Stuffed friends and the best red chili ever

Y'all, I asked Ol to make his bed this morning, and this fine scene was the result. 

It is my opinion that Ol has enough stuffed friends. He does not share this perspective and to be fair, he tends to each of them with love and appreciation, but my lord. It's Wild Kingdom upstairs.

Adorable. He used to put plastic pancakes in Elmo's mouth and say "Yum, yum, Elmo." Could you die? And that big blue dog on the floor? His name is Big Blue Dog, and Jack used to drink a bottle whilst reclining on BBD's midsection. Such dear and funny memories in this ragtag collection. There is a story behind each and every one of those furry pals.

Friends, it was bliss having the house to myself today and the boys back at school. Let's give it up for schedules and teachers and recess. Woot!

I napped and cooked and wrote and tidied. I even showered and styled my hair. Heaven. The main event in the kitch was the making of this chili, Chili for a Crowd, from The Silver Palate. I enjoyed this at a friend's house last week and have been pining for it ever since. Upon receiving the recipe, I saw that it made enough to serve 35 or 40. I was briefly stopped in my tracks: did I want to buy 8 pounds of ground beef and many jars of ground cumin?

As a matter of fact, I did. And boy am I glad. We ate well tonight, and my freezer is stocked with many sublime future meals. I'm usually not a red chili gal, preferring green or veggie chili instead. But this recipe? Perfection!

Chili doesn't photograph well, y'all. Take my word on this.

Notes: Per Ellen Miller and moi.

Neither of us like olives in chili, so we omitted them.

Ellen felt the chili was pretty damn salty with all four tablespoons of called-for salt. I cut it to 2.5 tablespoons and ended up adding another tablespoon or so later. Better to need to add than to remove, but you might end up using close to the original four.

Folks who are scared of dill: I had no idea what role dill would play in this chili, but I took the leap and used the whole half cup. I couldn't taste it in any overt way so suggest going for it.

Ellen doesn't love kidney beans so only uses two cans. I love kidney beans so used all three cans. Go for what you like.

The recipe suggests draining the tomatoes. I saw no reason to do this and am glad I didn't. It would have been an awfully thick chili without the juice.

I used 5 pounds of ground beef instead of the 8 called for and find it to be plenty!

Do NOT skimp on the cumin. It's critical and deliciously underpins this chili.

Home!!!

Ermahgod, y'all. We.are.home. Do you hear the chorus of angels and bells ringing down over us?

We spent a whirlwind forty hours in Atlanta, celebrating my grandmother's 90th birthday. She didn't know about the party we'd planned or that every single one of her grandchildren and great-grandchildren were heading to Georgia for it. A happy surprise, to say the least. Just look at her- Mimi is 90 years young! And my sister and I always have so much fun.

I've missed being here, in this space, but have stuck to my goal of trying to slow down when I need to or can. 

Oddly square crab cakes with mustard aioli

Tonight I made crab cakes for us, to toast being back and flightless in our near future, and now I'm in bed with a purring Nutmeg. Sleep threatens to come at any moment, but I wanted to share some pictures of all the fun I had during this grand holiday season.

My nephew, Leone, adores Oliver and chased after and climbed all over him at every opportunity. Adorable. Then, there was the spectacularly Louisiana Christmas tree. And, a night out with girlfriends: dinner and Motown the musical.

Heading home

I hope this new year is treating you all well. What are you looking forward to?

A gold-sequined intent

I really cannot believe we're leaving town again tomorrow morning. It's for a good and happy reason, but we are all so tired and sick of suitcases and rather in serious need of some R&R which cannot be got in forty-eight hectic hours at home nor during a celebratory weekend away.

As I look ahead to 2016, as I see the excitement on social media, the resolutions being promised, the balls dropping every hour on the hour, I feel, simply, tired.

Tonight I will don a gold sequin mini skirt and heels and drink champagne and look back. I will feel grateful and shimmery and laugh with friends and peer forward too. I will come home and finish packing and brush my teeth and set an alarm. And I will look ahead to Monday when I hope to slow the train and pull it into the roundhouse.

I will sincerely do and mean all of those things.

The kids will return to school and Tom to work. I'll put the suitcases away and the few remaining Christmas remnants too. I'll write thank you notes and finally deal with the pile of clothes that I never wear but haven't yet parted with responsibly. Maybe it'll finally get cold.

I don't trade in New Year's resolutions, but instead plan to offer an intention, as my dear friend, Lisa, suggested. And that is to recognize and honor that I am not an infinitely charged battery. There is so much I want to do in this life and so many needs to meet. But what is a life lived if it's a fatigued blur?

It literally just occurred to me that I'm getting older. That I'm not immune to aging (fuck!). That in a short few months, I'll be 40. Which I have not one qualm about, but physical maturation doesn't give a fig about qualms.

So my intention is to live purposefully and energetically but less obligatorily. Why shine for others if the light left for me is dim, you know?

Cheers!

*This one goes out to the Trilium Waterholers and the Fabulous Foursome, among others!