Meet Chief Justice of the Supreme Court Houston Porter

Houston was raised in Petaluma, attended college in SF and now has come back home. He spent 8 years volunteering with The Burning Man and now joins the Chili Cookoff as Supreme Court Justice. Houston loves classic American cuisine…like chili. His first step in planning trips to new locales is to map out where all the microbreweries, BBQ and burger joints are located. He looks for food festivals and eats where the locals eat.
“Although I usually choose variety over quality and/or quantity the Chili Cook-off
doesn’t make you choose. One gets the best of all worlds with quality, quantity
AND variety…and great crafted beer to boot!”

Meet Judge Yovanna Bieberich

Yovanna Bieberich is a staff writer for the Petaluma Argus-Courier, a post she's held for the past 8 years. She grew up in San Jose, but traded the concrete jungle for the cow pastures of Sonoma County in 1989. She's a 1990 graduate of Sonoma Valley High School and earned a bachelor's degree in communication studies from Sonoma State University in 2000. She began her career in journalism at the Sonoma State Star and the North Bay Bohemian.

"Those were really my formative chili-making years" and ever since then Yovanna has kept an ample supply of fixins for spur of the moment chili making. "I make a fine bowl of chili if I do say so myself," she added. When not making chili, Yovanna keeps herself busy with wedding planning (the big day is April 7). She also sings on the worship team of Petaluma Christian Church.
"C'mon Petaluma! Feed me some chili!"

Meet Judge Meloni Courtway

Winner of Martha Stewart’s Best Baker in America contest, aspiring TV food host and all around good spirit in the kitchen. Meloni began her career with food at the CCA in San Francisco. She was raised in West Marin and after traveling east with the United States Coast Guard, which her husband is an active member of, she has returned home to settle in Petaluma, for awhile. She is also currently very involved in a friends gourmet and organic catering company, Indian Peach Foods. She is a former food and family writer for a The Times Herald in Port Huron, Michigan and continues to work on her food writing and recipe collections now that she is back in Petaluma.

Meloni won Martha Stewart’s Best baker in America 2005 and cooked her winning Petaluma Persimmon & White Chocolate Bread Pudding, live on air with Martha herself. She is a mom and a wife and loves both of her guys!

Meet Judge David Glass

In David's words "It is my pleasure to serve as a judge of the Chili Cook-off. This will be a difficult task as I don't believe I have ever tasted an entry that I did not like. They start at really good and go to great. I tend to like it hot but as Harry Truman said if you can't take the heat stay out of the kitchen.

“I love Cinnabar, Chili, and Salsa so this is not only a must do event but obviously one of my favorite days of the year. I want to thank Cinnabar for all of the work they do in our community with our youth, the school program, and the family entertainment they bring to our community. Every contestant is a winner simply by being here today.”

“I want to wish all of the contestant's good luck, and I truly am just glad to be able to help. I hope you will enjoy this event as much as I do”

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Meet Judge Jason Jenkins

Jason Jenkins is a native of Petaluma and has been in the food and wine industry since his first job at Foster Freeze in 1983. He graduated with honor’s from UC Davis in 1991 and still maintains that Davis still has the best hamburger in the state. He has travelled to 51 countries tasting the culinary delights of many nations and loves to cook. He is a wine-writer and you can find his column in the community section of the Argus Courier where he talks about wine and does restaurant reviews. Jason is the owner of Vine and Barrel Wine Shop on Kentucky Street in Petaluma

Meet Judge Holly Rudin-Braschi

Holly Rudin-Braschi, is author of Grill Power www.grillpower.com the first and still most comprehensive book for indoor electric grills, which has sold over 50,000 copies. An American College of Sports Medicine certified health, fitness, and nutrition lecturer, Holly is a sought after speaker and culinary instructor by major corporations, health organizations, and cooking schools throughout the USA where she presents her Feasting in the Fast Lane® programs at Apple Computer, 3M, Chevron, American Cancer Society, Sur La Table and many others. A frequent guest on both TV and radio throughout the US, Canada and Europe, Holly has entertained audiences with her language facility in French, Italian, German and Greek. Holly has also appeared as a spokesperson for culinary appliances on QVC, generating over $10 Million in sales.

Holly travels the world to write food, nutrition and travel articles that appear regularly in national newspapers and magazines including Cooking Light, Prevention, Sunset Every Season Magazine (Safeway stores) and on numerous websites. Holly holds a Bachelors Degree from Vassar College and a Masters Degree from the Manhattan School of Music. In addition, she studied nutrition at California State University at Hayward and holds a German certification from Middlebury College in Vermont. Holly also speaks Italian, French, as well as basic Norwegian and Greek.

To become better acquainted with Holly, visit her on the web at www.grillpower.com

Meet Judge Pamela Torliatt

Pamela Torliatt is a fourth generation Petaluman and has served the public for the last 13 years: from 1993 to 1996 as a Petaluma Planning Commissioner and for the last nine years as a Petaluma City Councilmember. She is now the Mayor of Petaluma.

Pamela was born and raised in Petaluma and attended local public schools. In 1989, she graduated from the University of California at Santa Barbara with a Bachelor of Arts degree in Political Science. Upon graduation she returned home where she entered the political arena with help from then-Petaluma City Councilmember Lynn Woolsey and became active as a Treasurer for Sonoma County National Women's Political Caucus.

Meet Judge Michael Hayes

Michael Hayes is a Santa Rosa resident, shadow producer (officially associate producer) of The Drive with Steve Jaxon on KSRO. Michael is an occasional bloggeron various topics (www.sonomablue.blogspot.com) and had a brief tenure as a Math Lecturer at SSU. Michael also taught those 70's Frisbee classes at SSU that so amused Herb Caen. Yeah, he was the guy! While Michael is rather free-spirited he has refined his salsa palate through time by managing several Mexican restaurants and extensive travel throughout Mexico & Central America. Michael also has a totally unsupported claim that Senor Pico De Gallo is a character in his unpublished novel. Hmmm. Despite his free-spirit Michael is a salsa traditionalist. He believes that a great salsa should remind him of an afternoon in Cabo drinking Pacificos watching the whales or a night in Costa Rica eating fresh ceviche. He believes a champion salsa should remind him of a woman of dubious character named Consuelo.

Meet Judge Heather Irwin Heather Irwin is the mouth behind BiteClub, a food and dining column and online blog for the Press Democrat. Her writing has appeared in Wine & Spirits Magazine, Imbibe, Edible San Francisco and the San Francisco Chronicle.

Meet Judge Craig Stammler

Craig was born in Brooklyn, New York, raised in San Francisco and now resides in Petaluma. He has over 30 years experience in the restaurant and hospitality industry and has worked in some of the more prestigious Italian restaurants in the greater Bay Area. Craig capitalized on his first venture, Cucina Bella Catering offering full service dining for small quaint private dinner parties to grand gala events - and built on that to eventually create Bella Luma Caffe'; a Focaccia Bar / Panini Grill with 24 flavors of Italian gelato and an outside beer and wine garden. He is co-founder, with his wife, of "Blues and Jazz on the Plazz", a FREE summer music series spanning from May to August, Saturdays from 2-5PM, now in its 5th season. Craig is very active in the community, enjoys being the "godfather" of Helen Putnam Plaza and will definitely bring some spice to the judging panel.

Meet Judge Michael J

Michael J is a 25 year broadcast veteran, having been in Sonoma County for 3 years now. He started as the Afetrnoon Personality on KJZY and was moved to Mornings on sister station Real Country, K106.3 last April. MJ is a chili and salsa advocate and has often been quoted with the quip "Next to music there is nothing that lifts the spirits and strengthens the soul more than a good bowl of chili."