Chili With Pink Beans & Chouriços

Hot and spicy chili with beans is the perfect dish when it's cold outside. My stick-on thermometer at 1 PM today registered a low 28°F and with a slight wind chill it feels like 25°F. It is cold!! And I was thinking of putting the Christmas lights on my front bushes later today. I guess I have to wear a thick jacket and eat lots of chili before going out.

8 ounces dry pink or pinto beans
1 pound chouriços or chorizos, diced
1 large green bell pepper, chopped
4 Thai red chili, chopped fine
1 onion, chopped
6 garlic cloves, chopped fine
16 ounces can crushed tomatoes
2 tablespoon ground cumin
1 tablespoon ground coriander
2 tablespoons dried Mexican oregano
2 tablespoons paprika
2 teaspoons sea salt
1 teaspoon ground pepper
1 cup beef broth
grated cheese and saltines

• Soak the beans overnight, simmer until tender, drain, reserving 1 cup of the cooking liquid.
• In a large pot, heat 1 tablespoon olive oil and saute garlic and onion for 2 minutes, add sausages and saute until sausages are cooked and slightly browned. Add all the spices, cook for 2 minutes, then add all the remaining ingredients except cheese and saltines. Simmer for 1 hour. Adjust seasoning. Serve with grated cheese and saltines.

The Washington Post Book World Top 10 List for 2006

None of the fiction books I read this year made it to this year's The Washington Post Book World top 5, one non-fiction did, THE OMNIVORE'S DILEMMA: A NATURAL HISTORY OF FOUR MEALS by Michael Pollan.

Books I read that are in the 100 best fiction:
THE LAST WITCHFINDER James Morrow
THE MISSION SONG John le Carré
THE PALE BLUE EYE Louis Bayard
RESTLESS William Boyd
TALK TALK T.C. Boyle
BLACK SWAN GREEN David Mitchell
THE CRIMES OF JORDAN WISE Bill Pronzini

I am baffled that THE ACCIDENTAL by Ali Smith is among the list of 100. I think this novel is incredibly awful and one of the worst books in my honest opinion.

Possibly The Worst Books I Have Ever Read In My Entire Life (in no particular order, they are all terrible):
THE ACCIDENTAL Ali Smith
THE FIG EATER Jody Shields
DEADLY SLIPPER Michelle Wan
LAST MAN STANDING David Baldacci

Choucroute Garnie

Choucroute garnie for dinner tonight. Just a fancy French name for sauerkraut and meat, this recipe is from my old reliable Betty Crocker cookbook. I make this dish when I only have an hour to cook dinner, it is very easy and simple to prepare and so delicious. Make sure you have plenty of hard rolls to soak up the sauce.

2 rashers bacon, cut into 2 inch pieces
1 chopped onion
16 oz drained sauerkraut
2 tablespoons brown sugar
1 pound smoked beef kielbasa, cut into 3 inch pieces and scored
4 smoked porkloin
2 apples, sliced into 8 wedges
2 potatoes, cut into chunks
1 cup chicken broth
6 peppercorns, 2 whole cloves, 1 bay leaf, 1 tablespoon coarsely chopped parsley - put in a piece of cheesecloth and tie with string.

• In a large pot, fry bacon until brown. Remove all but 1 tablespoon of fat, add onions and saute until cooked, add sauerkraut and brown sugar. Add the spices and meat, put the potatoes and apples on top. Pour the chicken broth and simmer for 30 minutes.

Ube Pandesal

I baked ube (purple yam) pandesal (breakfast or dinner rolls) today, the recipe from the Filipino cookbook Memories of Philippine Kitchens. The bread is so soft and has a fine texture. The ube taste is faint, though, but I really like the nice light purple color. Add ½ cup of ube powder with every 3 cups of flour to your recipe for hot rolls or pandesal.

I was running late as I had a lot of errands to do today but was able to bake a batch of Cherry Sultana cakes and the ube buns. Every Christmas season I buy cakes and other goodies like marzipanstollen and pfeffernüsse cookies which are only available this time of year. I made the Cherry Sultana because I haven't seen them here in the US. The ones I had in the Philippines were from Australia that came in a sealed tin, I remember them so moist and filled with lots and lots of cherries. This recipe says there is no need to ripen but I still moistened the cakes with Kirschwasser syrup and will cure them for at least 2 weeks. I altered the recipe by adding 1 more cup of cherries, the more cherries, the better, trust me...

moist chock-full of cherries and sultana cake

I fried some thick bacon rashers and added them to baked beans, so good with the hot rolls.

breakfast food at 7 in the evening, yum, yum