I, Janice Lundberg-Bloomquist, just took home Shipshewana County’s blue-ribbon prize for Best Green Bean Hotdish, and I couldn’t have pulled it off without these magical stickers!

If you know anything about the town’s annual hotdish bake-off, you know it’s more about politics than it is about hotdish - that’s Shipshewana for ya! Now I’m as non-confrontational as they come, but as soon as the bake-off comes around every year, I turn into a real catty kitty, let me tell ya! Campaigning starts four months before the big day and this time I was bound and determined to beat out that Barb Larson out of her three-year, first place winning streak. Last year, Barb went all out and hired a small group of young boys to go door-to-door handing out samples and campaigning for votes — her entry being a Chicken Chow-Mein Keto “Hotdish”, I put hotdish in quotes, because UFF DA!  I think we all can agree THAT IS NOT A Hotdish AND SHOULD HAVE BEEN DISQUALIFIED — but I digress.

I knew if I was going to outdo that Bad News Barb, I was going to have to do more than create a door-to-door, bounty-hunting, chow-mein-mafia out of all the boys in town. I was going to have to saturate the county with my message — and then it struck me like when on the “Murder She Wrote” she figures out exactly how the crime was done!

Just last week Liquid Screen Design sent me some stickers to review.  They said people put them on their laptop personal computers, water bottles, and cellular phones.  I know what you are thinking, I asked too, if they are stickers don’t they come off when they get wet? But no!  These are designed to stay nice even when washing a bottle.  What will they think of next!?!

Here comes the boom Barb! I ordered these neat little weather-proof, UV-resistant guys with custom messages like “VOTE FOR JANICE”,  “JANICE KNOWS THE DIFFERENCE BETWEEN A CASSEROLE AND A DIP — DO YOU??? And HOTDISH AND CHILL” that last one was my nephew Fritz’s idea (I don’t get it, but he said the kids would).  I stuck those stickers all up around town! Everywhere you looked there was a picture of my face popping out of a green bean hotdish like a cheeky little “how-dya-do!” I stuck those things everywhere — at the supermarket, the fish and tackle shop, even the urinals at the elementary school, where I knew it’d be seen by all the most influential voters for our upcoming competition!

Fast forward four months and next thing don’t ’ya know, I’m standing onstage with that blue ribbon pinned to my blouse and that Bitter Barb scowling up at me all the way from down low in third place (Cindy Applebottom managed to snag 2nd place with her Snickers Salad, which again, IS NOT HOTDISH, but APPARENTLY anything goes these days)! But boy, oh boy, first place! Would ya believe it?! Uff dah, it has been a wild ride and I have already started planning for next year with a Corndog-Tater-Tot Hotdish.  Shhh….!

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* Hotdish Definition:

What is the difference between a casserole and a hotdish?

Casserole is the name of the dish used to cook with, whereas hotdish is the meal itself. ... Purpose: A casserole can serve any function, for example, a main dish, side dish, breakfast, or even dessert. A hot dish is a main meal only, as it (purportedly) contains all the nutrients one needs in a hearty meal.

A hotdish is a dish that typically contains a starch, a meat, and a canned or frozen vegetable mixed with canned soup that must be served hot or warm

To request a specific promotional product review email Janice at askjanice@liquidscreendesign.com

Janice Lundberg-Bloomquist is a consumer product reviewer and social media influencer for the Askov Weekly Standard.  She has been reviewing products sine 1992 after a stapler jammed while she was teaching 4th grade and wrote a strongly-worded letter to the manufacturer (which she did not send – heaven forbid) and a new career was born.  An amateur ukuleleist and enthusiastic coffee addict, Janice lives at home in Mora, Minnesota with her three “children”, a British-shorthair named Smokey, and her two prize-winning Tabbys, Jennifur and Mitchell.  Janice was the 2012 Bea Stevenson’s Award Winner for Excellence in Consumer Reviews and Reports and has been featured on the television show Extreme Couponing: Midwest Madness.