I Love It Spicy!

Educating your mind and tastebuds, one spicy bite at a time!

I Love It Spicy!

Salsa contest

Contests Events 

2014 Best Salsa in the World Contest

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Since it was a huge hit the last 2 years at the Houston Hot Sauce Festival, (over 70 jars of salsas submitted last year), we are doing this contest once again. This time we are joined by Ken Alexander from www.FieryWorld.com who has graciously agreed to take my place at the event since I can not be there. Since he did a bang-up job at the Louisiana Hot Sauce Expo, I know he will carry that professional approach to this contest as well. Thanks Ken! That is not all folks, James Beck from iBurn has agreed to add to the prize for the winners. All 3 first place winning salsas in their respective categories will be bought to sell at their brick and mortar and online stores. That is a huge bonus beyond just the trophies we provide. James will also be a judge, so if he tastes something he loves, he just might be looking to add those salsas as well. So you people who can’t make the festival, can still be able to experience a little of the best salsas in the land through iBurn! Thanks so much James for being a valuable partner with us this year.

The most important factor in this salsa contest is to raise money for the Snowdrop Foundation which helps with Children’s Cancer research and support.

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Events For Entertainment Purposes Only 

Buddah’s 2013 Ultimate Chilehead Roadtrip – Part 2

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iBurn mural outside

September 20, 2013

I owe a lot of my sanity on this trip to the Sauce Goddess, Jennifer Reynolds. I was still having personal issues that I could not drop, and she told me to focus on where I was and have a good time with the people around you. Jennifer and I shared hotel rooms in Houston, TX as well as New Iberia and Lafayette, LA. We did the tourism thing in Louisiana and I had a great time with her company. Thanks very much Jen, you were an awesome travel mate. Our Friday schedule immediately became a bit sketchy because of the weather. It was raining and it was going to get worse and worse as a big storm was heading our way. Friday was setup day at the Stafford Centre for the Houston Hot Sauce Festival, so it was a matter of choosing the best time to dance between the raindrops.

Both Jen and I decided to visit the new iBurn brick and mortar hot sauce store before helping her setup her booth. The look of the store was amazing. So clean and professional looking. The murals were so very artistic. See the pic at the top for the outside mural and part of the inside mural is below. I really liked the way the bottles were child-protected by these small metal bar guards. While that was good against bottles tipping, the appearance was extremely sharp and appealing. Proprietors, as well as newlyweds, James and Amy Beck/Wreck had started selling products last year online and having such a widely successful show close by, they are going to support the festival by bringing in some of the vendors that appear. The idea is to tell the attendees at the show if you like the vendor’s products you will be able to reload at iBurn. Many of the vendors at the show gave away iBurn postcards to push home that point. Good marketing.

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Contests Events 

2013 Best Salsa in the World Contest – LAST CALL!!!

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salsa n chips resized

Since it was a huge hit last year, (55 jars of salsas submitted last year), we are doing it again. The most important factor in this salsa contest is to raise money for the Snowdrop Foundation which helps with Children’s Cancer research and support. All salsa entries are $5/salsa with 2 jars of salsa per entry to be submitted, but we will gladly accept more $$$ because 100% of the proceeds are given to the Snowdrop Foundation. If you did not hear about this salsa contest last year, we are sponsoring it in conjunction with the Houston Hot Sauce Festival. The salsa entered can be from anywhere, but must be manufactured in a legal kitchen and have nutritional and ingredient declarations on the label. No fresh salsa will be allowed, only sealed jars to be as fair as possible. We had 2 categories last year – traditional and fruit-based. We have now added in a black bean/black bean & corn salsa category. You can enter as many salsa categories as you desire. Who knows you might win them all.

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Contests Fiery News 

2013 Best Salsa in the World Contest

Buddah , , ,

Since it was a huge hit last year, (55 jars of salsas submitted last year), we are doing it again. The most important factor in this salsa contest is to raise money for the Snowdrop Foundation which helps with Children’s Cancer research and support. All salsa entries are $5/salsa with 2 jars of salsa per entry, but we will gladly accept more because 100% of the proceeds are given to the Snowdrop Foundation. If you did not hear about this salsa contest last year, we are sponsoring it in conjunction with the Houston Hot Sauce Show. The salsa entered can be from anywhere, but must be manufactured in a legal kitchen and have nutritional and ingredient declarations on the label. No fresh salsa will be allowed, only sealed jars to be as fair as possible. We had 2 categories last year – traditional and fruit-based. I will open the contest to a black bean & corn salsa category if I can get at least 10 companies interested. As soon as I have 10, I will alert all the companies that inquired, so they can add these salsas to their mailing list.

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Contests Events 

2012 Houston Hot Sauce Festival Salsa Winners

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We sponsored a salsa contest with 58 salsas submitted to us to raise money for the Snowdrop Foundation, a charity that supports and does research for Children’s Cancer. At the Houston Hot Sauce Festival we judged and then announced the winner at the dinner after the 1st day of the festival. Check out the winners as I announce them. Congrats again to all the winners and a big thank you to all the companies that sent in their product to help us help raise money for the Snowdrop Foundation.

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Commerical Awards Contests Events 

2012 Houston Hot Sauce Festival

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There are so many things happening at this show, and I will create a diary for you of everything that goes on and try to bring you the information first hand from my point of view. It might not be the most timely of updates, but I will cover it to the max as I experience it and bring it back to you here. I am heavy involved in the show with our 1st salsa contest, info below. I plan on taking on all challenges for the Intensity Academy Lick-a-thon. Yes, Vic and I will once again lock lollies in this very extreme heated battle. I will have a very special challenge to offer all the contestants prior to the event. No one knows about this, not even Intensity Academy, so stay tuned for more about this. I will also be visiting all the vendors and getting some pics of their booths and show off some show swag at the same time. It is going to be a blast, and I am so siked about going. Check out all the fun and all the attending vendors below.

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Events 

17th Annual Bowers Chile Festival: Recap

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I didn’t get off to the best of starts having stayed up to 3:30am and waking up at 5:30am to get prepped for my drive from VA to PA. I should have made my salsa the day before, but I had my plate full and just thought it would be better if I did it in the morning. I just didn’t think I would be up to 3:30am working on other things. I didn’t feel weary the whole day as I was on my feet. Having made my salsa fresh, it might have been the reason why I got 2nd place out of 23 salsa entries at the show. I wouldn’t have done it any different. That moment which I will discuss below was a huge highlight for me.

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Contests Events 

Salsa Contest: Last Call

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This contest is to raise money for Snowdrop Foundation which helps with Children’s Cancer Research and support. If you did not know about this salsa contest we are sponsoring for the Houston Hot Sauce Show, then you have a few days to get your product out. The deadline for receipt is September 1st if you are not vending at the Houston Hot Sauce Show. If you are vending at the show you still need to inform me exactly what your entries will be. I opened up the contest to not only award the best salsa, but also award the best fruit-based salsa. If you have a fruit-based salsa, it will not be in the best salsa category, so we can make 2 competitive contests we can award prizes for.

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Contests Events 

SALSA Contest Update!!!

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Everything below this paragraph is a re-post of the Houston Hot Sauce Show salsa contest we are sponsoring to raise money for the Snowdrop Foundation. The only thing different is that I am buying another first place trophy and awarding it to the best fruit-based salsa. I thought with the number of entries we have all ready, it would only be fair to divide the salsas somewhat. I could create several categories, but I do not want to dilute the contest too much, but award great salsas. So we will divide the salsas at the show into 2 categories- Fruit-Based & Everything else. All the same rules apply. If you are attending the show, you still must alert me to what you are entering in the contest prior to the September 1st deadline. Email would be the best way for both of us to keep a record of your entry just in case there is an issue. PLEASE READ THE RULES BELOW! You still have more than 3 weeks to get them mailed out in time. If you want to help with the research and assistance for children’s cancer, then you would be helping the Snowdrop Foundation help those who need it. You do not have to enter the contest to help this worthy charity.

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