Amateur chili cooks can win at E. G. Simmons Chili Cook-off

It's time for chili enthusiasts across the county to gather their spiciest ingredients, get into the kitchen and perfect their best recipe for this year's ultimate test: the annual no-holds-barred E. G. Simmons Park Chili Cook-off on Feb. 19.

You'll find a recipe for cornbread wafers in my Table Scraps column in the SouthShore News & Tribune. The column also includes more details about the cook-off.

Also, there was no winner in last week's guess-where-I-ate lunch contest. The restaurant was Chef Bobby Flay's Mesa Grill inside Caesar's Palace in the city of sin, Las Vegas.

The dish, by the way, was a crispy preserved duck salad with spicy pecans and a Concord grape dressing.

Thanks, everyone, for playing. Better luck next time.