stiffwillichili

Stiff Willi in New York City

Someone told me Stiff Willi made an appearance this past weekend at the clubs in NYC, and we've got the pictures to prove it.

 

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Stiff Willi at The Glen!

One of my plans for this blog is to post photos of Stiff Willi Chili fans wearing their T-shirts around national (and international) landmarks -- a sort of "Stiff Willies around the World," if you will.

Well, big thanks to my sister Christina and her husband Tom who are the first to submit their photos, and boy did they kick things off right! Here are a couple pics of them with Stiff Willi (and dog Izzy) at famed raceway Watkins Glen!

With any luck you'll be able to get some of T-Rev's Stiff Willi Chili at The Glen in the near future, as Tom is currently working with a buddy of his at the track to figure out how we go about becoming a vendor at a NASCAR event.

Chris Cooley and the Twins

No, that title isn't referring to Redskins tight end Chris Cooley's "wardrobe malfunction" last year when "Little Cooley" introduced himself to the national media.

Rather, my friends (and twin sisters) Jenny and Denise managed to grab a little face time with Cooley at the DC101 Chili Cook-Off while sporting their snazzy Stiff Willi Chili t-shirts.

 

Can you tell Jenny and Denise are dentists? Look at those smiles!

If you'd like to join us in Charleston, W. Va. in October for the World's Championship Chili Cook-Off, you'll get a free t-shirt in addition to a great time.

T-Rev's Stiff Willi Chili Web Site Goes LIVE

Thanks to a lot of hard work by my friend Jenn, the Stiff Willi Chili web site is up! We're still working out a few of the kinks, but have a look around and see what you think.

My spice mix is just about another week away, but that will be rolled out shortly as well. I'm in discussions with a major mid-Atlantic region distributor in the attempt to have it carried by at least one big grocery store, and while this might be a long shot, I'm a lot more optimistic than I probably deserve to be for someone who's never tried to sell a food product before.

T-Rev's Stiff Willi Chili Gets Good Reviews at Tiki Bar

Thanks to the folks at Tiki Bar in Solomons, MD for providing a forum to test out my chili on the general public last night.

We set up around 7 p.m. for a charity costume party held to raise money for local charter captains and donated chili for about three hours. I doubt many people would tell you your food sucks while they're standing in front of you eating it for free, but almost everyone who gave their opinion seemed to love the chili.

My only regret is that I didn't have my chili spice mix on hand to sell (it'll be out in about two weeks) -- at six bucks a pop people probably would have been much more willing to buy that as opposed to a $20 t-shirt after spending $20 at the door to get in. But, such is life. Even though southern Maryland seems to be more insulated from the depression than other areas of the country because it's home to the Pax River navy base, many of us are feeling the pinch nevertheless. So, many thanks to the handful of people who helped me raise money for the world championship chili cook-off by buying a shirt, and to everyone else who slapped a Stiff Willi Chili sticker on their shirt to help me advertise. It all helps and it's much appreciated!

Most of all, I want to thank my friends Brady and Erin Lesko for donating their time and helping me work the table the whole night. And thanks to Louis and Mike for wearing their Stiff Willi Chili shirts to the event to show their solidarity, even though I know they both would've preferred to wear their sexy snap shirts under different circumstances.

I managed to grab a couple pictures on my camera phone, so they came out pretty dark and crappy because I don't have a flash, but here's one of them followed by a much better one taken by my friend Erin.

The girl on the left won best individual costume for dressing up as a Victoria's Secret angel. Definitely a good candidate to be a Stiff Willi Girl!

 

T-Rev, Brady, and Louis.

T-Rev at Champps for Skins' Season Opener

I will be at Champps sports bar on Sept. 13 serving T-Rev's Stiff Willi Chili at their kickoff party for the Washington Redskins' season opener at the New York Giants. They're expecting 200-300 maniacs to show up, so it should be a great time.

If you live in the MD/VA/DC area, stop by and sample some free chili and meet the Stiff Willi Girls! T-Rev's Stiff Willi Chili Spice Mix should be on the market by then and it will be available for sale along with my t-shirts. We're also planning to raffle off a couple gift packs that include Stiff Willi Chili t-shirts, spice mix, and Champps gift certificates.

I'm so confident in my spice mix that I not only use it in the chili I sling at these types of events, but I'm also going to use it in my People's Choice chili at the World Championship Chili Cook-Off in October in Charleston, WV. So if you'd like to help me raise money for the Worlds, stop by and buy a couple bottles of spice mix for your own kitchen. You won't be disappointed!

T-Rev's Stiff Willi Chili at the Tiki Bar

On Saturday, May 15, I'll be slinging FREE T-Rev's Stiff Willi Chili at the Tiki Bar on Solomons Island, MD as one of the sponsors for their third annual costume party. The event costs $20 per person, starts at 7 p.m., and will benefit local charities. This year all revenues from the party will be donated to the Solomons Charter Captains Association and the Save the Reef Program.

So put on your best costume, grab some great food and drinks, and be sure to stop by and say hi and have a taste of T-Rev's award-winning Stiff Willi Chili!

OTH Gives T-Rev Some Love

Thanks to Tyler Briggs, reporter for my hometown's Olean Times Herald, for penning a story about my win in the DC101 Chili Cook-Off.

Just as a clarification in the piece, I hadn't entered any chili cook-offs until the regional competition in DC in May. Also, while the article mentions that interested customers can visit my website to purchase my forthcoming chili spice mix, that site is still in work. For anyone who googled around and found his way here, the web address will be www.stiffwilli.com, which currently forwards to this blog.

With any luck, my website will be up and running within the week, but the release of my chili spice mix is still a few weeks out. In fact, I'm hoping the label will be finalized today and find its way to the printer this week.

Thanks for visiting, and be sure to bookmark stiffwilli.com -- it will be your avenue to order spice mix online, buy T-Rev's Stiff Willi Chili merchandise and access this blog, which I plan to use to post everything from new recipes invented by chili spice customers to pictures of Stiff Willi Chili fans wearing their t-shirts all around the country.

Later for now!

DC101 Chili Cook-Off 2009

Here's are some photos from this year's DC101 Chili Cook-Off, won by none other than T-Rev's Stiff Willi Chili!

We took first place in the prestigious ICS Red category and I also won Rookie of the Year -- this was the first chili cook-off I've ever entered. As a result of this regional victory, I earned an automatic berth in the International Chili Society's World Championship Chili Cook-Off in Charleston, WV in October.

This is a shot of our tent in the middle of Row 3 as we prepared for the deluge of partiers. The DC101 cook-off is a huge rock concert and was headlined this year by The Offspring and everyone's favorite band, Third Eye Blind. My Stiff Willi Chili shirts were a huge hit; we sold more than 30 and gave away many more.

  
This is me doing one last run-through before lighting the stoves at 11:00.

 
This is my brother Erik, who designed one helluva chili pepper logo but apparently didn't see the memo saying soul patches are soooo '70s '80s '90s never.

 
Team Stiff Willi Chili, from left to right: Mike, Brady, Erik, and me.

 
Best thing about chili cook-offs: Once the first spice dump is history, you get to stand around and drink for an hour.

 

 
Stiff Willi Chili, only a half-hour in and well before he knew he was the man.

Fellow competitors:

 

 

 
These guys with the "3 Meat Mouth Massage" chili were right across from us and were responsible for eliciting the best joke of the day. One of the girls yelled, "Hey! How about a three-meat mouth massage?" To which my brother deadpanned, "There's four of us."

 
Notice the chef is not in the picture.

 
Erin and Amie strikin' a pose while we wait on the judges.

 
Cindy, Amie, and Erin

 
The fawning groupies come out of the woodwork after Daddy brings it home.

The rain started coming down around 6:00, but we really didn't care at that point.

 

 

 

On a side note, Washington Redskins tight end Chris Cooley was one of the judges and apparently he had me in second place overall. I was the first loser in his eyes so I figured maybe he'd make it all up to me by hooking a brother up and plugging my t-shirt on his blog after my buddy's wife gave him one -- but all he could muster was the one he made himself and wore at the cookoff. It's hard out here for a pimp.

Classic.