Things I'm not very good at

Following directions.

But I tried really hard, because Eliz is funny about certain things: she likes to try out new recipes exactly as they are written, before fiddling around the second and subsequent times.

So our new Cuisinart bread maker did a fine job on it's first loaf, a bulka (as my family calls it), or an unbraided challah. Ten minutes since it came out, and there's very little left.

On the other hand, I don't use a recipe at all for chili. I'm experimenting with bass notes. Usually I'd put in Worcestershire sauce or soy to give a big kick of umami, but food-bass doesn't have to be umami. Today it's supplied by about two cups of decaf coffee that was cold in the pot.

Peppers in this batch of chili: red, orange, yellow mini-bells, Aleppo, sweet paprika, hot paprika, dried chipotle (smoked ancho), a chipotle sauce containing ancho and habanero, Indian red chili powder, Sriracha chili-garlic sauce, generic "chili powder" which contains some chili along with oregano and garlic and salt, and a sprinkle from the container hand-labelled "Chili pepper -- Wicked Hot". And then there's onions and garlic, and cumin and a little brown sugar and beef, turkey, sausage, and beans: pinto, white kidney, pink kidney, dark kidney, and black. Probably some other things. Corn. Some black olives.

There are people who claim to be chili purists. I'm not. Chili is like a dinner salad: the more things you put in it, the better.

Things I'm not very good at

Following directions.

But I tried really hard, because Eliz is funny about certain things: she likes to try out new recipes exactly as they are written, before fiddling around the second and subsequent times.

So our new Cuisinart bread maker did a fine job on it's first loaf, a bulka (as my family calls it), or an unbraided challah. Ten minutes since it came out, and there's very little left.

On the other hand, I don't use a recipe at all for chili. I'm experimenting with bass notes. Usually I'd put in Worcestershire sauce or soy to give a big kick of umami, but food-bass doesn't have to be umami. Today it's supplied by about two cups of decaf coffee that was cold in the pot.

Peppers in this batch of chili: red, orange, yellow mini-bells, Aleppo, sweet paprika, hot paprika, dried chipotle (smoked ancho), a chipotle sauce containing ancho and habanero, Indian red chili powder, Sriracha chili-garlic sauce, generic "chili powder" which contains some chili along with oregano and garlic and salt, and a sprinkle from the container hand-labelled "Chili pepper -- Wicked Hot". And then there's onions and garlic, and cumin and a little brown sugar and beef, turkey, sausage, and beans: pinto, white kidney, pink kidney, dark kidney, and black. Probably some other things. Corn. Some black olives.

There are people who claim to be chili purists. I'm not. Chili is like a dinner salad: the more things you put in it, the better.