Terlingua??

[jagger]

Had lunch at Chilli's this past week. I like Chilli's chilli...just enough spice so that you need a nice cold beer following each mouthful but not so much that it makes your eyes water.

This time when I looked at the menu regarding the price of a cup vs a bowl of chilli, I noticed that it was advertised as "Chilli's Terlingua Chilli". I asked the waiter about the origin/meaning of Terlingua while brandishing my extensive throughbred background by advising him that Terlingua was Secretariat's daughter and the dam of Storm Cat. He looked at me vacantly with no idea about the origin/meaning of Terlingua and completely unimpressed by my equine expertise.

So, does anyone know the origin/meaning of Terlingua....so that I can advise the local Chilli's franchise of the significance of the name.

[cewright]

The mare Terlingua was named after a small town in Texas located near Big Bend National Park. It is the site of a major chili cook off. That is probably why the menu was refering to Terlingua Chili.

Chuck

[jagger]

Great info!!! Thanks, Chuck!

[jellac]

Further info on Terlingua - the town - not the great mare.

It's a ghost town now but was once a booming mining town (they mined for mercury from the mineral cinnabar) and it is about as far from anything else in Texas as you can get without getting into Mexico and the great emptiness of the Chihuahuan desert to the south. Furthermore Terlingua is surrounded by a vast sweep of intermontaine desert plateau country and fairly inhospitable mountain ranges, etc. extending to the north, east and west. Terlingua regularly registers the highest summer temperatures in our state so natch a great place to host a chilli cookoff, no?

We Texans love a challenge and the challenge for Terlingua is getting there as much as winning there! It was - if not the very first chilli cookoff I ever heard of - among the earliest of such affairs and bills itsself as the "World Champion Chili Cookoff' - which I don't dispute. The idea of having a 'world championship' anything at such a way out of the way place quickly caught on and it has evolved into one heck of a great party for those willing to make the trek.

Lukenbach and Terlingua - two great "ghost" towns on the mental map of any citizenship worthy Texan.

Yaw'll come on down for some great fun!!!

[jellac]

Here's the Wikipedia link with some photos that give you a true sense of how open and empty a space this part of Texas is and adds some more trivia about the chili cookoff aspects -

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Terlingua,_Texas

[nferro9925]

Who ever knew?

[bdw0617]

what I have learned when dealing with commonfolk, is the only way you can make sense when dealing with horse racing, is telling someone how something relates to secretariat.

the dam of a half a million dollar a pop sire? who cares.. but secretariat's daughter? OMG!!!$ SERIOUSLY!! THAT IS SOO COOL