There’s a definite
fall tinge in the air, a touch of cool in the early morning and even by early
evening. I’ve taken to shutting my patio door except in the middle of the day,
and I’ve finally mastered turning on the heat so I can take the morning chill
off. In the wee hours this morning, we had a storm with good rain and truly
impressive thunder. It was okay, because I was protected by one small, black dog
who first barked at the thunder to scare it away and then slept right by me to
keep me safe.
As we say in
Texas, it’s chili weather. Fitting that Christian fixed chili tonight—a recipe
he cobbled together from this one and that. I gave him one from the New York
Times that is really complicated. Billed as a combination of chili and gumbo—the
combination made me curious. Christian said he didn’t have time to do it
tonight, and he couldn’t find the one from my book he wanted to do. It’s Dan
Hogan’s chili, and I swear it has everything in it but the proverbial kitchen
sink. What Christian made, his cobbled together version, was good and hearty
with just enough spice. He complained he couldn’t find his red pepper flakes; I
told him I was just as glad.
In case you all
didn’t know, I did a book on chili a few years back. Texas is Chili Country is a history of the dish—no, it’s not from
Mexico, an attribution Mexicans consider an insult. It began in the cow camps
of West Texas. And no, it doesn’t have beans (Christian’s had beans tonight, and
truthfully, I like them). A lengthy
chapter discusses the two chili cookoffs, which are about to take place next
weekend in Terlingua, along with the reason that remote spot was chosen. This
year is the fiftieth anniversary of the original chili cookoff, started as a
publicity stunt by the legendary Frank Tolbert and his sidekick, Wick Fowler.
It was more hijinks than serious, but these days chili is serious business—at least
in the original cookoff. Not so much at the CASI cookoff. Chili cookoffs are
not for amateurs—you have to win local contests to qualify. Anyway, you can
read all about it.
And then you can
prowl through pages and pages of chili recipes—seems everyone on the planet has
their own recipe. These days you can cook fat free chili, vegetarian chili,
chili with turkey and other meats alternate to the beef that started the whole
thing. Fascinating what peple come up with. Shhh. Don’t say I said it, but
chili is one of those dishes you can cook blindfolded without a recipe.
Pardon the sales
pitch, but you can find the book on Amazon or from Texas Tech Press
Aside from the
hearty chili and an interesting dinnertime discussion of childbirth with Jacob,
it was a long Sunday. I so often have a much better social life during the week
than on weekends, and sometimes long Sundays lull me into speaking out on
Facebook among other things. I did today and found myself embroiled in several
discussions. To my delight, my Megan chimed in a couple of times but once it
was to second someone’s suggestion that I clear myself of haters. I think it’s
a Facebook thing—people I know are not on my “Friends” list respond. Someone
suggested they are bots—something else for me to learn about. At any rate, I
continue to speak out because I think it’s important. Misused as the term is
these days, I think speaking out about our government is patriotic (45 wouldn’t
agree).
