its been chili

Four o’clock. It’s two pm now so I have two hours until I have to start the chili… two hours to work up the energy to get chopping and slicing. The beans have soaked and are ready to go, but the red and green peppers, and onions sit on the kitchen counter, taunting me with their wholeness. The knife still has to do its work there. I haven’t made a chili for a few years and can’t recall the potion of spices required to make a tasty meal but how hard can it be?

Monday was possibly the last day of summer. I lazed around on the back deck, taking it easy on the swing, and dipping in the pool when I got too hot. I was glad that I luxuriated and didn’t spend my day in the basement sorting, or equally as bad, in the city.

It has been sunny but cool for the last few days (or was there a day of rain in there?). Nights have started dipping below 10C, so that might be it for the pool until next year. We don’t have a heater, instead we rely on Mother Nature to keep it warm which usually works out okay. This year she’s favoring and earlier move to autumn.

Yesterday I had breakfast with Diane and Mary. It was a treat to see them :-) although meeting at the bakery was a challenge for me: unctuous apple fritters, delectable donuts, marvelous pastries… well, you get the idea. I stuck with a bagel & cream cheese which wasn’t the best, but was a nice treat.

Four o’clock already and the chili has started to cook. As usual, I put too much stuff in to be able to fit everything that I wanted. Can of diced tomatoes - nix. Mushrooms - nix. So, I’ll do what I’ve been doing with the soup: cook the base, divide into meal portions, then when it is time to make the meal add the missing ingredients and fire up the instant pot. I’ve been thinking of getting the bigger pot, but figure I’d be in the same boat, just with more meal portions. A second pot? Maybe. Better planning? Perhaps.