Where is she??

Heya folkies!

I am so so so so sorry that this blog got neglected. Things have been insane here. Firstly, I should tell you that "here" has changed, and I am no longer in Chicago... Boo! I am living in Southwestern Indiana, and it is... well let us just say that it is very different. So what have I been doing? I have been gardening and recovering from some rather majour life events. I will not say too much about those, but here is the gist of it:

• I went through a divorce. This began about the time that this blog went idle. I had been dealing with the personal impacts of this and the only thing I did for a while were some specialised facebook posts to keep friends updated, and the usual nonsense. I do not want this blog to be about nonsense, and since my life was so distracting and drama based, I did not want to bring that here.
• I went through a pregnancy and loss. Not really gonna say much about that, just know that it did not work out, and I have been coping with that for a good while now.
• I had to move out of Chicago as a result of the above events. I moved in with someone I know from one of my Star Trek projects, and while it has been up and down, things have settled down, and we are doing a lot better socially, even though our financial situation is in the dumps.

So here I am in my new place of residence. My oven does not work! The stovetop works, so I have made a few things, especially things like making my own corn tortillas! I will share more about that later. The refrigerator does not work properly, either, so cold storage is sketchy at best. No meats. No frozen anything. And on a budget, that really makes eating right almost impossible.

I made Mole last year, though! I need to post it here so you can see it, that will either be a long post or a series of posts. I am so sorry again for having missed posting that, but wow what an experience! So here is what I am going to do: I am going to try to update here more often, trying to get you caught up on all of the stuff I mentioned, minus the drama, and tell you more about gardening, too. This is still a kitchen blog, and yes, I still use my cast iron lovingly. In addition, I will post a link at the end of this entry to my video blog about gardening called "This Is A Garden", though sometimes I say it as a question, since it is a video journal of my misadventures in container gardening. As a question, you get "This is a garden?" and that always makes me laugh. I hope it makes you laugh too!

Thank you for being faithful, and thank you for bearing with me. Here is the link, and I will see you next time!

-Kim

This Is A Garden @ YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCs2k1I9d7a-CMjViOvlNuMg

Where have I been?

Heya folkies,

I've been meaning to revise that hello line, I'll see what I can come up with next time. In any case, I've not forgotten about my duties here, there has just been so much going on!

To be honest, my health has been taking priority. I've had to deal with a lot this year, dealing with MS has been a real challenge these past few months, and I've not had a lot I could post. I did get some work done with my cast iron that has been in the lye bath for months, and I'll get some good photos of those soon.

There isn't much to say about the chili stuff right now. I am doing my best to come up with some new stuff for it, likely something to do with Mole, and some hot sauce as well.

I wish I had more to say about things, but I am afraid I'll have to ask you to be patient until I have dealt more readily with this current health crisis. My best to you all!

-Kim

Just Tonight's Dinner

I love Cast Iron, as you know, so I made tonight's dinner in cast iron. It is a seasoned hamburger that I cooked like a steak, by searing on both sides and then cooking in the oven for a few mins, then letting it rest, then cooking it a little more through on the stovetop.

I've prepared this one with spinach leaves, white onion, and an Árbol Chile Mayonnaise made of freshly ground Árbol Chiles, nested on Sourdough Bread. Here's a photo:

There is more happening with the Chili Company, more on that later, though. I'm making some videos, and I also update the facebook page as much as I can, which isn't as easy as it sounds, but I am doing so! :) I'm also starting the website, though right now I don't have anything but a placeholder there. If you want to see the placeholder, visit: http://www.mdcchili.com. 

See you next time! :)

-Kim

Mar De Cortês Chili Co.

Hi everyone!

I know its been ages. It feels like ages. But I do have news for you! Not a lot of content to this post, but some news. I know I mentioned my visit to the Chicago Food Film Festival in my last entry. What I didn't tell you is what has occurred since then:

I've started up a facebook page as a startup spicy foods business called Mar De Cortés Chili Co. You can find it at https://www.facebook.com/mdcChili and will learn a lot of nifty things about my projects.

This is a startup site. I have no idea how long it will take me to actually get the small business off the ground, with all the things that are involved with building a food business, like food handling permits, finding a commercial kitchen to use for health code reasons, getting my sanitation certificates again, and finding a means to jar/bottle things and sell them.

I plan to start out at Farmer's Markets with some basic things: Chili, Salsa, and Hot Sauce. Yes, that's right, I've started to make hot sauces! Go figure! Of course my first venture into hot sauce was a semi-sweet ghost pepper sauce, which you'll read about and see more of on the actual site.

Really, with this entry, I am mainly announcing this to you all so that you can go visit and learn more, and please share share SHARE! :) I'm a little less sporadic posting there than I am here, but as this site is more about general cooking than specialized cooking, I don't want to flood this blog with things more appropriate on MDC.

Please visit and like and share! For those of you who use google+, the link is:
https://plus.google.com/118197242320852580992/videos

Please enjoy, and give me all the feedback you can through those pages! :)

All my love,

-Kim

So what have I been up to? Oddly enough, I'm doing well in this down season. I got to go to the Chicago Food Film Festival as a V.I.P. thanks to knowing one of the film makers, who did a great film on New Mexico's Chile Growers and the economy and attitudes about continuing the farming of these most excellent chiles.

I got to meet Lee Ann Whippen from Chicago Q restaurant, and of BBQ Pitmasters fame, and sample some of her amazing bbq.

I ended up going for the last 3-4 days of the festival (I can't remember when it ended... but the post-film parties and tastings were terrific, even for someone like me, with social anxiety. I found some safe space and managed to do ok, and we didn't stay too long at the parties.

This year I also went to a "Friendsgiving" get together that our friend Sarah puts on each year, and I made my salsa from the previous year, which again was met with high acclaim. (Sorry I don't have a photo of that!) I also tried out a new recipe, and made some tomatillo & ghost pepper hot sauce that came out absolutely amazing. It was popular, and people were surprised that they could taste the fruitiness of the peppers in the hot sauce.

Also, I used the leftover turkey from thanksgiving to make some southwestern turkey stew (it wasn't quite chili, but it was good!) that turned out well.

In any case, that's what's been going on with me. Its been quite an active down-season. Sad to say, though, I'm not likely to make it to many, if any, Chili Cookoffs this year. Finances and lack of transportation have made this a hard year, never mind that the partner and I have recently just barely got over a nasty cold, and I haven't had a chance to renew my ICS membership due to finances. Ah well, I'll be even more prepared when my next opportunity arrives. :)

Here are some photos to enjoy. 

FoodFest VIP Badge: 

Fireotter's Ghost Tomatillo & Roasted Pepper hot sauce:

And that southwestern turkey stew:

Enjoy! 

Where have I been?

Well, I'll tell you where I've been:

Hiding in the bedroom from the brutal heat. MS is one heck of a disease, let me tell you, and I've been so focused on my health care lately that I've not been doing much of anything culinarily. I'm sorry I've neglected this blog, but health has to come first.

I'm hoping that as the summer turns into autumn, I'll have more to post about, so just hang in there with me, and I'll try to have something new for you soon!

FYI: I did finally get a copy of With Or Without Beans, and am sloooooooowly reading that. It is far more academic than I thought it would be, which is good, just means I have to read it much more slowly than the last two.

The 2014 ICS Chili Season is going to start in October, though it is likely that the first event I'll get to go to is the Chilly Willy Challenge Regional in Orland Park in January, unless my luck changes. We'll see. :)

Thanks to everyone who helped out with the chili fundraiser, the funds are waiting for my next competition, so hang in there and watch for it! :)

That's it for now, I'm afraid. Just a brief update, and since the topic of this blog is not my health, I'm not going to post much about it here. You know how to find me if you want to know more about that. :)

Luv ya all!

-Kim

Too Long of a Title! My Chili Research Project.

Some of you are already aware that as a part of my fascination with Chili Con Carne, and my fascination with Capsicums, that I have begun a research project to learn as much as is humanly possible about Capsicums, their history, their first uses in food, and how they ended up as an integral part of Chili Con Carne.

Lately I've been reading. A LOT.

To start off with, there are three books that are considered by historians of Chili Con Carne to be the "Holy Triumvirate" of this topic, and they are as follows:

"With or Without Beans: Being a compendium to perpetrate the internationally- famous BOWL OF CHILI (Texas style) which occupies such an important place in modern civilization" (I kid you not that is the full title) by Joe E. Cooper, c.1952

"A Bowl of Red" by Frank X. Tolbert, c.1966 (I own the 1972 revised 4th printing, which is also autographed, confirmed by the author's daughter)

"The Great Chili Confrontation" by H. Allen Smith, c.1969 (I own a first printing of this)

I do not own the first and oldest book, and given its prohibitive price tag, it will be a while before I can get my hands on it.

I started out by reading H. Allen Smith's book as a perspective on the very first chili cookoff in the United States, and realized that while this book is anecdotal and full of letters and articles, it is rather biased in some areas, though it does have some good information, and some great recipes.

I recently finished reading "A Bowl of Red", and while I will write a more appropriate review later, know that for the chili-related sections of this book, my delving into the anthropology of chili has grown in several dimensions due to other books, periodicals, articles, and papers mentioned. In fact, I foresee there being a large dissertation-level paper being written by myself and perhaps a few others assisting me on the topic of:

The Etymology of Chili Con Carne: A Nutritional Anthropological Dissection of Chili, Chiles, Pre-Columbian, and Ancient African and Middle Eastern influences contributing to this dish from its earliest incarnations, to its modern adaptations and variations across The United States, and The World. (Title © Kimberle Andrews, May 28, 2013)

In the meantime, await a more thorough review of "A Bowl of Red", including comparisons to its counterpart by H. Allen Smith: The Great Chili Confrontation, and the character assassinations that take place in each book. Eventually, when I have read the entire triumvirate of "The Great Chili History Books" (meaning I will have read "With or Without Beans" (title abbreviated) by Joe E. Cooper, I will write a far larger cross-examination of chili history as portrayed in these books.

The task laid before me is enormous. Because now not only do I have to research Capsicums, which won't be as difficult as it could be, though I am trying to use as few internet sources as I can, I have to investigate Pre-Columbian food in the Americas, both north and south. There is some information regarding the country of Chile that suggests that the name of the country has to do with the introduction of Capsicums to the peoples of that region in a particular period of time, which will require its own research, and I have found a research partner for this who is a professional translator, who has also offered to help me with other international research aspects.

I also have to research the foods of the First Nations of southwestern North America and their contributions to the regions in which much of what we know as "Southern", "Southwestern", "Texan", "Tex-Mex", and "New Mexican" food, as well as "Sonoran" food. This includes a number of First Nations, ranging from those native to Southern California, Arizona, New Mexico, Oklahoma, Texas, and Louisiana, as well as the native Nations from Central America, including Mayan and Aztec influences, Northern Africa, The Middle East, Spain (as odd as that may seem), and last but not least (and likely not last, either, as I learn about more influences with each new piece of information I find) The Canary Islands.

I think I need to stop writing, as I'm starting to get too much into the material rather than inform you all of the monumental task before me. And to think, it all started with the desire to make the perfect, historically accurate bowl of Texas Chili.

----

Incidentally, if anyone is looking to help me in this research project, I need a copy of the third book, mentioned above. It can be found at the following link, at the lowest price I have found it on the internet. If anyone is willing to get me a late Birthday Present or early Christmas Present, or very belated Wedding present or even an early Anniversary present, I would love to make this book my top priority, as literature goes:

With or Without Beans at AbeBooks

Thanks again everyone for reading, and as always, I hope you learned something new, and find my exploits in the culinary world something to keep reading about.

-Kim