To all you IHOP denizens who have subscribed to CBB in hopes of cashing in on FREE food during my visit (May 26 – June 3) in the spirit of the famed “Cheesesteak Challenge” –
We’re gonna need some creativity to make this work.
Perhaps a member of the Sanhedrin could figure a solution.

You can read about the original challenge and my first visit to the firetrap glorious “IHOP 1.0” in 2002 in this post. Basically it rocked, except that no one wanted to talk much due to a 40 day fast from food, meetings, conversations, and other legitimate forms of recreation as I recall. I thought that was fairly cool and intense and understood the premise of what they were up to “in the grace of God”. To foster goodwill and friendship upon my arrival, I announced a Special Dispensation of a Culinary Challenge.
“Problem”:
It seems that I’m yet again arriving just in time for another 40 day fast (I hate when that happens 🙂 ). If I read my special bulletin correctly,
“We will be launching this [40 day] fast with a worldwide simulcast on God TV on May 26.”
Well golly if that ain’t the day the good folks at Southwest drop me off in KCMO. I find sometimes that Lou’s communications are sometimes contradicting, and sure enough, earlier in the bulletin it describes the fast commencing May 28 in the evening, which is Monday night.
So I need some counsel here. I’m too lazy to track back 40 days from 7/7/7 on my calendar, and even if I did, my accounting will pale against whatever the official dates are.
Question: Can we figure out a way to make this work? There are 2 possibilities:
- IF the fast starts on Monday pm, the Challenge will occur before Monday evening, which works fine – The Challenge is ON!
- If it starts upon my arrival Saturday pm on the 26th, the challenge would likely consist of a trip to the local juicing bar or a pathetic cup of steaming brown liquid. I do not expect such an offer to tantalize any savvy CBB reader. This original Challenge is much too grand to work even under “Daniel fast” guidelines!

However I can all but guarantee that if any of you came to Philly, there would not be any fasting mandate whatsoever to prohibit the gluttony and dullness of spirit that comes from a cheesesteak. If there were, I am sure this city would not be leading the nation in murder rates.
OK, so please somebody find out the scoop here. I don’t want to encourage anyone to stumble over food here, so before further Challenge announcements, I need proof of the correct dates.
Anyone with an acceptable suggestion that would appeal to people within the cultural bounds, let me know!