"L" is for loser.

They just weren't ready for real chili. Considering their fan favorite was more like a soup, not even a stoup like Rachael Ray always make (you know--a cross between a soup and a stew, and the secret ingredient always has to be nutmeg!). I'll briefly mention that this wasn't my neighborhood or my community, which I think played a very large part in the victors.

I was sad at first as they announced the winners. How could I be a loser? They just weren't ready for real chili--the kind that doesn't taste like spaghetti sauce or all tomatoes, the kind made with 4 different dried chilis that were ground up to make my tastebuds sing, the kind where I hand-cut chuck roast into 1/2 inch cubes for an hour rather than just use that grainy ground up flavorless beef. But then I realized that I couldn't be too sad because every person is very different when they talk about their favorite chili. Hell--I think Hard Times sucks and they're a chain restaurant just for chili. Could they put any more salt into it? But people obviously like that. They didn't pay attention to the 3 layers of smoke in the chili--the toasted chilis themselves, the shipotle in adobo and the cumin. They didn't savor the sweet taste of chocolate just at the edge to take a bite off the heat of the jalapenos and arbol.

They just weren't ready for real chili. Perhaps the next people will be. I will not stop.