It has been a busy five weeks. The string of contests started with a rib contest April 17th in Lula Mississippi. I love a good rib contest, but the ribs in Lula were aweful. I really tried to ignore the taste, but I couldn't. I ended up getting beat by "Humble" Boob Shoudt, a vegetarian from Pennsylvania. I was really embarrassed that I could not ignore the taste, then I became angry that the sponsor would serve food that tastes so awful...

One week later I was competing in Stockton California, eating deep fried asparagus. Stockton is close to my home town of Vallejo and San Jose, where I live, so it was important for me to come out on top... and I did.. I won the contest by eating 8.4 pounds of asparagus in ten minutes, second place went to the new comer Ben "Baby Face" Monson, who ate 6.1 pounds. On a side note, in the five years have been involved in competitive eating I consider ben to be the hungriest, most talented rookie I have encountered. That being said, I enjoy beating him.

On May 1st I ate Subway Cheese Steak Sandwiches in Allentown, Pennsylvania, where I was able to punish "Humble" Shoudt for the the rib contest. I threw down 19 six sandwiches in 10 minutes, beating the Shoudt by a foot and a half.

A day after getting back from Pennsylvania, I started training for a wonton eating contest in Singapore, where I would meet kobayashi for showdown on Sunday May 9th. I arrived in Singapore on Thursday and emediatley started getting my body used to eating an absurd amount of shirmp wontons. On friday I was able to eat close to three hundred wontons in short practice, then I started fasting for sunday's contest. I was worried that I ate too many wontons on friday and my body would not be able to digest the food and empty out in time for sunday's contest. When Sunday came I was feeling good (empty and amped). The contest was sponsored by CP Foods, and they knew how to put on a show! and the crowd was huge. When the contest started I pulled into an early lead, and then lost it about a minute into the contest. When it was announced that Takeru was winning, the audience erupted, and it became clear who their favorite eater was... As the crowd cheered, my goal changed from winning, to shutting them up. I pushed hard and by minute five we were even and then the crowd was silenced when it became clear that I was in the lead. I took a look a Koby and I could see that he was starting to let the pain show on his face, and I knew the win was mine... In the end, Koby ate 370 wontons and I ate 380. Singapore is an amazing place, and even though I am not the peoples favorite eater I would love to have the opportunity to compete there again.

Last weekend, I ended up in Houston, Texas, for a Gyro eating contest. Going into the contest I knew it would be close, Bertoletti had beaten me there two years ago and he was confident. I was happy to be in Houston and I had a good number of fans that pushed me throughout the contest. Pat led almost the entire contest, but one thing about Pat is... I can count on him to hit a wall in minute 9 and let me pass by him. Pat was able to eat 20, while I was able to edge him out by eating 21. Houston was great and I cannot wait to get back to Tejas!

Now it is all about the HDB's... I am looking for a new record, I am also expecting a lot of competition.