on day 2! I wouldn’t live it down.

Day 2 hurt. Pain in my elbows came to supplement the pain in my quads. Fourteen miles in (Elk Horn) I was certain I wouldn’t finish the day. I hurt. Each mile was painful. The hills were relentless. The sun was blazing. At least the next town was only 3 miles. I could do 3 miles. After that the next town was 19.7 miles with 1742 feet of climb. I could give up after making it to Manning I told myself.

Getting to Manning was a challenge. I had to stop about 3 times on the way to rest. At one point a local farmer thought I looked pitiful enough that he offered a ride the rest of the way.  I kept pressing on. Manning came. The local fire department refueled me with a sirloin kabob.

The rest of the day continued in a similar fashion. I knew I couldn’t make it, but kept convincing myself to do one. More. Town.

Much to my surprise Carroll showed up on the horizon. Then it showed up in front of my handle bars. The Carroll American Legion recharged me with some awesome lasagna. A local boy raising money for his college fund hooked me up with a root beer float. Day 2 was done.

RAGBRAI Part 2

This year RAGBRAI started in Glenwood and ended in Davenport. Overnight towns included Atlantic, Carroll, Boone, Altoona, Grinnell, and Coralville. Team First Pump arrived in Glenwood Saturday afternoon. The excitement in Glenwood was contagious. Everywhere had signs welcoming bikers. We setup tents on the lawn of the elementary school and went exploring. Bikes were everywhere. Even navigating the tent city took skill weaving between tents and bikes. My excitement about the ride grew.

We attended a safety briefing. I hoped I wouldn’t die. I took a sacred oath to ride right. I promised to drink before I was thirsty, eat before I was hungry, and call out my intentions when riding. I took the oath pretty seriously; after signing I decided I better eat. You can’t bike 450 miles on an empty stomach.

The first food we found was a sloppy Joe dinner at the elementary school. Students were raising money for their after prom party. It was a good cause so I got the extra sandwich option. Dinner was followed by a brief appearance at the night’s concert and an early night back to my tent.

Saturday night I had trouble sleeping. The lack of sleep probably had something to do with the humid weather, hard ground, and excitement about the pending ride.

Sunday morning the trek began out of Glenwood. We started packing at daybreak and were on the road before 7. Holy crap RAGBRAI was actually happening! The sheer number of bikes was incredible. It is a complete understatement to say that bikes were taking up both lanes as far ahead and behind as the eye could see.  Locals were along the route cheering us on as we left. Where else can you get such awesome hospitality?

The opening stretch was tougher than any training I had done. It was only 8.9 miles from Glenwood to Silver City but the ride included 690 feet of climb. Only my 50+ mile training runs had that much total climb.  The hills were unforgiving. As soon as I finished one another was ready on the other side. The ride was physical. My breakfast of Gatorade and peanut butter crackers wouldn’t stay down.

Silver City, like many of the towns we went through, was awesome. The welcomes to the pass through towns were amazing and would take me all week to get used to. Having lost my breakfast I was worried about being able to finish the day. Luckily the Silver City volunteer fire department and boys scouts came to my rescue with the perfect food to fuel the day: breakfast burritos.