Stephen Mejias

Associate publisher Keith Pray took a small spoonful and gasped: "Oh my god, that's hot!"

"Oh no. Is it really?"

"Yes!"

I despaired. No one will vote for my chili now, I thought.

We were having our third all-staff cook-off. Previous dishes included meatballs and macaroni and cheese. This time, it would be chili. Though my goal had been to achieve the perfect balance of sweetness and spice, it seemed I had gone overboard with the peppers. How could I resist? At the C-Town on Jersey Avenue, the randomly packed, green, red, and yellow peppers were unmarked but for a simple produce label which read:

HOT!

What else?

Two pounds of ground beef
Four cans of beans: small red, large red, black, and pink
One green, one red bell pepper, diced
One onion, diced
Several cloves of garlic, whole
One 12 oz can of tomato sauce
Two 16 oz cans of Old Milwaukee&#151one for the chili, one for the cook

I let all of that simmer for a good three hours while adding salt, pepper, chili powder, cumin, and cinnamon&#151a pinch here, a shake there, as needed, throughout the entire cooking time. When it smelled right, I knew I had added enough cinnamon. When my lips tingled, I knew I had added enough spice. The soundtrack (and secret ingredient) to this event was Roberto Torres' El Rey Del Montuno.

When it was all done, it was certainly tasty. Award-winning? I doubted it. And now that Keith had notified me of how dangerously spicy it actually was, my hopes sank.

All of the entries were yummy. As digital sales director Jon Banner said, "I would not be disappointed by any of these, if they were served to me in a restaurant."

Had I been taking part in the ballot, my vote would have gone to Number 3. Allison Romang of Automobile and Motor Trend cooked up a dish that struck a fine balance of flavor and spice, with just the right texture&#151hearty but not too heavy.

When it was time to tally the votes, however, Number 6 kept coming up. Number 6?

Hey, that's me!

Jon sent out the e-mail:

Ladies and Gentleman,

If you see Stephen walking through the halls of the 6th floor with a little extra swagger in his step and a certain confident smirk on his face, it's not because his girlfriend is pregnant or because he got a big fat raise. Ohhhh no... It's better and bigger then that. Stephen is the new Chili Cook-Off Champion, the reigning king of meat, beans, and spice...

I am proud.