party food

Tony invited people over for the Bengals v Steelers game a couple of week ago. Here's some wine, hummus, veggies, chips, and salsa. Oh, and I spy a highball near the tortilla chips.

I also made white chili. My mom wisely advised that I only add half of the habanero and serrano peppers that I had diced. This was a very good decision considering that the chili was hella-spicy without the extra peppers.

What goes with white chili? Red chili, of course! You can never have too many kinds of chili.

My dad recently threw his girlfriend, Christy, a 50th birthday party. These are some amazing cabbage rolls that her sisters made. This recipe was passed down from their mother.

Here's the sandwich spread, and a bucket of beer!

How to Open a Can Without a Can Opener - 4.8.2009

Nothing notable happened for breakfast or lunch on Wednesday. I can't even remember what we had for breakfast or lunch, actually. Dinner was more exciting. I made white chili.

All the necessary ingredients for white chili. Do you see those small, orange peppers in the picture? Those are Habanero peppers. They are not for those who unable to tolerate extremely spicy foods. And just to add some color, I used a couple of Jalapeno peppers as well.


Dinner prep was going along well until I ran in to a major snag... I had the onions, garlic, and chicken sauteed with cumin, salt, and pepper. I then added some salsa and chicken stock. Next, I threw in the sliced hot peppers. The only ingredient left was the white beans. I opened the first can only to discover that my trusty can opener left marks on the can as if it had been opened, but it was actually still sealed shut. Connor because immediately concerned and tried to open the can again with the opener and then tried smacking the can against the counter top several times, all to no avail. He and I agreed that maybe it was a "can malfunction" and we tried to open the second can. Still no-go. FUCK. There was no way that I was going back out to the store for a can opener or even walking to a neighbor's house to borrow one. YES - I am that lazy! Instead, I found a hammer and a screwdriver and a pair of scissors and decided to use a little elbow grease. I scrubbed all three tools down with hot water and soap and then proceeded to punch as big of a hole as I could in the can. Several minutes and dozens of curse words later, I had beans!


I could smell how spicy this chili was going to be as it simmered.


The finished product! White bean chili with a side of Monteray Jack cheese. As expected, this chili was *very* spicy - even by my standards. My nose started running within the first few bites. Then my top lip started to sweat. Next, my eyes started to water. Finally, I could feel my entire face start to become flushed. And I enjoyed every single bite!

Tuesday - 3.31.2009

Here's breakfast... Like an Egg McMuffin, only better. I used smoked ham, sharp cheddar cheese, one egg, and a whole grain english muffin to make this sandwich. It was tasty!

Here is Ian enjoying lunch with his recently collected Happy Meal toys. He has 8 chicken nuggets, a small order of fries, B.O.B., Ginormica, and The Missing Link on his plate.


My cousin Olivia has been helping me out this week by picking the kids up from school and baby-sitting them while I work. Here is Ian in her car, waiting for Connor to get out of school. He managed to find the one toy in her car, a rubber ducky. Of course he proceeded to grab her water bottle and drown the duck in it. That's just how his mind works.


Shadow loves to go for car rides and always goes with me (or in this case, Olivia) to pick up the kids from school. He's a happy, and spoiled, dog.


Judging by last week's posts, it would appear that I almost never cook at all. That's actually far from the truth. A lot of nights I end up cooking not one, but two meals. I don't like red meat and Tony won't eat anything even remotely spicy, so that rules out us ever having the same chili recipe for dinner. Connor and Tony had chili for dinner on Tuesday.


I love spicy food, as does Olivia. She stayed for dinner on Tuesday and I made homemade Chinese Hot Pepper Chicken. I used 10 jalapeno peppers, a lot of crushed red pepper, garlic, onions, and scallions to make this. It was yummy.