I FOUND an (undamaged) packet of red kidney beans on the street. Obviously it had fallen out of some Guardian-reading, round glasses-wearing bicycle-riding Labour voter's shopping (not that I'm prone to stereotyping) and I decided to make the most of it. So these unattractive, hard pulses have been languishing on my shelf for nearly a month. And just when I felt like eating them (because the cupboard was otherwise bare: I'd even run out of tea, milk and sugar) I found you had to soak the blighters overnight before consuming. Dur! I do remember this from uni days when my socialist friends collected weird things in teacups on the fridge, but always thought then, as I do now, why not just buy 'em tinned~??!?So having turfed said beans into one mug, which they rapidly outswelled, then into two mugs I was greatly "appointed" to find a full-on recipe for chili con carne on the packet's side. I spent £12 on two burgeoning bags of shopping at Morrisons this morning, forcing myself to stock up on the less convenient (ie not ready in 2 minutes fresh stuffed pasta type stuff I'm prone to) comestibles like brown pasta twirls (I cannot handle spaghetti after a bad experience) and brown rice. Isn't brown supposed to be better? It's certainly going to make everyone think I'm anti death penalty (which I'm not: I think rapists, murderers and paedophiles should be put out of their misery).
For my carne I bought the slightly pinker minced (ground) beef at £2 for 800g. I always thought supermarkets were dearer for meat ~ they always used to charge double for pie steak (when they bothered to stock it) and lamb chops. Grew up a bit lamb chopped out and so nowadays go for any other cut. Neck was cheap and nice ~ but then again the supermarkets never stocked it cubed, which I, coming from Blunt Knife Land found greatly inconvenient.
I can't even parrot out this recipe I'm about to travesty, though I can say it requires something like tinned tomatoes or Ragu base (got both), garlic (tubed far out-conveniences fresh bulbs, which dry out and stink out my fridge before I ever remember to use them...) and mushrooms and onions and broccoli, all of which my refrigerator's soon to be replete with.Isn't my life fascinating! Gotta go before all the frozen crap I bought thaws out ~ cheery-bye!
PS here's a baby robo with a baby ruby-eyed "normal" (Syrian) hamster. The robbie baby isn't that much smaller than full-grown, but the Syrian will grow to four times that size
12 comments:
Can't imagine following a chili recipe - this is one of those dishes, like spaghetti, that we girls were making on our own by the time we were 9 or 10. We experimented with the amount of seasonings and varied the veggies and beans. I never make it quite the same twice as it depends a lot on what I have on hand. Would never ever use Ragu though. I wouldn't use Ragu for anything. Travesty when tinned tomatoes are cheaper and taste better with the right seasoning. I personally don't like kidney beans but will use them if they are there. I can even make a very good meatless chili for my vegetarian daughter. I like to use a mixture of black and pinto beans and always add jalapeno (as well as other) peppers.
Mine came out OK. I used the bare minumum chili they recommended on a bed of sheer max spicing. It came out OK, I think ...(??)... Considering it was done pretty much within the hour ;->... take it e.z. folks
ok i gotta run now i'm exhausted, all piri-piri'd out~!! haha!!
I adore red kidney beans - I have them cold (out of a tin) on salad. MWM hates them so when I make Chilli-con-carne I used baked beans in tomato sauce it tastes really nice!
I'm going to try the piri piri recipe. Got all the stuff to do it with. I posted a chili recipe not long ago. It's on my blog.
Chili is a super simple thing to make, says alot coming from me...I don't cook. We have a slow cooker so I shove it in there all day and tend to add the hot stuff towards the end, otherwise, it may just take yer head off. I add kidney beans as well as black beans. Mmmmm black beans. How good is black bean soup with a dollop of sour cream on top....Good.
I'm with Jeannie, savoury mince is a staple in our house that we all knew how to make as kids . .it's just what you do with it that's different. Love the chili but it has to be hot hot hot . . .and a little bit of chocolate makes your sauce go glossy . . there . . . a hot tip for free!
I ate this tonight! (Out of the microwave ;-P )
;->...
More Typography/Design stuffHi Gleds,
Please check out this blog:
http://spiekermann.com/en/
Erik Spiekermann is a great Graphic Designer/Typographer. He's German. If you ever get a chance to attend one of his lectures, do. He's also very funny/witty so his lectures are as entertaining as they are informative.
To view his work:
http://www.edenspiekermann.com/
http://spiekermannpartners.com/en
His Bio:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Erik_Spiekermann
Also, he's interviewed in the dvd I mentioned I had; Helvetica.
Have a look at clips on these links or type 'Helvetica' in You Tube.
http://www.helveticafilm.com/index.html
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3mhOT4JOvgA
Erik appears at the very start of the film. After the main features there are a series of interviews with various great designers:
Matthew Carter, Massimo Vignelli, Erik Spiekermann, Michael Bierut, Wim Crouwel, Hermann Zapf, Stefan Sagmeister, Jonathan Hoefler, Tobias Frere-Jones, Lars Müller, Rick Poynor, Experimental Jetset, Pierre Miedinger etc.
Also, there's a typographic competition called Tart Cards if you're interested. The idea is to design prostitute style cards but you're selling type/fonts instead of people/sex... Check it out: http://www.uktype.com/index.php?Tart-Cards
If you don't have access to software to create this, don't worry. You can do it on paper, I'd be happy to scan it for you. Lots of ways round it and I'd be happy to advise further if you are interested. It closes on 30th April 2009.
take care + hope the psych stuff is going ok.
xKelly
My boys love the chilli i make for them and its so easy... made with batchelors condensed tom soup tinned red beans mince chilli powder garlic and a dash or two of vinegar
delish :-)
I like rk beans but spice is out for me.
Sorry to read you are still having problems with your local council it's beginning to sound like that comedy line ... computer says no. Makes you wonder where common sense is hiding these days.
Loved the tufty squirrels*!*
Love your description of the Guardian reader!
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