Wilmington Blue Rocks Team with Krispy Kreme for Extreme Ballpark Grub

I'm not a huge baseball fan but I do enjoy taking in a half dozen games or so during the season.

The ballparks have become better, teams try and interact with the fans more, and the food has certainly been taken up a notch – or twenty – since the days of eating soggy hot dogs and stale popcorn at Vet Stadium.

And give credit to the minor league teams that take the ballpark grub to another level in their attempts to pry fans away from the MLB stadiums nearby.

The Wilmington Blue Rocks – an affiliate of World Series runners-up the Kansas City Royals – have teamed up with Krispy Kreme to offer a heart-stopping concoction sure to get your heart racing and make your fingers a sticky mess.

The as-yet-unnamed "hot dog" (sure, let's call it that) features a dog, bacon and raspberry jelly stuffed inside a glazed Krispy Kreme donut.

You can even help name the dog by entering a contest at the team's website. The winner will receive tickets to opening night, the opportunity to throw out the first pitch, a stadium gift card and bragging rights forever thanks to a plaque commemorating the naming.

Hampdenfest to Feature Eating, Serving, Mac & Cheese Contests

Saturday, September 8 marks the return of Hampdenfest, the eclectic late-summer festival celebrating the best that Baltimore and the Hampden neighborhood have to offer. You'll find good food and drink, plus three small, local brewers including a recent arrival on the Baltimore brew scene, Union Craft Brewing in Woodberry.

And what festival is complete without some show of gastronomic gusto? Cafe Hon is sponsoring a bread pudding eating contest while amateur chefs and pros can compete in the Great Baltimore Mac-Off. As for restaurant staff, well, they get their own race, complete with obstacle course, blind taste test and more.

Win a Copy of the Beekman 1802 Heirloom Cookbook from Bon Appetit

Admittedly, I lasted about 15 minutes into the premiere episode of The Beekman Boys before I switched the dial to something else.

But what do I know? The show – based around two NY city dwellers who ditched the hustle and bustle in favor of a 60-acre goat farm in upstate New York – has spawned a fast-growing lifestyle brand, best-selling book and an award-nominated website.

Naturally, the duo has put together a cookbook and I'm more than willing to choke down my aversion to their show for a chance to win a copy of The Beekman 1802 Heirloom Cookbook. The photos look great and I love any cookbook whose recipe pages have ample space for notes, substitutions, etc.

If you want to enter, simply go to Bon Appetit's Win a Cookbook page and post a comment. You'll need to be registered with the site to do so but they have good newsletters and regular giveaways so it's probably worth your while.

And if you don't win one you can always buy a copy at Amazon.

We receive a small commission for purchases made at Amazon through this blog. Thanks for your support!

Top That! Come Up with Our Fave Burger Topping and Win a $25 Gift Card

Obscene, tasty and obscenely tasty burger toppings are nothing new.

But it feels like the ante has been upped now that Denny's is topping their patty melts with mac & cheese, a dish you'd normally find languishing on the side of your plate, looking on with jealousy as your mouth and eyes devour that burger patty.

Recent years have brought us such out there burger toppings as mashed potatoes, a cheesesteak and mozzarella sticks. But is that the best we can do? After all, this is the country that put a man on the moon! We're not better than the concoctions you'd see created at a 3rd grade cafeteria table?

So, show us what you've got. Visit us on Facebook and answer our post about how you'd top a burger. If you have our favorite topping you win a $25 Cheeseburger in Paradise gift card and we'll even prepare your burger for a future blog post.

Hurry, contest ends Friday, September 30, 2011!

Taco Bell Opens Entries for 2011 Feed the Beat Program

Got a band? Want some free Taco Bell grub? How about a chance to be featured in a Taco Bell commercial?

Then head on over to the Feed the Beat website before September 9, 2011 and enter for your chance at one of the 100 Taco Bell $500 gift cards being offered to up-and-coming bands.

According to an article in QSR Magazine:

• Taco Bell has fed 365 artists with $500 in Taco Bell gift cards, the equivalent of over 180,000 Taco Bell Bean Burritos (2007-2011)
• Chiddy Bang became the first Feed the Beat artist to be featured in a national Taco Bell commercial (2011)
• The Taco Bell Truck (@TacoBellTruck) starred in Feed the Beat artist New Found Glory’s music video, “Truck Stop Blues” (2010)
• Taco Bell and Feed the Beat booked showcases at Austin’s biggest music festival, featuring multiple program artists at a “Feed the Beat” showcase and giving out free food to festival attendees (2010, 2011)
• Taco Bell produced singles for “Best of the Beat” winners Hit the Lights, Thousand Foot Krutch, and Fireflight, giving them valuable exposure to even more audiences (2009)
  

Win Tickets to Safeway BBQ Battle in DC!

Want to attend next weekend's 19th Annual Safeway BBQ Battle in our nation's capital?

Thanks to our friends at Perdue, The Hungover Gourmet is giving away a pair of general admission tickets good for either Saturday, June 25 or Sunday, June 26.

The Barbecue Battle is one of the country's premier barbecue competitions with cooking demonstrations by celebrity chefs, 30 bands, free food samples and the National Pork Barbecue Championship Contest with teams from around the country vying for more than $40,000 in cash and prizes... not to mention the coveted bragging rights!

On Saturday, Perdue's executive chef Chris Moyer will be hosting a chicken cooking demonstration and the company will be holding their Sizzlin' Chicken BBQ Contest! Come on out, check out the demo and sample some free Perdue chicken while you're at it.

Courtesy of Perdue we have a pair of general admission tickets good for Saturday, June 25 (11 AM - 9 PM) or Sunday, June 26 (11 AM - 7:30 PM). Good one day only, event held rain or shine, no cash value.

To enter simply e-mail your name and address to editor@hungovergourmet.com. We will hold a random drawing on Tuesday, June 21, 2011 and tickets will be mailed via USPS Priority Mail on Wednesday, June 22, 2011.

Annual Winter Vanishing Act Complete... THG is Back!

Regular readers of this blog know that I have a real job that tends to eat up almost all of my free time from January through March. Well, this year was no different and when I woke up this morning I realized that I didn't post one single entry during the month of March.

Nothing. Not a recipe link, fast food review, photo or snarky Top Chef observation. And for that, I apologize. But I'm finally starting to see the light at the end of my work tunnel so I figured I'd pop in and let you know that I'm back.

(Of course, if you really miss me you can always keep track of THG's comings and goings via our Facebook page and Twitter feed.)

In the meantime, be sure to get over to the Hyatt Summerfield Suites site and check out the details of their Caribbean Cuisine Challenge. You still have a week and change to enter your recipe in the contest. The winner gets some cool prize but, best of all if you ask me, the winning dish will be featured on the Hyatt Summerfield Suites Summer Grilling Social menu.

That's all for now but I'll be back with pix and updates from our upcoming road trip to NC, reviews, photos and a call for submissions for our 2011 print edition!

Ride for the Feast Chili Cookoff this Sunday

Been buried under a mountain of real work so I haven't had much time to focus on snarky food posts and combing the police blotter for info on who killed who over an under-baked sweet potato.

But I did want to pop in for a quick post about this weekend's upcoming Chili Cookoff here in Baltimore.

On Sunday, February 27th, east Baltimore will be host to an exciting chili showdown – the 2011 Ride For The Feast Chili Cook-Off! The Cook-Off is organized by the Ride For The Feast, a 2-day, 140-mile bike ride that supports Moveable Feast, a nonprofit dedicated to feeding homebound Marylanders with life-threatening conditions.

Join a chili-loving crowd as they congregate at the Moveable Feast kitchens, located at 901 N. Milton Ave, Baltimore MD 21205. Ride for the Feast riders and volunteers will team up and compete to have the best chili at the competition! Winners will be decided by both popular opinion as well as a judging panel. The event will also feature a raffle of a fabulous (secret) prize!

Last year, charisma & culinary creativity were key factors in winning the crowd's approval. Hundreds of dollars were raised to benefit the Ride for the Feast. It is a great opportunity to enjoy some homemade, unique chili recipes, meet new people, and support a good cause.

The Chili Cook-Off will be held on Feb. 27th from 1:00PM to 3:30PM at 901 N. Milton Ave. This event is open to the public. Tickets will be $15 at the door and include chili samples, snacks, and beverages. Raffle tickets will be sold at the door for $5 or inside for $7. Kids twelve and under are free.

So come on out and support this great cause and have and sample some warm, comforting chili as we ring out February and get ready for warmer days ahead!

Article Roundup: I Hate Winter Edition

About a week ago my wife and I started talking about the potential storm that was due to pass over our area on the coming Tuesday and Wednesday. In other words, yesterday.

Despite an ever-wavering forecast that seemed to call for a little snow, rain, freezing rain, sleet, chubby rain, a lotta snow and – in some forecasts – nothing, we were both pretty convinced the Baltimore area wouldn't be lucky enough to get another free pass from Mother Nature.

So it came as little surprise that yesterday morning's slushy inch had turned into a thoroughly inconvenient three inches and that the evening's forecast was shaping up to be a doozy. With my better half stranded at work, the sitter unable to get here and a three-year-old who decided that hanging on the arm of Daddy's chair was the best place to be... all day... what should have been a busy work day turned into a day of reading articles and posting snarky links on our Twitter feed and Facebook page.

In case you missed them (and, shame on you if you did), here's a roundup:

• Next time you're in the mood for seven hamburgers from the Golden Arches just go for the Cheesecake Factory's Grilled Shrimp and Bacon Club instead. Ladies and gentlemen, we bring you The Worst Sandwiches in America.
• Everybody thinks "cheesesteak" when anyone mentions Philadelphia's culinary contributions, but any good DelVal resident knows that the really best sandwich in the City of Brotherly Lunch is the roast pork. Reliable sources tell me DiNic's in Reading Terminal Market is the way to go and Serious Eats' A Sandwich a Day seems to back up that claim.
• Every fast food joint has some kind of "dollar" or "value" menu featuring cheap eats. What I didn't realize was that so many people had strong opinions about what were the best things on those menus.
• If the term "food porn" gets tossed around long enough somebody is going to make, well, a food porn. This flick has been the subject of some controversy after the owner of the food truck used as a set claimed ignorance that a porn was being shot in his kitchen and food prep area. Needless to say the controversy has only brought more attention to the flick and you can get in on the fun with an essay contest.
• Slow food movement? Childhood obesity in the news? Bad weather? Apparently none of these things can slow down McDonald's, which posted 5% worldwide growth in the fourth quarter.
• I'm all for Wal-Mart introducing healthier foods, selling fresh produce, etc. But when I go to Wal-Mart and shop, that's not what I see in people's grocery carts. I see crap and I fear this quote can be applied to the vast majority of Wal-Mart grocery shoppers: "Honestly, I don't know what a trans fat is, but everybody says that's why I'm so fat... Why do they sell it to me if it's bad for me? Aren't foods supposed to be checked or something?"
• The recent controversy over the ingredients in Taco Bell food has stirred up an interesting debate. Namely, what are we expecting from food that costs 89 cents? ABC News poses the question, "Do We Ask Too Much from Fast Food?" ... and gets some interesting answers.
• We all know about the "secret" lingo used to order the variety of offerings at In-N-Out. But did you know you can walk into some McDonald's outlets and order a McGangbang or Sex in a Sandwich? The Guelph Mercury looks at how social media is helping create extreme menu item crazes.
• What's worse than being attacked by a gang of adolescents? When the little bastards pour your bottle of vodka over your head.
• A thief at a Philadelphia-area Whole Foods must have thought the gentle hippies who work there wouldn't notice him pocketing $200 worth of meat. Doesn't he know they probably all ran cross country in high school?

Got a tip for The Hungover Gourmet? Drop us a line via editor@hungovergourmet.com or contact us via our Twitter feed or Facebook page. Till next time, stay warm and cheers!

University of MD Students Launch Competitive Eating Club

I did a lot of dumb stuff when I was in college. But I never went so far as having the university officially recognize it.

Vote for THG in the Mushroom Recipe Challenge

I hope you enjoyed our recent series of posts on the recipes that I created for the Marx Foods Mushroom Recipe Challenge. Now that the entries are all in please take a moment to check out all the recipes and – hopefully – show THG a little love and vote for our Mini Morel Meatloafs. Plus, after you vote you can enter a random drawing to win some fresh truffles. Thanks for your support!

Mushroom Recipe Challenge: Bison Sliders with Mushroom & Onion Crumble

And so it comes to this. Unless, of course, I decide to crank out another recipe given the extended deadline.

I love burgers and I love mushrooms (obviously) but something inside told me that it would be a good idea to whip up an appetizer/tailgate recipe for the competition. Frankly, after finishing cooking and trying the end result I wish I had a bison burger contest to enter... these things ROCK!

To be perfectly honest I think the recipe for the mushroom and onion sauce would have been better if I'd remembered to add a little tomato paste. My original concept was to have the topping be a combination of onions, mushrooms, red wine and tomato paste that would result in a ketchup of sorts. Unfortunately, I forgot the tomato paste and had to settle on the resulting saute which I dubbed a "crumble" for lack of a better term.

But it was still pretty darn good. I picked Dried Porcini for this recipe thanks to their earthy, nutty flavor and their ability stand up to long cooking.

Ingredients
1 lb. ground bison
1 egg
1/4 cup shredded cheddar cheese
1 tsp. garlic powder
1/2 tsp. dried rosemary, crushed
1/2 tsp. kosher salt, divided
1/4 tsp. fresh ground black pepper
1 tbsp. butter
1/2 cup chopped onion
1/2 cup porcini mushrooms, rough chopped
1/4 cup dry red wine
1/4 cup mushroom stock
16 mini buns
Condiments (optional)
Bread & Butter Pickle Chips (optional)

Preheat oven to 425 degrees. Reconstitute mushrooms in boiling water to cover for 20 minutes and reserve stock.

Combine ground bison, egg, cheddar, garlic powder, rosemary, 1/4 tsp salt in a bowl. Mix with clean hands and shape into 16 patties about 2-1/4" in diameter on baking sheet. Place in oven and cook for 10 minutes, flipping once halfway through cooking time.

While burgers cook melt butter over medium-low heat. Add onion and season with 1/4 tsp salt and 1/4 tsp pepper. Cook about 3 minutes and add mushrooms. Cook until dark, stirring occasionally, about 5 minutes. Increase heat to medium-high, add 1/4 cup wine, 1/4 cup stock and deglaze pan. Cook until liquid evaporates. Remove from heat, let cool.

Serve on mini buns and top with condiments and pickles (optional) and approximately 1 tbsp of mushroom & onion mixture.

Mushroom Recipe Challenge: Shrimp & Lobster Mushroom Bisque

With one of my all-time favorite foods – meatloaf – given the mushroom treatment earlier, I thought it would be appropriate to use another variety of dried mushroom to tackle another love of mine. Actually, two loves – seafood bisque and mushroom soup.

Granted, I'm not sure that I've ever had anything other than Campbell's Cream of Mushroom soup more than a half-dozen times in my life so I wasn't really sure what I was getting myself into. I ended up choosing Lobster Mushrooms thanks to their sweet, delicate flavor but in retrospect perhaps I should have gone with the Black Trumpet variety.

Ingredients
1/2 lb. medium shrimp, cleaned, peeled, deveined
1/2 cup lobster mushrooms, chopped
2-1/2 tbsp butter
1 tbsp shallot, minced
2/3 cup dry white wine
1/3 tsp nutmeg
1/4 tsp Bacon Salt (Original)*
1-1/2 cups heavy cream
2/3 cup mushroom stock, divided
1/6 cup all purpose flour

Reconstitute mushrooms in boiling water to cover for about 20 minutes and reserve broth. Place shrimp and 1/3 cup stock in blender or mini chopper and process until finely minced.

Heat large saucepan or other heavy-bottomed pot over medium-high. Melt butter and saute mushrooms and shallots until liquid evaporates. Remove from heat and stir in flour to coat, then add wine and stir.

Add 1/3 cup stock, seasonings and shrimp mixture. Bring to boil then reduce heat and simmer for 10 minutes, stirring often. Add cream and heat through. Do not boil.

Using immersion blender puree until desired consistency. Can also be pureed in blender in batches.

*If Bacon Salt is not available use commercial Creole or Seafood blend.

Mushroom Recipe Challenge: Mini Morel Meatloaf

For this recipe I chose morels because of their deep, earthy flavor and the fact that they work well in dishes like stuffing. As a meatloaf lover I'm fond of ordering the dish whenever I go to a new diner – frankly, if you can't do this down-home dish right I probably can't trust you with any of your more exotic endeavors. The following recipe makes wonderful mini meatloafs that would be great as appetizers. Makes 9 servings.

Ingredients
1 medium onion, chopped
1 tbsp olive oil
1/2 cup chopped morels (approx 1/2 oz dried)
1 lb. ground beef or meatloaf mixture
1 egg, lightly beaten
1 tbsp chopped parsley
1/3 cup bread crumbs
1/3 cup mushroom stock
1/2 cup Havarti, shredded

Heat oven to 350 degrees.

Reconstitute morels in boiling water to cover for about 20 minutes and reserve broth. Chop mushrooms. Heat saute pan over medium high heat, add olive oil and saute mushrooms and onions until onions are soft but now browned. Remove from heat and set aside to cool.

Use clean hands to mix ground beef, egg, parsley, bread crumbs, mushroom stock and mushroom/onion mixture in bowl. Coat muffin pan with cooking spray and place meatloaf mixture into muffin tin.

Bake approximately 40-50 minutes or until done. Remove from oven and top each loaf with shredded cheese. Return to oven 3-5 minutes or until cheese is melted.

Mushroom Recipe Challenge: Introduction

I have to admit that I'm very intimidated by cooking contests and recipe competitions.

I'm much more of a food fan than I am a gourmet and I consider myself a better cook than chef. In fact, I probably would have been a great line cook in somebody's kitchen had I not become a freelance marketing consultant and web entrepreneur. If I've learned anything about myself over the years it's that there are some situations where I'm good at flexing my creativity and there are some at which I'm not (or don't feel very comfortable).

For me, the kitchen is a place where I don't feel at home freelancing. I tend to follow recipes if not to the letter at the very least close to the spirit in which they were intended. Chris is much more of an experimenter when it comes to recipes and her adventurousness has paid off with handfuls of ribbons in the baking competition at the Maryland State Fair.

But I was admittedly intrigued when I read about the Marx Foods Blogger Mushroom Recipe Challenge. The concept was pretty simple. The fine foods purveyor would provide participants with samples of various dried mushrooms hand-foraged from the woods of the Pacific Northwest. All they asked was that each participant prepare at least one recipe and post it on their blog. The winner would receive shipments of the dried mushrooms of their choosing throughout the season.

A wrinkle that made this challenge a little tough is my wife's aversion to the main ingredient. In the decade we've been together I've always counted on her as an excellent culinary sounding board, taster and critic. Considering the "something in here smells bad" face she makes if I even mention the word "mushrooms" I knew I was sorta on my own as far as recipe development and cooking was concerned.

I ended up developing three recipes for the challenge and I just read that the company has extended the deadline from October 11 to October 14. Hmmmm, maybe I'll develop another recipe or two with what I have left.

In the meantime I hope you're intrigued with what I put together so far...

Let the Mushroom Recipe Challenge Begin

A few weeks ago I was going through some food-related posts from Twitter and saw an interesting mention from the fine folks at Marx Foods plugging their upcoming Blogger Mushroom Recipe Challenge. Though THG isn't a big "recipe blog" I thought it might be fun to throw my hat in the ring and see if they'd pick me to take part in the challenge.

Lo and behold, they did! And yesterday afternoon I walked from the mailbox with a box of dried mushrooms hand-foraged from the forests of the Pacific Northwest for me to experiment with.

Upon opening the box I found five small bags, each filled with such varieties as morels, lobster, porcini, matsutake and black trumpet. Unique and striking in their own way the mushrooms also smell incredible! Earthy, fragrant and meaty aromas jumped from the open box, filling my head with ideas.

I spent last night looking through cookbooks and surfing the web for inspiration, hoping to come up with a few different ideas I could make my own and successfully show off these fine ingredients. After a few hours my mind was spinning with ideas for soups, snacks, main dishes, toppings and more.

Of course, it'll be tough. My wife is my biggest help and best critic when it comes to experimenting with new dishes but she hates, Hates, HATES mushrooms with a passion so I fear she'll spend most of Mushroompalooza making gagging sounds and scrunching up her nose like she smells week-old trash.

Stay tuned as I channel my inner chef and come up with what I can only hope will be an entry that at least doesn't embarrass me!

The five sample bags of dried mushrooms I received from Marx Foods for taking part in the challenge.

What's Your Favorite Breakfast? Tell Us and Win!

What's your favorite breakfast?

If you dropped by THG HQ most mornings you'd probably find me chowing down on a ho-hum bowl of Special K, raisins and 2% organic milk. But when I do think outside the (cereal) box you'll often find me making a pork roll, egg and cheese sandwich served on a bagel or roll.

Oh sure, I'm not opposed to breakfast sausages or other meats like pancetta or bacon, but nothing conjures up memories of years spent in the Delaware Valley like a tangy hunk of pork roll topped with an over easy egg whose yolk is oozing out the sides and onto my hands.

Tell us what your favorite breakfast is and you can win breakfast on our good friends at Hardee's. To celebrate their new Loaded Biscuit 'N' Gravy with Sausage and Eggs they've given us coupons to award to lucky THG readers.

Simply e-mail editor@hungovergourmet.com by midnight EST on Monday, May 31, 2010 with your favorite breakfast. We'll share selected entries on the blog and randomly select eight (8) entries to receive a coupon for a free Loaded Biscuit 'N' Gravy with Sausage and Eggs featuring made from scratch buttermilk biscuits, eggs, sausage patties and a heaping helping of sausage gravy.

Baltimore Names Its Ultimate Couch Potato!

Received January 2 at 8:57 PM...

ESPN Zone Baltimore has a winner!

Jessica Mosley, a 27-year-old education coordinator from Arlington, VA, won Baltimore's 2nd annual Ultimate Couch Potato competition -- outlasting 30-year-old sports producer Chris Dachille from Timonium, MD who threw up the white flag this evening.

Mosley watched 32 hours, 59 minutes and 14 seconds of televised sports to take home this year's Ultimate Couch Potato title. She's not at all tired, is staying for dinner and the end of the Arkansas/East Carolina game and says she'll definitely be back for the three-peat win next year.

The runner-up, Chris Dachille, called it quits seconds earlier, citing exhaustion and applauding Jessica, while saying he had more fun than he could have ever imagined.

Jessica's prize pack is worth over $4,000, which includes a customized XZipit™ recliner, a $1,000 gift certificate to Best Buy to buy their own HD TV, one year of free cable or satellite television, $1,000 in gift certificates and game cards to ESPN Zone and, of course, the Ultimate Couch Potato Champion’s trophy complete with a real live spud.

Ladies and Gentlemen, Presenting Your Ultimate Couch Potato Contestants

On Friday afternoon I'll be sitting at home, watching the Winter Classic (Go Flyers!) and enjoying the aroma of a turkey roasting in the oven. Though my chances of winning a big-screen home entertainment package are pretty slim, I will have the opportunity to go to the bathroom whenever I want, nod off if the chance presents itself, and ring in the new year with a frosty beer or two (possibly served on the Spectrum Ice coaster I got my wife for Christmas).

That's more than I can say for the competitors in this year's ESPN Zone Ultimate Couch Potato Competition. As I reported previously, competitors will sit in recliners to see who can absorb the most continuous hours of televised sports without falling asleep or throwing in the towel. The Baltimore contestants include defending champ Jessica Mosley (whose unofficial Guiness World Record of 70 hours and 45 seconds dusts marks from NY and Chicago winners), 2009 runner-up Alex Pyzik, Chad Jones (a communications director from Fort Meade, MD), and Chris Dachille (a sports producer from nearby Timonium, MD).

I don't know if any of the finalists are THG readers but one can only hope. For more on the contestants here and in Chicago and New York, check out the ESPN Zone website.

It's a Dip-Tastic Time of Year!

What do holiday parties, college bowl season and the increasingly exciting NFL schedule have in common? They're all situations that scream out for the right dip... but what is the right dip?

You might be a Ranch lover or your heart might skip a beat at the sight of a fresh bowl of Guacamole. Me? I'm a French Onion guy... always have been, always will be. Heck, one of the first things I wrote about on this blog was our Jersey shore house delicacy of hot dogs topped with French Onion dip.

But, like all great debates we could sit and argue the merits of different dips and the perfect delivery system (potato chips? tortilla chips? carrots? celery?) for hours. And believe me, I have.

So I'm pleased to report that somebody finally stepped up to the plate and created a site where we can finally answer the questions that have been plaguing us! Check out the Dean's Dip Dipstakes Sweepstakes either at Facebook or the Dipstakes web site and enter the weekly drawing for a Dean's Dip Tailgate Prize Package. You might also walk away with the grand prize of a home entertainment system! While you're there you can vote on the burning issues of the day, show your handicapping skills by picking the weekly NFL winners, connect with fellow dip-fanatics on Twitter and more.

The good folks at Dean's Dip were nice enough to send THG some coupons good for a FREE tub of their dip. If you'd like to be entered into a random drawing for a free copy of THG #11 and a coupon for a free Dean's Dip, e-mail us your name and mailing address before midnight EST on Friday, December 18, 2009. We'll randomly select four winners and make their holiday season a little dippier. Be sure to include the word DIP in the subject line of your e-mail.