Raising the Bar

The bar was set at 41 pancakes last night. Johnnie Excel and I have started this game of one-upsmanship recently, and it shows no signs of vanishing into the cold night.

It started a long time ago, really. We were curious as to who would win a capacity battle between the two of us. Unfortunately, differences in our skill sets made most comparisons impossible. Excel does well in speed contests, whereas I achieve my best in longer competitions.

We discussed meeting at a buffet. Nothing really came of that (yet). We clashed recently at Chick Fil A's nugget eating contest, but that really wasn't a fair test. Chicken nuggets aren't Johnnie's favorite food and the salt content deterred most participants from going for broke.

But pancakes are a whole other matter. We both love them. Luckily, Denny's runs a $4 promotion for all-you-can-eat pancakes. Finally, there's a potential proving ground for us.

Last year, I was featured in the local Yucca Valley newspaper for eating 33 pancakes at Denny's in 90 minutes. Now, Johnnie has raised the bar to 41 hotcakes in two hours. Can I push it to 45?

And yes, those are pictures of hot dogs up above. I will leave the symbolic meaning up to you.