 I am Leslie McVane here at USM for WMPG's 18th annual Mardi Gras and our member highlight is featuring WMPG and Dale Robin Goodman. Hi, I'm glad you made it today. I'll take the mask off now. Have you been around the room and tried all the food? I haven't tried it yet. We're gonna do that next. Okay. So tell me 18 years. 18 years. It started out I think in the little room where you and I sometimes meet at WMPG. Could you imagine? No. Yeah and then it hardly fit in there. It's grown through the years and now we to this year we have 12 restaurants here with their best Cajun creation and hundreds. You can see hundreds of people here. And it's unbelievable and think of the money people are saving by not flying to New Orleans. And they dropped just a few bucks in our bucket and we're happy. It helps us pay for the event. But really this is not a fundraiser for us. Do you know that? No, I didn't. It's really the party we throw every year for our listeners for USM, for Portland, and for the restaurants. And for the restaurants to thank everyone for being such a support to Community Radio. Well you're such a support for the community. Without you what would we listen to? Well that's right. We have these wonderful hundreds of volunteers who make great radio and this is really our thank you party to everyone. And not only are we sitting here and tasting all this great food, but we're hearing WMPG blast it throughout the building. That's right. We're broadcasting live here today from Woodbury Campus Center and at two o'clock there's live music, Sylvain's Cajun Aces, Rob Sylvain is going to play some, yeah, some music for the day. Will that be broadcast already? It'll be broadcast too. Yeah. Right. So it's a lot going on here today and just every year we see, you know, new people of course, but friends, you know, listeners that we've known for many years come and enjoy the food and enjoy the fun. Well a quick question. What inspired you 18 years ago to start that? It started as, you know, a celebration because there's a lot of people at the station who play blues and Mardi Gras music and jazz and so it kind of came out of the music end of things and it kind of grew. So the Big Easy was an inspiration. Yes, absolutely. Absolutely. We have a special relationship with New Orleans with the community radio station in New Orleans and with the music there. So it's just been a part of our culture for all these years. Well, Ruby's in there now. I know Ruby and Fritz are doing the DJ and now. But we've had different volunteers throughout the day. Yeah, it's always great fun. I think we're going to go try some of the food. Oh, it smells wonderful in here, doesn't it? It's on my mouth is just drooling. So if you've missed it next year, put it on your calendar. Fat Tuesday. Be here. I mean, it's the place to be today. It is. It's wonderful. Thank you, Dale. Thanks, Leslie. I'm here with Lee Michael from Pull Boys and Pickles. Pull Boys and Pickles. Authentic Louisiana Fair. That's right. We've got red beans and rice today. Serving that up with some rice, the red beans. And the red beans spicy? People are saying they got a little bit of a kick to them. I don't think they're that spicy personally, but people are definitely experiencing some spice in them. So how is a Louisiana restaurant doing in Maine? Surprisingly well. You just come by some one of these days with the blizzards going on outside and we're full up with people. So that tells you something. It seems like comfort food with a spicy twist. Yeah, you know, it goes well for hot weather because the idea is you got a sweat going, right? Spicy food. And I think it goes pretty well in cold weather, too, because it's hot, right? It's hot food. It's hot spicy stuff. Well, Bill, what happened to the food? It's all gone. Well, you know, Leslie, we're such great cooks at the Empire that, you know, the students, they lick the bowl clean here. It's kind of like having a St. Bernard, you know. Students are like that. And half of it is on you and on the tablecloth and on the floor. That's okay. You know, that's a good thing, you know. So what's the secret to your chili that everyone finished it? I'm not really well. It was a tomato base. It had chorizo in it, had main baby shrimp. It had some pulled chicken in it, cayenne. It had some gumbo file, bay leaves, red onion, lots of garlic. So just it was, and we cooked it up for a while. I bet you had stuff in there you're not telling us. And there's stuff in there we can't talk about. That's always the best part. Exactly. So anyway, but we're really glad to be here at MPG. And so we sport this every year. It's a great radio station, a great cause, and a great city. And we're just very glad to be here. Well, everyone knows you from the Empire Dine and Dance. PortlandEmpire.com to check our website. We've got a lot of great shows coming up. And so stop on up and talk about music, right? And with music, that's why we built the place was for music. So have you been doing this chili thing for a while? Yeah, every year we come up with something different last year. We had an exert. But next year, who knows? We'll figure it out. Maybe you'll win. Maybe we'll win. Maybe we won't. But it doesn't matter. It's all about just supporting a radio station and having a good time. It's a great radio station. It's a wonderful radio station. Thank you for your support. And let's let's dance out. Well, I'm here with Sean from Bentlifts. Hi Sean. How are you? Now this is, they've been doing this for 18 years. Have you been coming for a couple of those? Three, I think it's the three now. So, so Bentlifts does well. Yes, we do well. And today you've got something special. You've got some little cornbread. Corncakes. Yeah, it's a house made corncakes we do at Bentlifts. And pancakes are kind of the thing for Fat Tuesdays. They are, they are apparently. This is your version. This is our version, not the sweet kind, but we got the cornbread version. So, but this isn't all you're offering today. You've got something else going on. Yeah, it's a andouille and shrimp jambalaya that we're putting on top of the corncakes. Oh, so what's in that? Just rice, a lot of spices who slow cooked it, but out of the rice and later and just let it do its magic. So, that sounds true Cajun. It is true Cajun. So, are they very, is it very spicy? Not super spicy. We kept it kind of mild because people don't want super spicy. So, so how's it been today? Really exciting. Yeah. Yeah. A lot of people all at once too. It's kind of a crazy line. So, you're getting low on stuff, huh? Yeah. Well, I got a whole another pan over there ready. All right. Halfway done. Save me some. I will. Thank you. You're welcome. I'm gonna speak with Alec Rose who's with the USM kitchen here and they're competing today. Hi, Alec. Hi. How are you? Fine. Have you been doing this last 18 years? Not you personally, but the kitchen? We have been doing it for quite some time. I've only been with the kitchen for about two years now, but this has been going on for a while and we have a great chef who's really knows what he's doing. Does the chef try to spice it up a little more each year? Definitely. The previous chef we had really liked the spice, but I think this chef likes the spice even more. Sounds good. Now is chili served a lot in the kitchen here? Yep, it's served occasionally. You know, we we try to mix it up a lot, keep things different. But this is definitely a fun dish and we like serving it to the students here. I'm here with Mary Payne and Melissa Sawyer from the Good Egg Cafe. Hi Mary. I'm the Pepper Club. I'm the Pepper Club. How are you? Pepper Club is appropriate today. Look at those peppers. We love these jalapenos. So you were offering something really pretty and festive. I just want to do a gumbo or an étouffé, but these are so fun and people like them. Tell us what they are. Well, we take a jalapeno and we took about 400 jalapenos and we sliced them, scraped out all the seeds by hand and then we stuff them with a mix of cream cheese and romano and cheddar cheese and a lot of smoky paprika and then we bake them. They're actually pretty easy, but they're really fun and tasty and then we serve them with a garlic aioli and then this is a really good hot, a hell sauce that we make for the Good Egg. And is this something you serve regularly? On our menu, get big plate of them with the garlic aioli and people love them. They're, they're vegetarian. There's no gluten. There's a lot of cheese, but they're fun. People like them. They like them so much. You've gone through about 800. Yeah, we did. We had to get more. We had to make more. I would next year I'll bring more. Well, we've had a great time here at WMPG's Mardi Gras Chili Tasting. This is Leslie McVane for CTN member highlights and I need a little ice water after all that hot chili. Cheers.