Eclectic Echoes

Chili Thanksgiving

A lot of people (locally and online) have asked what we had for Thanksgiving. Because of our schedule–vacation the week before, work and preparing for a craft show the week of, and a craft show the weekend after–our Thanksgiving was rather unconventional. Locally the conversation generally goes something like this:

• Them: “So how was your Thanksgiving ? How did you fix the Turkey?”
• Me: “It was very nice, busy bust very nice. We didn’t have turkey, we had chili.”
• At this point there is generally a look of utter confusion, followed by shock, and denial.
• Them: “Oh, Turkey chili?! How was that?”
• Me: “No, beef chili. It was very good, not too spicy, but very tasty.”

At this point they are either so confused or so far outside their comfort zone that even though I have just thanked them for asking and asked how their Thanksgiving was, there is usually a pregnant pause followed by a “oh, fine…look at the time…got to go. We’ll see you later.”

Speaking of the chili did you ever hear the joke about a tourist named Frank being invited—last minute—to judge a Texas chili contest?
(try the one at stevedanforth.com if you’re unsure–I have to warn you though, while hilarious, the joke is PG13 for language) 

Tammy knows I haven’t been able to find a halfway decent bowl of chili in the past 8 years (since we left Texas) so she decided to surprise me with the chili for Thanksgiving. She used a chili mix (Mr. Hogg’s Hot Championship Chili) from Salsa Express, to create a wonderful tasting chili with enough spice to get my attention and respect. Not hot, but not mild either. Good mix of beans and meat. Tammy claims that, while one bowl was for her very hot, if she had tried a second bowl she would have soon turned into Frank. For her it was almost too hot, but not quite.

For her first Southwestern chili Tammy hit a home run. Best Thanksgiving Dinner I possibly could have had!