Category Archives: Contests

We have a Winner! Bronco Berry Ball Sauce

Bronco Berry Poll

#Bronco13 Contest

Trista’s Bronco Berry Ball Sauce wins!  Thanks to all 3 of your for submitting recipes, thanks to all 13 of you who voted.  (Or less people, multiple times…)

I thought I had set up the poll to close automatically after a week… but it seems to have kept going.  So, I froze it in time with the screen capture to the right.

I’ll contact Trista to let her know she won, and get the 13 packets of Bronco Berry goodness on their way to her!

If you have no idea what this is all about, where have you been?  You may follow the adventures of Bronco Jalapeño in these posts:

Perhaps Trista will give us an acceptance speech, or a photo of her Bronco Berry Ball Sauce!

Fun with virtual guitar builders…

This is why I don't design guitars.

This is why I don’t design guitars.

Screenshot of the 1986 IBM PC versionThis is my new Tetris (Thankfully I’ve never had a phone cool enough to play Angry Birds.)  Online guitar builders are popping up like mad, and now there’s a contest for making the ugliest one over at Joe Gore’s Tone Fiend blog:

Go try your luck at making the worst!  There is some serious competition over there.  Sadly, I like some of the “bad” color schemes.  I guess I do like goofy guitars after all.  (You may remember the mutant beauty pageant.)

I even used one of the guitar builders to help plan out my Turner’s Iced Tea guitar idea.

Poorly Thrown Together Iced Tea Guitars

Poorly Thrown Together Iced Tea Guitars

Matt at Guitar WTF has also posted a great list of virtual guitar builders in the past.  Some are great, some are not so great.  They all seem to have some bugs as well as some great qualities.

I’ll list the ones I know about:

Are there any glaring omissions?

I’m fully expecting one of these to pop upon the Guitarz blog one day.  None are as crazy as the Tom Bingham stuff or Bertram’s, though.

NES Guitar 15

I still haven’t seen a virtual guitar builder that can do this though. I did a Google image search for ‘Tetris Guitar’ and came up short. This was the next best thing. It would be cool if it still worked to play video games.  Really though, $190 is a very reasonable price.  If I had $200 to spare, I’d get one of these.

We have three #Bronco13 contest entries! Vote for your favorite.

So, about 2 weeks ago, I started a contest.  Due to circumstances beyond my control, I had to delay the voting portion for a week.  We shall commence forthwith.

We have 3 entrants, and now it’s up to you the reader to decide who wins 13 packets of Arby’s glorious Bronco Berry Sauce that was bestowed upon me by Hala Moddelmog.

Here are the entries, you may vote for your favorite at the bottom:

Savory Bronco Balls by Matt

1 lb. ground beef
1/2 c. dry bread crumbs
1/3 c. minced onion
1/4 c. milk
1 egg
1 tbsp. parsley flakes
1 tsp. salt
1/2 tsp. pepper
1/2 tsp. Worcestershire sauce
1/4 c. shortening
2 Cups Bronco Sauce

Mix beef, crumbs, onion, milk, egg, parsley flakes, salt, pepper, and Worcestershire sauce. Gently shape into 1-inch balls. Melt shortening in electric skillet, brown meatballs. Remove meatballs from skillet; drain off fat. Heat Bronco Berry Sauce in large crock pot stirring constantly. Add meatballs; stir until coated. Simmer 30 minutes, serve hot with a toothpick or in a sub roll.

The BBP by Damaris

(Bronco Berry Pierogie)

Ingredients
*Pierogies
*Butter
*Bronco Berry Sauce

Directions
*crisp up some Pierogies in butter in a skillet
*put on a plate
*dip in Bronco Berry Sauce, or drizzle on for a fabulous presentation

Bronco Berry Ball Sauce by Trista

Sauce:
Ingredients:

48 precooked meatballs

(Meatball recipe at the end for people who don’t know how to wad together some meat and seasoning)
12 oz bottle of Heinz Chili Sauce
8 oz jar of grape jelly
Arby’s Bronco Berry Sauce
Dump entire bottle of chili sauce into a pot. Add half of the jar of grape jelly (4 ounces) and equal amount of Arby’s Bronco Berry Saunce. Heat and stir until everything cooks down into a yummy looking sauce. Add meatballs. Simmer. Serve.

So, now you vote!  Who deserves to win the 13 lucky packets of sweet jalapeño goodness?

You have a week to vote, then I’ll ship the goodies to the winner after they’re notified.  You vote according to the rules of the poll, so I believe you can vote often.  Get your friends & family to vote for you, and may the best recipe win!

If you haven’t been following the adventures of Bronco Jalapeño, you may want to catch up:

A CONTEST FOR YOU! Gimme a recipe, win some Bronco Berry Sauce.

240 Packs of Bronco Berry Sauce!

Want 13 of these?

OK.  If you’ve been reading my blog, you know that I have an entire  case (& a little more) of Arby’s delicious Bronco Berry Sauce just taking up space in my dining room.  I would eat it all if I could, but it’s probably not an achievable (or wise) goal.  Sadly, my Bronco Berry Sauce will have to go without its perfect partner Arby’s delicious Jalapeño Bites… as they have not yet returned to the menu here in Pittsburgh.  Perhaps there is still reason to Occupy Arby’s even if Hala asked me nicely not to?

I’m left with a few tasks… figuring out what to do with the sauce besides dunking Tyson’s chicken tenders in it, and trying to pawn some off on friends, family, and maybe even a busker.  It expires in June, and I’d hate for any (more) to go to waste.

I was thinking it may make an excellent glaze for meatloaf, or even as an internal ingredient.  It would also probably be good as a glaze on grilled or baked chicken, but I’m guessing the high sugar content would make it blacken quite quickly.  I wonder if it will freeze?  A Bronco Berry Popsicle could be either incredible or disastrous.  Would there be a way to work it into an icing (or again as an ingredient) in a chocolate cupcake?

My readers and commenters are obviously the most enlightened and intelligent group of people I know, so I’m turning to you for ideas.

I promise to wrap it better than my last gift from Arby's if I need to mail it to you.

I promise to wrap it better than my last gift from Arby's if I need to mail it to you.

Here’s where the contest comes in.  Give me your recipe for something including Arby’s Bronco Berry Sauce as an ingredient.  You may want to familiarize yourself with it if you’ve never tried it.  The name is misleading, it contains no berries or horses.  It’s sweet, it’s spicy, it’s awesome.  This will be like Chopped or Iron Chef, except instead of TV fame and butt-loads of money the prize is… Let’s say 13 packs of Bronco Berry Sauce, because I like the number 13.  Also, I’m not Alton Brown or Ted Allen.  If it’s really good, we’ll maybe eventually have to make copycat recipes to continue making the prize winner.

You have until Friday May 4th to get your recipes to me.  I’ll post them in a blog, put up a poll, and have the readers vote.  We’ll close the poll & pick a winner on May 13th.  You can enter multiple times within reason.  Voting will happen with the little poll widget here, so encourage your friends, neighbors, family, and even enemies to vote for you.

The only way to enter: You can email your fantastically delicious recipe to world.and.lunar.domination@gmail.com with the subject containing the hashtag “#Bronco13” & the name of your recipe.  We’ll annoy people with it on Twitter, Google+, Pinterest, & wherever else hashtags work.

In the event of a tie, both of you will get 13 packets of Bronco Berry Sauce.

What are you waiting for?  Get to work!

A double number two! | Ernie and the Berts

So, we got 2nd place & Ernie won a special award: A double number two! | Ernie and the Berts.

Validate my goofy guitar habit?

So, not too long ago, I submitted some photos of my favorite toys to the Tone Fiend blog’s Mutant Beauty Pageant.  If you’d like to follow the saga at the Tone Fiend blog, check these posts out:

You can pick your 3 favorites, and list them in the comments here: Mutant Beauty Pageant: Choose the “Winner!” You can also email your votes if you’d like them to be anonymous.  Of course, your 3 favorites could be for all 3 of my guitars, but… I do encourage you to vote for your actual favorites.

No prize was apparent at the time of my entry, but now I see a nifty little custom-built Uglyface stompbox is being offered up as booty.  I certainly wouldn’t mind playing around with the little thing.  At any rate, it was cool that people got to show off their weird guitars, and we can all share in our inherent oddness.

Mutant Beauty Pageant: Choose the “Winner!”

Mutant Beauty Pageant: Choose the “Winner!”

You love me, you really love me!

Pittsburgh’s Most Valuable Blogger Awards 2011

Pittsburgh’s Most Valuable Blogger Awards 2011

So, this thing happened…

CBS Pittsburgh’s Most Valuable Blogger Awards 2011

There was blogging, there was voting.  There was certainly some goofiness.  I still haven’t been contacted by anyone at CBS.  I know other bloggers have.  Just so they know, the contact form on my blog works quite well.  There was something about prizes, but the rules detailing how one could claim a prize are gone.  I really thought I had no chance of winning, as there are so many cool blogs out there.  I’m not sure what kind of bragging rights this gives me.  Do I get a T-shirt or stickers or something?  “Hey, I’m annoying and goofy on the internet!”

It’s good to know that I’m the people’s choice, and not the editor’s choice.  I blog for the people, not for the editors.  I bet I won begrudgingly.  Ha ha.  They were probably all like “Oh crap, not that one!”.  I have to say thank you to whoever nominated me, and thank you for all my friends & family (& readers – who most likely fall into one of the aforementioned groups) who voted!

Here are the results…

Dining and Entertainment

Local Affairs

Sports

Health, Fitness and Medical

Lifestyle and Family

Everything Else

I call shenanigans on Only In Pittsburgh & Beyond Willpower not winning at least one “choice” in their respective categories.  It’s also odd that some of the people’s choice & editor’s choice were the same thing…  Why not spread the love?  I will go all mushy on you now, & say that everyone wins here, because we all got some exposure & hopefully traffic to our blogs that we might not have had before.  I’ve even added a few of these to my WordPress reader/feed.  Go check out all the blogs and their descriptions, and see if there’s something that piques your interest!

Some of the ones I dig:

Hopefully we all say “yinz” without noticing and with pride.  Thanks CBS & Pittsburgh!  And, of course, thanks to these guys & gals for letting me know what’s up!

Thanks Peeps!

Thanks Peeps!

CBSPittsburgh.com’s Most Valuable Blogger Awards 2011

CBSPittsburgh.com’s Most Valuable Blogger Awards 2011

Pittsburgh’s Most Valuable Blogger Awards 2011 …?

So, I’m checking out my WordPress stats (it’s like an addiction now), and I see this link:

blogger.cbslocal.com/most-valuable-blogger/score/27/1/

I clicked it, and it was asking for a login.  Huh?  I did a quick Google search and found this:  Pittsburgh’s Most Valuable Blogger Awards 2011

It reads…

After much deliberation and careful consideration of many nominees, CBS Pittsburgh has narrowed the field of Finalists down for this year’s MVB. Voting for finalists is open now through September 9th. Let your voice be heard – vote now!

I’m in the list!  So, to whoever nominated me, thanks! You forgot to include “obviously insane” in the description:

The topics are enjoyable to read & are written in a way that is highly entertaining, while containing favorable opinions & insight.

VOTE FOR MY ASS!

Vote for me! Please?

I’m in the Dining/Entertainment category.  They have a badge up there, and they say to use it, so I will.  And, here’s where I’ll beg for your votes.  It looks like you can vote once a day in each category.  Apparently, you have from now to Sept. 9th to vote.  So, please… be obnoxious with your voting!  Vote daily for yours truly, and spread the word!

I have to warn you, if I win it’s just going to encourage more goofiness.  Fast food joints will most likely not be amused.

Also… in all seriousness, I was looking through the other nominees.  Use this as an opportunity to check out some other cool local blogs!  I see Only In Pgh is up, & I love that blog.  No one nominated Secret Agent L?  None of the blogs listed on UrbanSpoon Pittsburgh are up against me in the dining category?  There are a bunch of cool ones there!

Twitter has opened me up to the wonderful world of bloggers out there, both near & far.

Finalists Have Been Announced! Go Vote!

You dropped this...

Check out the contest, vote for your favorites, and tell me in the comments below which blogs I should be following & why.  (After you vote for me, of course.)

Thanks again to the nominator (whoever you are) and to any potential voters!