At my workplace, we hold a chili cook-off about once a year. I say "about" because we often hold it in the fall, but sometimes it gets put off until after the new year. So we call it the "almost annual chili cook-off" for charity. Several years running, we donated the "donations" to Meals on Wheels, one year a burn center for children, once the March of Dimes. For the last two years, its been the Penrickton Center for Blind Children.

This year I took third place. Yay! We typically have between 16 and 25 entrants, this year we had 17. I have gotten 2nd or 3rd place almost every year. Once I tied for first.

While this year wasn't our best year for money raised, we did bring in $625 for the Center. (We ask for a $5 donation from anyone who wants to try the chili.) That's not too shabby, considering we have about half the number of people in our building compared to a few years ago.

I usually make my chili in an electric roaster (instead of a crock pot), just cuz I figure that if you want to get some votes, you'd better not have an empty pot!

My specialty: peppers. I go to the market and get as many different kinds of fresh peppers as I can find. This year's selection: Pabalano, Aneheim, Hungarian, Finger hot chilis, Cherry Bombs, Jalapeno, Habanero, Serano, and Cubanelle. Dried peppers include Cayenne, black pepper, Ancho, Hungarian Hot & Sweet Paprikas, and dried red pepper powder, chili powder. Surprisingly, my chili is not that hot....pretty tame, actually. One thing I did differently this year: I didn't add more chopped peppers right before serving. I should have.

After the voting was over, I asked a couple people who liked mine but voted for someone else's "What do you like about theirs that is different than mine?". Chunkiness. My stuff tends to be cut in smaller bits, while the winner's chili has a lot more larger chunks of peppers, onions, meat. I'll have to keep that in mind for next year, as I make another attempt to knock that guy off his pedestal!! He wins almost every stinking year!!!

Any suggestions?