What do you get when you taste a total 20 chili cook-off entrant samples? You quickly lose the desire to stop for a bowl of red on the way home. But honestly, The Awesome Original Second-Time Arounders Marching Band had an impressive selection for me, along with fellow judges Wayne Shattuck from 28 Action News, Ernest Hooper - St Pete Time/East Hillsborough Bureau Chief and the one we knew would be the wild card - Jim Shields who traveled across I-4 to join in the fun.

   Ferg’s Sports Bar was jammed with our fine chefs, their supporters and a whole lot of people who dropped in for the all-you-can-eat chili for just $10. Great cause to support the work of Second-Time Arounders, and just plain fun. I’m not exactly sure how many Weight Watcher points there might have been in all those samples, but it was a little more challenging than I thought. We had 16 entrants, and we settled on four samples to chose our top three. Not easy!

   But congratulations to our winners, and to one who didn’t win but really piqued our interest with a dessert chili. Yes, dessert chili. It was Caribbean Fruit Chili and actually reminded me of a Trifle with a kick. Very nice, and it was a first for me. We all agreed that making it our last sample was a great idea. It was actually a very nice palate cleanser, and incredibly delicious. Stephanie Evans was responsible for that, and was kind enough to give me the recipe, which I think I’ll pass along to you soon.

   So, to our winners. Coming in third was Paula Crandall, second place went to Josh Dixon, and our proud winner of the Fifth Annual Second-Time Arounders Chili Cook-Off was Terry Kenne. Paula and Josh were repeat finishers last year, place second and third respectively. Nice job everyone and I’m looking forward to next year...and trying to talk a few more of you out of those recipes to share in Kelly’s Kitchen! And my thanks to Karen Masterbrook and Shelly Anderson for the invitation to be a judge, I had a wonderful time.

   There was only way one to end such a delicious day, and that was with a long walk on the north end of Honeymoon Island for me; Wayne was off to work, and the last time I saw Ernest he was heading for The Hurricane on St Pete Beach. The Wild Card? I think there was a seat saved at Ferg’s bar for Jim!

WORDS OF WISDOM FROM KELLY’S KITCHEN

"The aroma of good chili should generate rapture akin to a lover's kiss." - Motto of the Chili Appreciation Society International