Chili Cook-off!

Last night Ross and I had a vegetarian chili cook-off. Frankly, after tasting both chilis/hearing peoples comments, I thought Ross would be the chiliarian of the night, but somehow I managed to take home the gold (and eternal chili glory).

Usually I keep my winning recipes for bargaining purposes, but I'm feeling generous, so here it is, folks.


Ellie's Chili

1 red bell pepper
1 green bell pepper
1 large onion
1/2 package of frozen beef substitute crumbles
3 tbsp. chili powder
1 tbsp. cumin
1/2 tsp. garlic powder
salt & pepper to taste
1 canned chipotle in adobo, plus 1 tsp of the sauce
1 large can crushed tomatoes
1 jar tomato sauce (I used mushroom flavor this time)
1 cup water (I usually just rinse out the tomato can/jar and put the water in the pot)
1 bar dark chocolate

Cook the peppers, onions and half the spices in olive oil until tender. Add the beef substitute and cook for a few minutes. Add the rest of the ingredients and simmer on low for 1/2 hour. I usually add the chocolate at various times in the cooking process, just in case it gets too chocolaty, which might be impossible, but I do it that way anyway. I also usually do the same with the spices, and my measurements are approximate for those.

My favorite way to eat it is with avocado, sour cream and cilantro. It's super smokey, rich and a little sweet and spicy. I love it.

Enjoy!

Freedom (for now) and Travels

Whew, another semester done.

Just finished my cleanings on Tuesday and thanks to my teachers updating my grades online, I don't have to wait to see how I did. Overall, not my best work ever, but I'm still happy with it. Due to my everlasting sickness for the past month, I seriously thought I'd be seeing some Cs on my report card, but thankfully I managed to work some magic on my finals so my lowest is a B- Really snuck under the wire with that one.

Now that I'm recovered from sickness and done with school until June, I'm back to being sleep deprived by my work and actually having free time. So what does that mean, you say? Road trip! Actually, train trip, which is even better in my book. Since I won't have much time once school starts in June, I'm going to Rochester Saturday-Wednesday to do things like dance, visit the sister, and have chili cook-offs.

One benefit to visiting Jessekins this month is we get to celebrate Sisters Day, which is an annual holiday Yvonne, Jesse and I started last year. So that means presents, lots of hanging out, and in general celebrating our awesome sister-ness. Recently I've been driving her insane by not telling her about the awesome present she's getting. Muaahhahaha.

Speaking of travels, I've also recently booked a flight to Portland to visit the brother. Recently I've been missing the gorgeous weather and beautiful scenery, so I figured that means it's time for another trip. While I'm there Eric and I are definitely going to make a road trip to Seattle, which we'll hopefully be able to see more of this time. And who knows, maybe Eric will be able to drag me out to a blues dance in Portland.. this thought might normally make me queasy, but what happens in Portland stays in Portland, right? Right. Anyway, I plan on doing lots of exploring to see about it being a potential living place. We'll see.

Hugs & Cupcakes.

-Ellie

Findings

Today was good.

I woke up late and ate some breakfast in the form of sugar covered raisins and bran flakes. Got dressed and figured I should do something mildly productive, so I packed up my books and headed to B spa and parked myself at coffee planet to study for my commercial baking final. I listened to old ladies talk about finances and sipped my coffee while trying to ingrain marketing aspects into my head.

On my way out I tried to find the used bookstore, but sadly it had closed before I ever went in. Instead I got to have the wind try to blow my shirt up by my waist. Nice try there, wind. Without any bookstores to go to, I headed over to the giant antique store to mosey and check if they had any good vintage clothes. No on the clothes, but I found some old issues of life magazine and a lot cool antique suitcases. Now, maybe part of me has secretly wanted to be Audrey Hepburn in Roman Holiday or something, but I wasn't leaving without one of these suitcases.

My first finding was small, gray and cute on the outside, but the inside revealed it had seen better days with the previous owner. No wonder it was under $20. Second was a bit more pricey at $35, but I was intrigued when I couldn't figure out how to open it. This one was a bit larger, brown with light stitching, and still very cute. The interior had some damage, but stuff that could be fixed, and hounds tooth lining. This one was coming home with me, but not for $35. Muahaha.

Ahem. I walked over to the two old men at the counter and sweetly asked if they could show me what the interior pockets and buckles were intended for. "Oh.. so you mean that buckle is broken?... shame. Any chance I could get it for $25? No? $30? Wonderful." Not my best bargaining work to date, but at least now I could by myself a fancy $5 starcrap latte if I wanted to.

Proud of my bargaining efforts, I happily skipped along back to my car and thought about ways to clean leather on my way home. I tried a few different ways, and here's what I came up with:
-Lemon juice and cream of tartar: It's not really worth it.
-Mr. clean magic eraser: Surprisingly awesome, but some of the color may come off if you rub too hard.
- Rubbing alcohol and q-tips: Best bet. Some of the color still may come off a little, but it's better than the magic eraser.

Sadly the hounds tooth interior was pretty stained, probably from N.J.S. (the initials on the suitcase) spilling coffee on it forty years ago, so I did my best with some diluted shout.
Tried to repair the little leather piece that made it easier to pull the divider, major fail. I should probably leave the broken buckle to a cobbler after that dilemma.

Wish I had pictures to post, and maybe I will soon, but I'm still camera-less, so you'll have to look at the pretty google images for now. Probably once I get the buckle fixed I'll post some nice ones.


Overall though, it looks pretty nice, and I'm happy to give it some life after N.J.S. did. :)