the moment you've all been waiting for!

Thanks to everyone who entered the delirious kitchen Halloween costume contest giveaway!  I received some very excellent entries and am grateful for that extra internet-less day I had to make such an important decision.  Before we get down to the results, I have a few honorable mentions to take care of -

For being the only animal entry, my pup-neice Peanut Maya!  She gets enough lovin' and treats on a daily basis so I thought it would be unfair to let her win against some great human costumes... But boy does she make a cute little frog!

tuckered out from all the spooky excitement!

I hated to do it but I just had to disqualify one of my favorite entries in the name of fairness.  Even though she submitted not one, not two, but three amazing Halloween costumes to the contest, it just wouldn't be fair for my roommate to win the grand prize.  Come on now, she's my taste tester for just about everything I make in the delirious kitchen!  And you know she's going to snag a cookie or two from the winner's batch.  Really, all she needs to do is tell me she's hungry and I'm ready to whip up a tasty treat for her.  Plus, she gets to listen to my awesome megamix whenever the heck she wants so it's only out of fairness that I pull her from the running.  But if she weren't my roommate, this overachiever would have totally won!  

In third place, cute as buttons and certainly worthy of some extra special runner up treats come Christmastime, Darren and Ryan as sock monkeys!  Don't they just melt your heart with adorableness? I think they're probably still too young to really comprehend the awesome prestige that comes with winning a delirious kitchen costume contest, so hopefully taking third place is just a jumping point for these little dudes and their costumes will just get even better with time - though you can't get much cuter than this!  I told you it was tough being the solitary judge of this contest!

i was almost suckered into awarding these guys with first place...
i really am a sucker for cuteness

Second goes to the long distance entry from Corey all the way out in Arizona.  Her creepy flasher guy was not only creative, but let's just say she didn't come up short on any of the details... she really nailed it this year.  Unfortunately, this is a family blog (is it?  I'm actually not sure about that, but I like to think that folks of all ages can and do read it!)  Therefore, I am only able to show you this censored version of Corey's costume but trust me, she went all out!  Yay Corey and congratulations because you totally get an awesome prize for being a runner up!

i would definitely be creeped out if i saw this dude coming towards me on the street.

And now, for the moment you've all been waiting for (drumroll, please...)  The winner of the first (annual? we'll see) delirious kitchen Halloween costume contest is.............

Emilia as Louise Brooks!  Catering to my love of old Hollywood glamour (I went as Joan Crawford a few years back,) stylish sass, and costumes that require a whole lot of thought, Emilia got it all hands down.  Look at her, it's as if she just stepped out of the silver screen.  If it weren't for the guy with the ear buds next to her on the train, you might be tricked into thinking she was the real deal!  Well done young lady, bravo!  I love everything about this look - 

I'll be in touch shortly to get all the awesome prizes out to y'all.  Thanks again for entering the contest and congratulations to all my winners!  Now, let's get started on next year's costumes... my mind is already spinning with new prize ideas!!!

and the winner is...

going to be announced tomorrow.  Sorry, my internet is down and my phone isn't smart enough to let me publish any more than this brief post.  This means that any of you lazy-asses who haven't submitted your costume photos yet have an entire extra day to get those entries in!  You can thank me later.  Now, I'm off to enjoy some waffles before I drink a couple bloody marys and cheer on the marathon runners.  Have a happy Sunday!

my favorite thing about halloween is...

buying 50% off Halloween candy at Duane Reed over the next few days!

True, dressing up is great but a cool costume can't beat two buckets full of leftover mini candy for twenty bucks!  Or can it... have you entered the costume contest yet?  Homemade cookies might just be better than prepackaged candy, even if said candy is dirt cheap.  Keep those submissions coming folks!  Send you costumes photos to me [jillian.matos@gmail.com]

three days left to enter the costume contest!

would it really be fair if that girl batgirl won?

I'm starting to get the feeling that y'all think you're too cool to dress up for Halloween.  So maybe most of you are a little too old to go door to door and beg for candy but there is no such thing as too old to rock a Halloween costume!  In fact, the older you get, the more opportunities you have to wear really really awesome costumes - scandalous characters, pop culture references, seductive vixens (not skanky though, that's never okay.)  I've only gotten a couple of submissions to the big contest so far and I'm not sure if it's fair that the winner might just be my roomie... you know, the gal that gets to listen to my awesome megamix whenever she wants and is my go-to taste tester?  So get your butts in gear and start sending those costume contest submissions my way [jillian.matos@gmail.com]!  I'll even throw you a bone and allow you to submit pictures of your kids or pets and enter their cool costumes if you were too lame to dress up yourself.  But know that if you do that, I will make sure said kiddie or pet gets the best of the prize, yeah I'll find a way to do that.  So come on, you only have three days left!!!  And I'm working on some mighty delicious new cookie recipes for that lucky grand prize winner... I'm thinking peanut butter, or molasses, maybe oatmeal or vanilla and almonds.  Whatever I decide on, it's sure to be scrumptious so get those entries in!

On a side note, it's starting to get really chilly.  Not shut all the windows chilly, but throw another blanket on the bed chilly.  This means that soup season is upon us!  One of my favorite things to do on a chilly weekend day is to throw a bunch of random ingredients into my dutch oven and slow cook the crap out of it.  Stews, soups, chilis, chowders, I love them all and can't wait to start heating up some new recipes.  My brain and belly are already working on a few new flavor combos.  Also, football season is in full swing and I've yet to make any tailgate worthy foods.  Shame on me!  Stay tuned for some serious snackage that's sure to score.

I've also started planning for Thanksgiving.  Though my t-day plans are yet to be determined, the menu is nearly finalized.  Even though I probably won't be in charge of the whole shebang since I'm sure wherever I end up the feast will be a combined effort, I will end up making nearly the entire traditional feast for myself because that's how much I like leftovers.  Leftovers and challenges.  But, to be honest, I may not end up blogging it all because admitting to eating an entire Thanksgiving spread on my own is kind of embarasing... granted I just told the entire world wide web about it so maybe I should just get over it and share every menu item I come up with!  Then again, maybe I won't.  But you can bet your bottom dollar that you will be seeing an appetizer, a side, a dessert and a cocktail.  Only 3 more weeks til the big day!

So folks, send over your contest submissions (or anything else you feel like sharing - a recipe, a kind word) and keep your fingers crossed that I deem your Halloween getup more awesome than the rest.  And rev up your engines for the next super amazingly awesome holiday - Thanksgiving!

mystery solved

So, remember when I went to go buy kale and couldn't find any so I bought collared greens and some other mystery leafy green stuff that was attached to a giant bulbous thing?  Yeah, well tonight I decided to try cooking it.  After Googling "leafy greens attached to bulb like kale" I immediately found out that it's called kohlrabi thanks to this handy dandy guide of cooking greens from Epicurious.  The leafy greens are just like kale or collards in that they need to be majorly washed before cooking and need to cook for a pretty good amount of time.  Also, like all greens, they cook down a whole lot so plan on buying quite a few bunches if you want more than a few bites.  However, unlike some other members of kohlrabi's family, it's got that giant bulb on the end and you know what?  You can eat that, too!  Yup, you just need to cut off all the sticky bits and kind of peel it and voila, eat up.  It can be eaten raw or cooked and if you're in the mood to warm it up, it can be steamed, roasted or even pureed.  Apparently, it's quite popular in Kashmiri cuisine but, since it was already 7PM and I was too tired to get crazy experimental, I decided I'd make an attempt at munji hakh next time.  And that won't be a problem since that huge giant bunch of greens and bulby thing only cost a dollar ninety-nine - pretty good deal if you ask me.  Instead, I whipped up some brown rice topped with a spicy soy and peanut stir-fry loaded with sesame, garlic, onions, corn, edamame, broccoli, tofu, shrimp and, of course, cubed kohlrabi root as well as chopped kohlrabi leaves.  It's cheap, it's high in potassium and vitamin C and it tastes pretty darn good.  The bulb is light and crunchy with a flavor that reminds me of water chestnuts and added a much needed crunch to the mix.  The leaves are tender and have a bitter, peppery taste kind of like an arugula.  I'm definitely into these leafy greens for the fall and winter months and plan on experimenting with all of them.  I can just picture long stewed pots of green soupy goodness and veggie loaded stews to warm me up as it gets chillier.

Have you entered the costume contest yet?  Only a couple more days to submit your entry and win some amazing baked goodness... if you're lucky, I might even deliver it to you in my smokin' hot flamingo costume!  Get those entries in kiddos and oh yeah, happy November!