Every week, your challenge is to create an eye-opening dish within our capricious themes and parameters. Blog your submission on Open Salon under your real name by Monday 10 a.m. EST -- with photos and your story behind the dish -- and we'll republish the winners on Salon on Tuesday. (It takes only 30 seconds to start a blog.) And yes, mashed potato sculpture counts as a dish. Emphatically.
Thin Mints, Samoas, Caramel De-Lites ... Girl Scout Cookie season is in full swing, and this week, we want to see your Girl Scout Cookie-inspired treats. Do you crumble Thin Mints into a pie crust? Do you top ice cream with crumbs, caramel, chocolate and coconut to make Samoa-like sundaes? Are you the kind of obsessive who bakes your own re-created versions of your favorites during the 10 months of the year you can't have them? Or do you just hole up with your hoarded boxes? How do you celebrate the season?
Be sure to tag your post: SKC Girl Scout cookies
Scoring and winning
Scores will be very scientific, given for appealing photos, interesting stories behind your submissions, creativity, execution and young female empowerment.
AND NOW, LAST WEEK'S WINNER!
Lucy Mercer! For recounting her brief career as a sports genius, and for a smoky tuna dip that's a creative take on the classic tonnato sauce.
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AND HOW ABOUT A HAND FOR OUR CATEGORY WINNERS?
In the category of Sports and Food Psychology:
Sally Swift, for her Grand Unified Theory of Philadelphia Fatness: "People define their own and their town's success by the performance of their sports teams. When people are unhappy, they eat. Put those two facts together and Philly sports fans are doomed to be pie hole stuffing foodaholics." (Recipe for brisket and potatoes included, naturally.)
In the Drinks and Libations category:
Elizabeth Kirby, for unabashedly turning her healthy-as-can-be juicer into a margarita machine. "The margarita has taught me a lot. Expanded my horizons. Like the time my husband and I were in Acapulco when I began speaking Spanish (and I don’t hablo espanol)." (Recipe for fresh margaritas included.)
In the category of AutoSnackFoodBiography:
Jenna Marangoni, for a life told in popcorn. (Last week's Kitchen Challenge winner was a life told in puddings. Who knew these foods could be so poignant?) "When I left home, I was 16, and it was 2004. I was going to Greece for university, and the only thing I took with me, other than my clothes and a precious copy of '1984,' was a bag of popcorn." (Recipe for sweet-salty kettle corn included.)
In the Comedic Misunderstanding category:
Marisapw, for spiced nuts and fistfight near-misses: "I walk in through the din of hair dryers and house music. And one of the stylists, Dottie, shouted out to me, 'Marisa, you're not so wonderful!'" (Recipe for rosemary spiced nuts included.)
In the Healthy Food Apostasy category:
Lisa Kuebler, for pigs-in-blankets, pepperoni bread and, thankfully, chicken wings. (Method for Texas Pete Hot Wings included.)
And in the classic category of Chips and Dips:
Linda Shiue, for a trio of direct-from-Oaxaca salsas. "Salsa is so easy to make, I don't know why people buy it in jars. It is also indescribably superior when made fresh." (Recipes for chipotle, tomatillo and red salsas included.)
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