PunkconformityLife, history, and the pursuit of knitting.

Sunday, October 26, 2008

Recipe: Cayenne Chili

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I promised that if the chili turned out well I'd post the recipe. It's super easy, and really tasty, so here it is:

Ingredients:
1 lg can dark Kidney beans
1 lg can chili hot beans
1 can crushed stewed tomatoes (use fire roasted if you want it even hotter)
1 lb ground beef
5-6 tsp. Chili powder
3-4 tsp. Cayenne pepper
Texas Pete to taste

Brown ground beef in large pot with 3 tsp of Chili powder. Pour in contents of all three cans, remainder of Chili powder, and Cayenne pepper. Bring to boil, then reduce to medium heat and simmer for 1 1/2 hours, or until thickened, stirring occasionally. Add Texas Pete to taste and serve with cornbread.

Super easy, and spicy enough to warm you up on even the coldest days. I think next time I'm going to add some black beans and a little bit of hot salsa, too, just to give it a little more solidity.
Tuesday, October 14, 2008

Moss Grid Handtowels

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I don't complain about my knitting a lot. Partly this is because I love it with the kind of unhealthy passion that makes even the most annoying aspects of the process fun, and partly this is because I'm not enough of a perfectionist to be devastated and annoyed by every mistake. I figure, knitting is a hobby that's supposed to help me relax; if I have to complain about it, it's not doing its job. That said, I'm now going to complain about my knitting.

Christmas knitting is always worse than knitting the rest of the year, because let's be honest, you knit things for your relatives that you would never knit for yourself. I have absolutely no desire for a green, brown, and white dishcloth with tiny v-shaped eyelets, but I know my aunt Teri will love it. Thus, it is possible to be less than enamored of the things that you are knitting as Christmas gifts. But rarely does it happen that you end up working on a project that you loathe.

I have found that project. The "Moss Grid Handtowel" from Mason-Dixon Knitting.


(I'm about 5 pattern repeats farther along now)

It's a beautiful once it's worked up - very classic, delicate, and likely to be useful for a long time. I love the yarn I'm using (Dragon Tale 4/2 Cotton from Earth Guild in Asheville, which works up like a dream). But oh, my Lord, is it ever tedious. It's one of those patterns with just enough variation that you can't quite memorize it all, or work on it while you're doing anything else that requires attention, but not enough variation to be interesting. The kind where someone calling out random numbers at you as you're knitting has the potential to ruin the whole damn thing. It can't be knit in class, it can't be knit while watching House or Bones, or any other show where visual attention is necessary for understanding the plotline. It is mind-numbingly boring, and I've got at least three and a half more of the suckers to go.

Argh.

Also, I realized this morning that I've completely forgotten the patterns for both my waffle-rib socks and the scallop-afghan I was working on earlier in the summer. The afghan isn't a problem, because I remember what stitch-dictionary I pulled from, but the socks? Oh well. This will teach me to keep better notes.