Friday, February 10, 2006

cooking chili

I haven't been able to post lately because life suddenly got very busy. It's not so much homework, either. Instead, a bunch of outside things keep popping up: trying to start a project to monitor local government, getting elections together for a club, applying to be an editor of a publication, and so on and so forth.

Anyway, last night, after blowing through the grocery store post-haste, it was time to assemble chili for a friend's "Welcome to the United States" party. (She just became a citizen.) The smell of bacon, beef, and onions is so thick in the apartment right now you can feel your arteries harden just from inhaling. B.J., the neighbor's dog, must be going crazy.

I've been making chili for years, but I haven't had a set recipe. I usually adjust to taste as I go along. This time, though, I don't have time to hover over the pot tweaking and adjusting, so I'm trying to come up with a set recipe that'll work in a crock pot. The first trial run a week ago turned out pretty well, but it needed a few adjustments. (I also have to watch the spicyness -- the friend's got parents from India, spent years living in Texas, but doesn't like hot foods. Go figure.) If this version comes out as expected I'll post the recipe along with instructions to bring it up to more suitable heat levels.

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