A very good Saturday.

Yesterday was one of those good days. You know, the days that make you feel good and have a great time doing what you do. Our Kiwanis club has its meetings every Saturday morning at 8:00 in the morning. Like every Saturday we had our meeting at the Knight Spot. After the meeting some of us Kiwanians went to Walmart, (yes we braved the Shopping Mad crowds) to buy gifts and presents for The Gram Loraine Project.
Every Christmas our club along with other civic and charitable organizations buy presents for needy kids and families in the area. We’ve been doing this for three or four years now. Each Kiwanian had two or three individual kids to shop for. We get a coat, some clothing that is needed and a toy for each kid. The schools identify the kids who would be the recipient of a Christmas present package. This year we had to shop and wrap presents for sixteen kids.
After shopping, we went back to The Knight Spot to wrap presents. We had one or our junior clubs; The Builders Club join us to wrap presents. We had about twenty-two sixth, seventh and eighth grade boys and girls to help wrap the presents. Actually we had them wrap all the presents as one of their service projects for the year. We just supervised and we bought the pizza, chicken wings and the sodas for every one. We had a great time. The kids did also. After things were pretty well wrapped up, we had a few beers with Alex before calling it a day well spent.
With that in mind, I figured I still had plenty of time to go home and make my chili. Hooray for chili! I had started soaking my beans last night and by the time I got home, I figured I’d better at least cook them up before they get yucky, so I started the whole thing. Put the beans on, then chopped up my onions and a few stalks of celery. Yes celery, just a few, it makes the base for the chili kind of more well rounded. I used olive oil; extra virgin of coarse, then started to sweat the onions and celery.
I chopped up what was left of my chipoltle peppers in adobo sauce, then added that to the pot. Of coarse salt, and pepper. Not too much on the salt, it’s not good for my blood pressure, but that is the only salt I add. Just a pinch. Some garlic, or in my case yesterday, garlic powder. Some chili powder, lots of chili powder, about three tablespoons. I then added my ground turkey. It makes a good chili.
I let that all cook together and brown up nicey nice. Then added my can of crushed tomatoes and the juice from a can of plum tomatoes. I add the plum tomatoes later so I have pieces of tomato in my chili when it’s done. After my beans are done I add them and let every thing simmer for about twenty minutes to meld together. Just to sweeten or mellow out the chili, I add two or three spoonfuls of honey. Then it’s suppertime… YUM YUM!!
Okay, I know, I’ve done the chili thing before, but you know it’s more art than science to making a good pot of chili. But you might say that chili is not chili unless you add beans. Some may say you shouldn’t add beans. Well no matter what you like, chili is chili. When you finish your bowl of chili, you have that endorphin rush from the capsaasin from the chipoltle peppers. Yes the hot peppers, (smoked halipino peppers), have the chemicals in them to release the endorphins that make you feel really good. Natures little had rush…
Well I guess I’ve spent enough time reveling about chili. How about the fact, that I didn’t rant about all the idiots at Walmart? Well I guess my mind was on the task at hand and nothing was going to stop me from my intended rounds……. Jeeze, maybe there is a Santa Claus after all….
I know that there is a Bubba Claus. He delivers in the “Southern” State, (just a little humor).
Okay, okay, I’ve said enough for today, nothing left to bitch about.
(The day isn’t over yet)… So, Keep your stick on the Ice.