Bout time for a new blog.

I haven't blogged for so long, I forgot how to post a blog... until now.

My brother entered us into the Wayzata community Chili making competition. Unfortunately his daughter Sophie Rae came down with a fever pretty much leaving me to concoct this dish at me Ma's house in Wayzata.

It's funny, a dish can sometimes, unrelentingly, reflect exactly what is going on around it as it is being created. This was a prime example:

I have cooked many different 'Chili Con Carne's' in my life but had not done one for a while. When I lived with Ali in Northampton we would cook a chili which was more like a bolognaise - a Chilinaise, if you will, as it were... Beans, ground beef onions, peppers, garlic, garlic, wine salt pepper, tom paste, more wine (of the Hirondelle vineyard nature). Anyway, we wanted to change it up so I bought 5lbs of beautiful short rib meat from the Wedge - locally raised, organic etc... Wasn't sure about timetable but showed up early afternoon and we went to shop for the rest of the grub. Ali and Mum had to leave at 430 to go to some soup party(?). This left me alone, at Mum's, kind of not in the frame of mind to cook this chili as my mind eye had seen a different set of circumstances. However, I got to the task at hand:

First, braise the meat in wine (a cheap valpolicella if you can find one), we used Franzia in honour of Jodge. Add salt, pepper, garlic, star anise, myrtle leaves, cumin, finely chopped coriander stems, and leave to braise for a hour or so, stirring occasionally so it doesn't take. I used a Balti style pot which worked very well for the heat disbursement. Chop onions, red peppers, hot chili peppers, and sauté in separate pot with butter and garlic. This is where I add the chili powder, couple of heaped tbspns. I also added extra ground meat to this portion for depth. Anyroad, long one short, I plopped it all together and started watching Mum's only dvd in the house (besides Oliver's Travels), Mary Queen Of Scots with Vanessa Redgrave and Glenda Jackson. G and T's were introduced a this point (not a great idea). They still weren't back and I, along with the Chili felt discombobulated. This is where the Chili was taking on my frame of mind, karma, psyche, mataphysicality... ness. I added black beans. They disappeared into the void of what the chili had become. I was getting too close to the chili. I added balsamic for a bit more sweetness, then some Garbanzo beans. Ali and Mum arrived later and I discussed how I really wasn't sure about the chili. They seemed to like it though, so I trusted their opinion. Anyway, gin is always bad for the taste buds. I felt a bit better about the chil.

Next day - the day of the comp rolls around and we're all running around like blue-arsed flies. I go home, get changed and then realize I wasted a lot of time in doing so. Who the hell needs to get changed for a chili competition? Kaz was running around getting Sophie's medication and the drugstore was giving her all kinds of trouble. So Ma, Ali and I made it down to the pond hockey championships and the great chili competition. I did feel better about the chili and actually it didn't taste too bad. Sweet, spicy, complex and a perfect reflection of my evening's feelings: flustered and unfocused. All along I was thinking about friends, their lives, Ali having to depart from the chili, Mary Queen Of Scots... a disjointed mind stream with too many plots - just like the chili.

We had fun. There were quite a few entrants. It was nice to hang out and watch all the (ex) hockey players, posturing, trying to look tuff, a glint of 'what they could have been' in each eye, a couple of lost teeth...

Our chili came third. It kind of made me feel better about the chili's life. My life. My family. My friends. How a dish can grab hold of you and command you, but factors like love, family, community, a decent pot and Mary Queen Of Scots can overcome and become a 'part' of the dish and it's persona.

I saved a bowl for Kathryn, she was taking her Mum to the Mayo. I hope she gets the bowl before it's too late. That chili took on many persona's through it's life. Her bowl is its swan song, it's final reminder to me of what a great crowd my family and friends are.

I won't forget that chili.