Da winnah (to my mind).

Food editors get a lot of weird mail. I've had everything from single-serving coffee makers to an envelope full of confetti mailed to me. (Just to keep the record straight: Costly items are returned at Advertiser expense and items worth less then $20 are sampled, if they're of interest, or given to a local food bank.)

The latest oddity was a tall, round canister that weighed a ton. It came in while I was working on the Best Restaurant Guide and unless it was going to get up, talk, walk and help me with my project it was going to have to wait. Turned out, when I finally got the guide finished week before last, it was kinda cool.

The Chex cereal people (claim to fame Chex Mix, beloved of party animals) had sponsored a contest to develop a new party mix and the canister contained five glass bowls, each with a finalist's recipe for me to evaluate. (Truth were known, the coolest part for me was inheriting the glass canisters, which are now all empty and stacked on my shelf for use as leftover containers and cereal bowls!)

I came home and opened all five and held a taste test, as requested by the Chex folks (forgot to actually file my votes online, though, as instructed).

1. Pumpkin Pie. Pleasant, predictable (cinnamon, nutmeg, like that). But do I want sweet in a crunchy snack? No.

2. Buffalo Chex Mix. Meant to kind of remind you of buffalo wings. Spicy with hints of Parmesan and ranch dressing. Yum. I went back to this one a couple of times.

3. Deviled Chex Mix. Kind of Asian or Southeast Asian, chili, cumin, coriander, nuts and pretzels. (Pretzels???). Spicy but a bit too sweet for my taste.

4. Lemon Rosemary Chex Mix. Rosemary, garlic, Parmesan-flavored crackers, lemon zest. Nah. Good idea. Didn't work for me. Not bad but not calling my name. On the other hand, I kind of suspected the batch I got was a little overdone and had a slight burnt background.

5. Chex-Icago Party Mix. Chex, cheese crackers, brown sugar, cheese popcorn. I wanted it much, much much cheesier. Again, too sweet. What are people thinking these days?

So, I'm a firm No. 2 fan and here's the recipe, from Monica F. of Knoxville, Tenn. (they didn't give full names of contestants).

Buffalo Chex Mix

4 cups Rice Chex

4 cups Wheat Chex

2 cups Parmesan-flavored crackers (good luck; I have no idea what these are or where to find them in the Islands)

2 cups pretzel twists

6 tablespoons melted butter

2 1/2 tablespoons hot sauce

1 packet ranch dressing mix

2 teaspoons celery seed

In a large microwavable bowl, combine cereals, crackers, pretzels. Set aside. In a small microwavable bowl, melt butter in microwave on high for 40 seconds. Stir into cereals. Stir and then microwave uncovered 4-5 minutes, stopping every two minutes to stir.  Spread on paper towels to cool. Store in airtight container.

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