Paige Hearts Hooters

"Mommy, I could work at Hooters. I could be a little Hooters girl and serve the kids meals to the kids. Do they make Hooters girl outfits in my size?"

That was our dinner conversation last night while we were at Hooters. Paige loves Hooters - because of the owls. It's her favorite place to eat. She took extra care when coloring the outfit on the Hooters girl on her kids menu.

"I could make outfits for them when I have my fashion design company Shimmer and Shine."

She was also highly concerned with them catching cold if they wore their outfit outside when they went home. I explained to her that they change into their regular clothes when they leave....kind of like strippers.

I didn't share the stripper part with her. But I was thinking it.

It's a busy day in my spicy part of the world. As the country slowly marches into fall and winter, people want chili. This week has been particularly busy and I'm happy to see it. We've been busy with walk in business at the store as well. Life is good :)

I made chicken fried steak the other night and while I was making my gravy, I had a question...."what would this taste like with a little jalapeno powder in it?"

Answer? Freakin AWESOME!!!

I used green jalapeno powder and it was so good. It added the right amount of warmth and it wasn't overpowering at all. I really liked it. As much as I try to avoid green jalapeno powder, this was the perfect opportunity to use a little bit of it. Try it!!!

Time to scream CONGRATULATIONS to fellow Renegade, friend and customer TJ Cannon for winning TICC!!!! WTG to all of our friends and customers who placed this year. Also a Renegade shout out to Melinda Sawey for placing 8th - HELL YEAH!!!!!! I was so happy to see Melinda get up on that stage and when TJ's # was called, we were already behind the stage with Champ, Mel, Jason, Ron, Gary, Delo, Sam and Toby for 3rd place show (plus Sam and Tobey both placed - RENEGADES!!!) and we went batshit crazy! How awesome is that?!?!?!?! Mild Bill's and the Renegades had a great year - 4 of our group placed in the Top 20 and we won 3rd place show. How freaking cool is that?!?!? Plus, Auntie Delores Sanders placed in the Top 10 this year. Hell Yeah! Again, congratulations to all of our customers and friends for kicking serious ass this year. Thank you all for being such fabulous customers!

Another customer of ours, Cynthia Whittenberg competed in the World Food Championship in Las Vegas and got 3rd Place in Red Chili!!! Way to go Cynthia! She was also kind enough to hand out business cards and product lists to the public in an effort to let more people know about Mild Bills. We can't thank her enough for flying her banner and talking about us - you rock, Cynthia!

And - Dr. Ted Hume? Now he can be known as Dr. Ted Hume, TWO TIME Behind the Store Champ! So glad to see another customer win as well as our customers dominate at OTICC Behind the Store cook off.

Guess we've got some high quality spices that some really amazing folks that know how to cook some bad ass chili with!!


It was such a fantabulous week for Mild Bills. Oh, and our customers from China - they came to Terlingua and we got to meet them! What a great group of guys and we hope they make it to TICC every year. They auto qualified at the Shanghai cook off and that made them eligible for this year's TICC. Gary and I also want to thank everyone for coming to our Margarita party Friday afternoon. I love to meet people that I've been either talking to on the phone or emailing for the past year - it helps to put a name with a face. We had a great time Friday visiting with everyone, debuting a few new products and just enjoying great margaritas and our friends. Thank you again to everyone for being a part of our fantastic business and hobby :)

I'm going to get back to work now. I sat down to print labels and thought what the hell - I'll blog really fast!

Keep it real....and keep it spicy!!

The Spice Mistress