Oh the colors!

I got to ride through the autumn leaves the other day,
the leaves were turning
and i know why the colors of red
and orange
and yellow
and even greens
have so many hues.
The scarlet and ruby and flame and rose of the reds.
The golden and sunshine or the yellows.
The oranges with traces of burnt umber or pumpkin and gold, all were so well represented.
The only thing i dislike about this season,
is its shortness!

Walking into a trap, with my eyes wide open

I am planning to walk into a trap.
It will find me deficient,
wanting,
but life is not about being right
or wrong,
it is about living.
In the past,
in my youth,
i must be right
or there would be terrible consequences.
And so i always sought to have an answer,
ready,
that could withstand initial scrutiny.
It saved me many times.
Now i find i must deal with my lack,
my loss,
my mistakes.
It is troubling me
and i seek to make it okay.
I am walking into a trap
and i will be wrong,
incorrect
and found wanting,
it will be okay.

October time

Outside it is beginning to look like Halloween
and Harvest time.
Of the two,
I prefer the latter,
the joys of sharing,
what has been a bountiful year,
of vegetables and fruits and herbs.
I am reminded often,
it was only two years ago,
that I came out of the hospital,
still traumatized from the operation,
still wondering if i would live,
still defiant of anything less than a full life!

So i did not win

but i had loads of fun...
From the Health Department perspective,the amateurs were far more careful with food handling while serving than the one professional, so give one to the amateurs!
What made me feel particularly good was that the runner-up thought i had the best chili.
Running out of chili and hour or so before the end of the voting may have hurt me...
I will learn for another time.
I do have to give props to Tacos Guadalajara for providing decorations, support and their kitchen from some preparation to meet initial health department requirements...
They were awesome!
The initial recipe:

Texas chili with a Colorado twist!

2 pounds Chunk chuck – to be diced
2 pounds Ground buffalo meat
1 large red onion (diced)
1 stick butter
1 cup Chili powder
1 tablespoon cumin
4 Jalapeño peppers (diced)
2 Red chili peppers (diced)
2 sweet red peppers (julienne)
Coarse sea salt
2 bottles Dos Equis beer
1 cup Tequila
4 limes - juiced
1 large can organic Fire roasted crushed tomatoes
Juice from 2 cans of red kidney beans

Sauté onions in butter till just translucent – remove from butter.
Add chuck and buffalo and brown.
Dry roast peppers, cumin and chili powder and add to meat, stir well.
Add back in onions and stir.
Add crushed tomatoes, beer, bean and lime juice and salt.
Dilute with a little water and reduce heat to low and cook several hours.

what changed as i was cooking: 


I used 3 pounds of chuck i diced, 3 pounds of buffalo meat and 1 pound of 80-20 ground chuck
I marinated the meats together with 1/2 bottle of tequila and the dry roasted spices for 2 days.
 I did not use the sweet peppers or the red onion, I used 3 medium yellow onions only.
 I used 8 jalapeños and 2 red chili peppers, roasted them, diced them and only used 4 tablespoons of the mixture, the chili was NOT hot.
I did not dilute with water, but used 1 of the beers to dilute.

I had people coming back for seconds and thirds - that was awesome!

The winner of this contest made a lamb chili with a very hot habenero pepper sauce to add, but i never got to taste the lamb chili.
The runner up shredded his chuck - I really liked his chili and he has been coming for 3 years.  He made twice as much as i did and ran out at the very end.

There was a great black bean vegetarian chili and another chili made with only buffalo meat - it was in a mostly tomato sauce and it was not one i particularly liked.

Lots of food and money was collected for the food bank.

This was a great experience!

Next year Again!

Every so often Down and out

Every so often the "adventure"
becomes only a long torturous trial,
without end,
with out hope,
without reason.
These places are not nice to be in,
but they exist
and i should not be too surprised that they happen,
but i am
and worse,
i search for clues as to why.
It should not be so,
because the answer is always staring in my face,
in my 2 crossed eyes,
in the multiple images,
in the lack of balance.
The realization gives me hope,
for no other reasons than that i am.

Whew!

The chili contest almost was not -
because of Health Department regulations and liability regarding "home cooks".
Of course, I am a home cook and was going through some special gyrations in order to make my place "meet" standards - by cooking my stuff at a restaurant, not at home!
A big shout out to Tacos Guadalajara for allowing me to do my cooking there, so i do not have to worry about repercussions.
Obviously, what i cook will be very, very safe, but it will meet my standards for taste.

My sign will be as follows:

Dreamer, originator, creator, instigator, cook and pontificator:
Joseph Kuntz

Inspiration: Growing up in Texas,
Visits to the National Parks in the Rocky Mountains and
Colorado,
Wyoming,
New Mexico,
Montana and
Mexico,
and
My Dad.




The picture is of my Dad feeding a Buffalo in Colorado from the car!

and no your spell check will not recognize such a thing a pontificator!

Chili cook-off

It actually startled me, but there was this sigh
and it created confusion in me.
A chili cook-off,
at the local unitarian church,
befitting the local food bank.
I was mesmerized and conflicted.
I wanted to participate,
but i had not cooked for other than family.
I am scared,
really.
I signed up.
Saturday,
October 23rd
12 to 3 PM,
Admission is $10 or $5 with a bag of non perishable food.
It all helps the food bank of lower Fairfield County (yes there are hungry people here)
Come,
taste my chili,
see if i can cook.

Paper air planes

small and large,
drawn on and plain,
plain and lined,
carefully folded and folded again.
Thrown against the wind,
thrown with the wind.
They catch eddies and currents
and are blown about,
sailing high,
curving twisting in a gust,
gently falling to the ground
or crashing nose first.
What fun it was!
It made me think i was young again.

surprise

Fall came quickly,
with plenty of warning,
but the frost,
I was not quite ready for.
So out come the tomato plants
and this where the surprise was.
They were loaded beyond belief.
I planted many,
there more volunteers,
beefsteak, heirloom, plum, grape and cherry.
one I still do not know the type, but small round and red with green stripes, but very delicious!
I harvested many, many
and now I have many more green ones.
All is not lost - green fried tomatoes with onions, garlic and spicy pepper.
Green tomato salsa, boiled, then slow cooked with cilantro and salt and chilies.
This should be fun!

changing seasons

The heavy rains which swept through,
have cleaned the last remaining pieces of summer.
The beginning of autumn,
with cool nights and mornings
and warm days has arrived.
In time for pumpkins
and mums
and the changing colors of the leaves.
Summer is no more
and winter will approach,
but before the cold and bleakness
an explosion of color and festivities.
Trick or treaters will soon come,
in all of their fantasies of costumes.
Cooler winds, but still a warm sun.
It is a good time of year.

I hate colds and computer viruses

Having been down and out with a cold for 3 significant days and a few minor ones, I know i hate head colds,
They are miserable, this one snuck in fast and there really was nothing to do about it except rest, so i had more rest.
Of course while i was aching, so was my computer despite some hefty protection on my system.  There are numerous "Trojans" slowing down systems, preventing windows updates and causing general havoc out in the wild and from what i can tell they are coming in from places like yahoo, facebooks and Mozilla, all of which I use.
My daily fight is to rid my system of them after wards.
It is a pain.
But I am alive and things are okay now.
I'll visit soon!