Tag: chili

Spring Break 2012! Another day…

Still having fun at judiang‘s. elsaf arrived Sunday by 4pm and we headed off to Navy Pier around 5pm. We had tickets to see A Midsummer Night’s Dream at the Shakespeare Theater.

The last time I had seen Dream was in London and Dawn French was playing Bottom. This production wasn’t a celeb-fest, but I enjoyed the performance. A very minimalist set, but some nice music. Was good seeing a live show (again) with my friends.

When we returned, it was nearly time for the 3rd showing of ep 1 season 2 Game of Thrones. Elsa and I enjoyed season 1, so were looking forward to the premier. Alas, I don’t have cable (and if I did, wouldn’t pay for HBO), so I’ll have to wait for my next visit to Judi’s (and On Demand) or for the Blu-Ray set to come out. Having read the books, I suspect I can be patient and wait for the rest of season 2.

Yesterday started out with breakfast at The Little Branch Cafe, which is just outside of Judi’s complex. I had a fritatta sandwich, hash-browned taters, and a small fruit cup (which was mostly melon, so Judi at that bit). Elsa and I then did some needed grocery shopping with a quick stop at Target while Judi flexed. (Would love to flex as a teacher…)

The afternoon saw Elsa cooking up a storm, as she is wont to do. I got a walk or two in, which was nice. And then we had a late supper in honor of Judi’s b-day. Beef bourgonoine, curried green pea soup, salad greens w/ raspberry vinaigrette, rolls from scratch, and pineapple upside down cake ala mode. Mmmmm. Not a fan of the green pea soup, but snarfed all of the rest up.

This morning, the Elsa Grill was open and we all had eggs, toast, and bacon. I had mine over easy. They were yummy. The toast was from homemade bread leftover from the homemade rolls. I suspect Judi’s gone back to bed. Eep! Well, she worked hard yesterday, so deserves it. Plus, she IS a year older, you know. *ducks*

Oh yeah, and I’ve got a pot of chili cooking on the stove right now. Elsa requested my “award winning chili” which was basically mom’s recipe. So I’ve made it (much simpler than beef bourgonoine) and it’s simmering for lunch.

Chili Contest ’08

Tonight was the annual Chili Competition that the Fishers put on each year.  There were half the number of folks this year as last, which wound up giving us half the number of chilies as last year.  We had a few out due to conflicting commitments and several out due to illness.  (Mom and dad were in California, for example.)  But despite the smaller numbers, there was plenty of food and fun conversation.

There were only 4 chili soups to try and all of them were good.  I’ve only been to three of these, and in the first two I managed to vote for the chili that won.  This was not the case this year. Indeed, I couldn’t decide between two, but neither of them were the winning chili.  Each year Gary brags that he’ll be the one to win (and often recommends that people just not bring any chili, heh).  And to his surprise and delight, he won!  You go guy!  He even posed for a picture with the trophy (and mock applause in the background.)

As is usually the case when I go to one of the gatherings that they put on, I ate too much.  But I don’t mind – it was all very good food.  And there was bread and salad and brownies and cookies.  Yummy stuff!  I have a happy (though stuffed) tummy.

Today was spent switching my e-mail over from Pegasus to Thunderbird.  *sniff* I’m going to miss Pegasus, but I need Thunderbird for my upcoming PDA purchase.  If I want to avoid having to install Outlook on my PC, I’m going to need Thunderbird and Lightning along with Birdiesync.  And I like what I see in Thunderbird thus far.  (Well, Firefox is my preferred browser, so no surprise there.)

Mawwiage! (And Chili too!)

Today marked the first day I’ve been to the wedding of one of my former students. It’s not the first of my students to ever marry (I even had one get married while she was still in my physics class!) but this is the first wedding that I’ve attended. The groom I’ve known since he was a young boy – we used to go to the church that his family attends. He’s also my lawnboy (I guess I should say gardener or landscaper now that he’s married). Both he and the bride were in my chemistry class and he also was in physics (just last year).

The wedding was a very nice ceremony. It was a church wedding and was a cross between traditional and not-so-trad. The bride’s father, also a minister, did the majority of the service. I’m impressed he was able to do it without getting all emotional. The couple did a symbolic act of mixing colored sand to represent their joining – sort of like the candle lighting tradition that’s rather popular. I thought that was a neat touch.

The reception afterwards was nice. I got to see old church friends, current co-workers, and former students (and a couple of current students) while there. It was nice getting caught up with folks I hadn’t seen in ages. The cake was very good as well.

As I was driving home, I thought some about marriage. I still don’t know if it’s something that I’ll ever partake of, but there are times when couples are just right for each other. I think the couple who got married today are a good mix. I think they’ll be good friends and lovers for the rest of their lives (and I hope that is the case). And I know some couples who will be perfect together, but may never marry. And, unfortunately, I know some couples who are perfect together, want to marry, but are not allowed to.

My parents are a perfect couple. They’ve been married for nearly 40 years and are probably better friends now than when they got married. It’s wonderful to see people fall more in love and become even more comfortable as they grow old together. Marriage was good for my parents.

I have a friend who has a son and lives with his father. They aren’t married, though most of their friends and co-workers assume that they are. They’ve found that for tax reasons, it’s actually better for them to not marry. And she’s always claimed that she doesn’t want to chain him down into the relationship. It’s quite possible that they’ll spend the rest of their lives together, but they’ll never marry, nor regret not marrying.

As I’ve mentioned before in my journal, my sister and her partner got married in August of ’04. The government doesn’t acknowledge this, however. They love each other and are very good friends. I imagine they’ll be together for the rest of their lives (hope so – they need to look after me in my old age!) As far as their families and friends are concerned, they’re married, even if it’s not a legal arrangement. Why they can’t get legally married, I just don’t understand. Their own church is OK with it, why should the government give a damn about their married status?

I’ve been focusing on the good couplings that I’ve seen in my life. Unfortunately I’ve known couples that are not right for each other. But today’s a day of celebration of the good couplings in life. So cheers to Scott & Kate and the other loving couples out there!

And now, to completely change topics, I shall discuss chili. Why? Well, my afternoon may have been filled with wedded bliss, my evening was full of chili! Yes, tonight was the Great Chili Escape of 2006.

Several of my co-workers gathered tonight to taste several people’s chilis and vote on the best. We ended up having seven competing chilis. No two tasted alike – I was impressed there. We even had a “white chili” which was chicken based with white beans instead of red beans. I liked them all, but ended up voting for chili #1 (which was the third one that I tasted). There were probably 30some people there, but the competition was fierce. It turns out chili #1 won – only by 1 vote. Chili #4 was made by last year’s winner and came in a close second.

I’m stuffed to the gills with chili and bread (had to cleanse my palette after each chili, you know!) and the desserts which were there. The food was good, and as with all of these gatherings of co-workers and former co-workers, the conversation was entertaining. I even played a game of pool and even got 2 balls in. Including the winning ball! Yay! 🙂

After my exciting and people-filled day today, I think I’ll just stay at home with my kitty tomorrow. Shall just spend the day reading, playing City of Heroes, and watching DVDs. Sounds like a good day to me!