stiffwillichili

I'll Do Anything to Sell Spice Mix

Including, apparently, driving 30 miles in this crap!

 

Granted, this is a picture of my back deck, not the roads, but they weren't much better. I had two promotions scheduled this afternoon in Huntingtown (Md.), and against my better judgment I departed for Bowen's Grocery around 10:15 a.m. I have 4WD so I figured I'd be good to go, but there's nothing quite like cranking the heat to 107 in the truck cab just to try to keep the windshield from freezing.

I almost turned around five minutes in -- I saw about a dozen plows on the way up, but only about two with their plows down (figure that one out) -- but this was my first gig at Bowen's so I figured I'd suck it up. Turns out it was a good move, as I sold about 15 bottles of my spice mix while I was there.

From Bowen's it was on to Guido's Liquor, but it was a ghost town inside. They have a drive-thru window, so suffice to say the people who ventured out for their weekend beer weren't getting out of their cars to come inside for chili. So I was 1 for 2 today, and I've rescheduled Guido's for next Saturday at noon.

If you haven't picked up a bottle of my award-winning spice mix for yourself yet, I ship first class or priority (depending on quantity) so you'll have it by the Super Bowl as long as you order by Monday. Get some here!

Park City Post-Game

I want to extend some huge thanks to my buddy Brian Richards and to Diane and Michael Kushner, owners of It's F'n Hot, for hosting me at their respective shops in Park City last Saturday and Sunday. I shipped four cases of T-Rev's Stiff Willi Chili Spice Mix to Utah for the promotional events and didn't have to ship any back home, so that's always a good thing! I met a lot of cool folks during the promos, and I need to thank everyone who bought a bottle of my spice mix too.

I'm also in the process of establishing a spice mix presence at The Market at Park City, an independent grocery store that expressed interest in carrying it. So, I think we can officially say that "Stiff Willi" has moved West. It's F'n Hot will even be offering Stiff Willi t-shirts for sale in the store.

Unfortunately, there were a couple bummers to the weekend, as well. On Saturday morning, 2-year-old Biggies Smalls threw up a couple times and ran a fever for about 24 hours, so his virgin voyage to the slopes was delayed by a day -- and when my wife was finally able to take him on Sunday, he was too exhausted to do any more than a couple runs down the bunny hill and fell asleep on the lift, prompting Mom to take him home.

Secondly, I wasn't able to snap any photos during either of my promotions, mostly due to the fact that my wife couldn't accompany me on either of them. I always like to document my public appearances, but this time I'll be recalling all my experiences from memory. There were a couple customers who took pictures while they talked to me -- you know who you are, so if you're reading this and would like to send them along, it would be much appreciated!

Thankfully, my wife and I were able to get a lot of pictures on Monday of our family trip to the tubing park, where Biggie Smalls really seemed to enjoy himself. And what's not to love about my boy B-Rich striking this pose in his get-up for the world mogul finals last Saturday night at Deer Valley?

And here's another one of Brian with a couple ladies at the event. Not sure which country he was rooting for.

 

T-Rev's Vegetarian Chili

I've received several requests lately for a vegetarian version of T-Rev's Stiff Willi Chili, and being the man of the peeps that I am, I try never to disappoint.

Now, you may recall a recent discussion in which I noted that "chili" containing poultry really isn't chili. Same goes for "chili" that doesn't contain any meat at all. However, those are technicalities when you're in the comfort of your own kitchen, because I also happen to be a huge proponent of cooking what you like and how you like. And there's no point in cooking anything if you can't actually eat it, right?

There are a couple different ways you can prepare this vegetarian version of the original chili recipe on my spice mix label. Either way you will substitute the ground chuck with a variety of beans, but you can use crushed tomatoes as a base and basically keep the rest of the label recipe the same, or you can use a broth base. For this recipe I decided to go with a broth base just to shake things up a little.

One note: If you are not a vegetarian and simply prefer a vegetable chili to meat, you can use chicken broth instead of vegetable broth, as I think this yields an even better flavor.

INGREDIENTS:
1 small yellow onion, diced
2 cloves garlic, minced
14½  oz. can diced tomatoes
10.5 oz. can tomato puree
14 oz. can vegetable broth
1 cup (8 oz.) water
1½ tsp. Worcestershire sauce
1 can pinto beans (15-16 oz.), drained and rinsed
1 can black beans (15-16 oz.), drained and rinsed
1 can garbanzo beans (15-16 oz.), drained and rinsed
1 can northern beans or white beans (15-16 oz.), drained and rinsed
½ cup baby carrots, cut into match sticks (or buy them that way)
½ cup (half-bottle) T-REV'S STIFF WILLI™ CHILI Spice Mix
Salt to taste

DIRECTIONS:
1. Cook onion on low heat in stock pot with 2 tbsp. olive oil until soft. Add diced tomatoes and tomato puree and stir into onion. Add vegetable broth, water, Worcestershire sauce, garlic, and half of spice mix and turn heat to high and cover.

2. When liquid begins to boil, add beans and turn heat to low. Simmer for 45 minutes. Salt to taste.

3. Add remaining half of spice mix and carrots. Simmer for another 45 minutes, or until chili has gravy consistency. Taste to adjust for salt if necessary and remove from heat. Let stand for 15 minutes covered and serve.

Servings: 8-12

Brazilian Rub Salmon

Here's a delicous recipe for baked salmon with a Brazilian rub submitted by my friend Suzanne, who altered an original recipe by Ivete Cequiera by replacing plain old chili powder with my spice mix.

INGREDIENTS:
4 salmon fillets (5-6 oz. each)
1/2 large orange, juice only
1/2 large lemon, juice only
2 tbsp. brown sugar
1 tbsp. T-Rev's Stiff Willi Chili Spice Mix
1 large garlic clove, minced
2 tbsp. butter, melted (optional)
Salt and pepper to taste

DIRECTIONS:
Marinate salmon in orange and lemon juice, salt, and pepper for 20 minutes at room temp. Preheat oven to 425 degrees. Combine brown sugar, spice mix, and garlic together; rub well into marinated salmon. Grease baking sheet with a little of the melted butter (I use olive oil) and place "rubbed" salmon on top; drizzle with remaining butter (or spray with olive oil). Bake for 8 minutes, remove from oven and let sit another 5 minutes. Serves 4.

Guido's Liquor Welcomes T-Rev's Stiff Willi Chili

Thanks to Vic and Lisa at Guido's Liquor for hosting me today. I met a bunch of cool cats who are friends of Guido's, and the chili was a big hit! I even met a nice woman named Judy who's opening a carry-out restaurant in Chesapeake Beach called Beachwich, and she and her partner expressed interest in buying T-Rev's Stiff Willi Chili Spice Mix in bulk for use in their menu items.

All in all a great day, and thanks to everyone who bought spice mix and t-shirts. I plan to return to Guido's in a couple weeks -- most likely Saturday, Jan. 23rd, so keep an eye out for times as the date approaches. And, of course, as I mentioned a few days ago, we'll be heading out west to Park City, UT, next weekend to launch the spice mix at a new hot sauce shop called It's F'n Hot!

Here are a couple photos from Guido's. Forgive me for the camera phone fuzziness, but hey, you take pictures with whatever you've got when you want to document a good party.

 

Stiff Willi Moves North

Two more stores in Maryland have put T-Rev's Stiff Willi Chili Spice Mix on their shelves. Both are in Huntingtown, which is about 20 miles north of Solomons: Bowen's Grocery -- you'll find the spice mix in a floor stand across from the deli counter -- and Guido's Liquor.

I've established a nice little base of shops in St. Mary's County and southern Calvert County, so the plan is to gradually move up toward northern Calvert and also into Charles County.

It seems the biggest impediment to success is always time -- specifically, not having nearly enough of it -- but in only four months T-Rev's Stiff Willi Chili has received a lot of good reviews and is on the move ... slowly but surely!

If you've already tried my spice mix, I hope you're happy with the product and plan to become a repeat customer. And if you've not, perhaps in part because there just hasn't been a store close enough that's carried it, please give it a try, and know that I'm doing all I can to put it in front of as many hungry chili lovers as possible!

Spice Mix Expands to the Midwest

A cool new hot sauce shop in Park City, UT, called It's F'n Hot has signed on to carry T-Rev's Stiff Willi Chili Spice Mix!

In fact, I'll be heading out to Park City next Friday with the family and a few friends for a little ski weekend, though I'll probably be spending most of my time making chili, hosting a promotion at the hot sauce shop, and hanging with my buddy Brian Richards -- he of "T-Rev" coinage fame.

It's been more than five years already since I've been out to Park City, and it's always a great time. We were there in 2002 for the Olympics and again the following year for the Sundance Film Festival, so I can barely wait to get out there again, especially so I can introduce some of my Maryland friends to a couple fine peeps in Brian and his wife Jo.

I'll be sure to take plenty of pics for the blog during our trip. It looks like Biggie Smalls is already a fan of ice skating, so we'll see what he thinks of tubing in the skiing capital of the country.