We went chili crazy in our first Chili Cookoff at the Dunwoody Fall Festival! I was up to my ears in beans, crushed tomatoes, chili powder and Asian spices on Friday night, with 5 gallons of chili on the stove.

While everyone else cooked one kind of chili in one big pot, we went overboard, in typical fashion, and my mom and I offered up 6 different kinds, that is, 6 gallons of chili (she made one gallon, I made 5 gallons)! We had Thai Twist, 5-Spice Beans, Chinese Chili Spaghetti, 5-Bean Vegetarian, Chinese Sausage and Indian/Curry Twist!

MK’s Chinese Chili Spaghetti was indeed a kid and crowd favorite. One toddler, barely able to walk, scarfed 4 servings and clamored for more with sauce all over his face!!  We did our own chili survey by asking folks to vote for their favorite flavors.

We had our own mother-daughter competition, too, of course. Needless to say, MK ran out of her chili spaghetti first. (She was accused of questionable marketing tactics. “Which one is least

spicy?” MK: Mine! “Which one is the most spicy?” MK: Mine!

We also had a chance to connect cooking to sustainability by pointing out that October was Energy Awareness Month and that all five of our chili pots were innovative low-energy, enviro-friendly “Eco Cookers” from Japan, Taiwan and China. They used various applications of thermal vacuum technology and did most of their cooking “unplugged.” Read more in my article  Eco-Cooking Pot & Gift Idea

Thanks to all the friends who came by to support us, plus the new CSB Chili fans!