Oreo competition or daughter's birth? St. Charles man must decide
It's said that little girls are made of sugar and spice and everything nice. If Julianna Grace Kouba is born in the next few days, there's a good chance her dad will be filled with the same things. Well, at least the sugar part.
Anthony Kouba said goodbye to his a wife to fly to West Palm Beach, Fla., to be part of one of the sweetest competitions around Friday. And he's hoping that his daughter, who is due to be born in a week, can hold off until he's back home in St. Charles.
The contest started with a some quick text messaging into a local radio station for the chance to meet NFL superstars Peyton and Eli Manning. All he needed to do was beat out fellow listeners in an Oreo Double Stuf licking competition. With a time of just about three minutes, Kouba became the regional representative to the Second Annual Oreo Double Stuf Racing League "Lick Race" competition where the Manning brothers will be coaches. Kouba was an Oreo eating amateur before the local competition, meaning he only ate them for pleasure they gave his taste buds. He soon learned there is a distinct difference between eating an Oreo and licking and Oreo.
Competitors must twist the cookie open, lick the icing in the middle clean off the cookie without breaking it, then dunk the cookies in milk and eat them then drink all the milk. Whoever can pull that off the fastest is the winner. The use of teeth is not allowed.
It's not as easy as you might think.
"Sometimes you'll see the commercials with the little kid licking it, and they'll be done in a few seconds," the 26-year-old said. "It's really different from that."
The skill is all in the amount of structural support you give the cookie to prevent it from breaking during the licking. Kouba said. If the cookie breaks, you have to start all over with a new one. Kouba creates a triangle around the cookie with his thumb, middle and ring fingers, then supports the underside of the cookie with his index finger.
"Then you use a swirly motion and try to get as much tongue on it as possible," Kouba said.
It took about six packages of cookies, including a cookie or two for his pregnant wife, to get the technique down. He can now lick a cookie clean and gulp the milk in 1:52. Kouba said it's all worth it for the chance to give Peyton Manning some grief for beating his beloved Chicago Bears in the Super Bowl. But is it worth it to possibly miss the birth of his first child?
"The thing that I'm most worried about is that my wife goes into early labor," Kouba said. "That would not be a good situation. She's supportive of this to a point. She's told me that I owe her a vacation, and that I should come back as soon as possible if she goes into labor." Kouba is betting on a labor long enough for him to fly back if the need arises.
Other than that, Kouba said half the reason he's going is for that very same daughter-to-be. If Kouba is on the winning team, he'll receive $2,000 that he's already promised to put into a college fund for Julianna.
"While I'm gone," he said, "I just want to wish her the best and the best for my wife as well."