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CWS: Tailgating 'family affair' keeps Omahan cooking(Omaha World-Herald (NE) (KRT) Via Acquire Media NewsEdge) Jun. 23--Omahan Eric Cheshier rarely cooks for his four-member family at home. But he thinks nothing of preparing meals for up to 50 people in a makeshift outdoor kitchen on the south side of Rosenblatt Stadium. Cheshier takes an eight-day vacation from his job at Qwest Communications each year to cook for family and friends at the College World Series. The cook and his crowd were camped out there Friday afternoon before the Louisiana State-North Carolina elimination game. Cheesesteaks -- filling 54 buns -- were on the menu. You'll see him there again today. He's continuing a family tradition -- cooking, eating and having fun during the NCAA baseball championship. "My dad is the one who started it, and we just want to enhance it," Cheshier said. Cheshier, 36, was 10 when his dad, Jim, started taking the family to the games in 1981. When Jim died in 2002, the family wanted to be sure the tradition didn't die with him. Dad would have wanted the good times to continue. So the family printed T-shirts and a flag with "JLC's Crew" to honor Jim and kept on going. Eric Cheshier has been the family's series cook for about 15 years. He started with just brats and burgers. He graduated to crab and jambalaya -- a staple among tailgaters when Louisiana State University comes to the series. Cheshier -- wearing a purple LSU hat -- said he's a Tigers fan, although not exclusively. Sometimes he wears an LSU apron when he cooks. Sometimes he wears a neutral apron -- like Friday's red garment with pictures of cowboys and cacti. And sometimes, he disses the Texas Longhorns. He pulled out an apron that sported a red circle and line crossing out the team's logo. He learned to make jambalaya from a Louisiana friend. "He didn't give me the recipe," he said. "He just showed me what to do." The 8-gallon pot of jambalaya consists of 8 pounds of pork, 6 pounds of andouille sausage, two whole chickens and some spices. Jambalaya day is the second most popular. The first is his crab boil. On the first day of the series, he boiled 30 pounds of crab with 10 pounds of shrimp, 15 ears of corn and 10 pounds of potatoes. The rest of the week is filled in with quesadillas and sausages. Food and drinks for the week total about $1,000. Cheshier said family and friends help with the cost. "It's a family affair," he said. "I'm just the cook." He expects to be at the series for years to come, and he'll probably add new items to the menu as he goes. "We just want everyone to have a good time," he said. --Contact the writer: 444-1223, [email protected] To see more of the Omaha World-Herald, or to subscribe to the newspaper, go to http://www.omaha.com. Copyright (c) 2008, Omaha World-Herald, Neb. Distributed by McClatchy-Tribune Information Services. For reprints, email [email protected], call 800-374-7985 or 847-635-6550, send a fax to 847-635-6968, or write to The Permissions Group Inc., 1247 Milwaukee Ave., Suite 303, Glenview, IL 60025, USA. |