chili madness

Last night, Satoshi had a business dinner drinking thingy, so it was just me. I like when he has "planned" dinners out (where he can tell me in advance that he doesn't need dinner), that way I don't have to go through the trouble of making anything special and can just buy something pre-made or eat leftovers. I've gotten upset many times after cooking something new and then he e-mails/calls me to say that he'll be going drinking after work and won't need dinner. (aargh!) I guess I should be used to the last minute-ness of his job by now, but it still takes all the inspiration to cook out of me sometimes.

After seeing Ellie's post, I decided to cook up a batch of chili. Making chili is quite easy and doesn't require standing by the stove for too long. I was too lazy to cook up some dried beans, so I put in a can of cannelini beans instead. I also added a half teaspoon of instant espresso, which added a nice layer of flavor.

There are several ways I like to eat chili. Here are my top 3 ways:

Number 3: over pasta. In Hawaii, we call this chili spaghetti. I could be wrong, but I think this was made famous by a local eatery--Zippy's. (If you notice in the background, the avocado survived. It was still a little firm, but the outside was nice and soft and it tasted buttery.)

Number 2: as a chili dog. I love this version especially with chopped onions and cheese on top. I can't remember where it was that I had my first chili dog, but I do remember it had chopped onions and cheese on it. I found these spicy hot dogs at the supermarket. When I first bought hot dogs and buns in Japan, I was surprised. For one thing, there are only 6 buns in a bag. So, you have to look for a package with at least 6 hot dogs in it--this is quite rare, most times there are only 4 long ones to a package or the hot dogs are REALLY short, like an inch or two long, so you need to use 2 for 1 bun.

And the number 1 way: over rice. I've been eating chili this way long before I knew about Zippy's. My mom used to sometimes serve it with cut up hot dogs or sometimes just with rice.

Have you tried chili? Do you like chili (with or without beans)? If so, I'm curious as to how you like to eat it?