Chili Today, Hot Tamale

I was disappointed I didn't have any pictures of my last big cooking adventure, and then I thought, why do I have to only write about the here and now? I Don't!

So, this is the story of our chili adventure.

We and our neighbors have been doing a cooking club where each family hosts a dinner and the other families that come are given a recipe and tasked with making a side dish. In May we are doing Paella, and each guest will bring different Tapas.

As a side adventure, my next door neighbor decided to host a Chili Cook-Off. I broke out the Cook's Illustrated, made my own recipe modifications, and I was off! It was a lot of fun: I went to the local bodega and bought ziploc bags of different dried chiles and corn husks. I roasted the dried chiles and made fresh chili powder (which was tedious but added a world of flavors). I made vegetarian tamales (you need a big cooker to steam them: I but a rack in my turkey roaster and it went fine, mostly) to go with the chili; the entry was "Chili Today, Hot Tamale." Nancy made "Nuveau Fische Chili" which was a fish chili- she used the same kind of fish our favorite Mexican place here uses for fish tacos.

Well, tons of meat and late night later the chili contest came; there was road kill chili, cinncinati 5-way chili, a veggie chili, and about 18 total. Nancy and I won the Chili Trivia, but my chili came in third (seems we live in a place where beans are more important than the meat). If I had thrown in a can of beans I probably would have won.

The next thing we are doing is "Come as you Were" in which the couples come dressed as they dressed on their first date. Sadly I may still have the clothes I wore then (but they certainly wouldn't fit). Good thing it's not the first time I made a pass at Nancy (we didn't actually go out for another six months).

It is raining and I am still going to barbecue the ribs and chicken tonight.

Currently reading: Fer de Lance, Rex Stout's first Nero Wolfe book
Tonight's Menu: Ribs and Chicken, Salad, Fruit Smoothies (gotta love the Vita-Mix- you can make gravel with it)