A Sunday roundup: 14-cup commercial food processor, a foster cat, friend visit, misc

Y'all will be as thrilled to hear, as I was to experience it, that I have had the dreaded relapse that so many people have succumbed to following round 1 of this horrid virus going around. Not even kidding I have gone through FOUR boxes of Kleenex since Thursday. Don't even talk to me about phlegm and nosebleeds and that disgraceful chap pattern I now have under my nose. 

That said, my dear friend, Anne, came to visit Thursday - Saturday, and as it always is when you spend time with someone who makes you pee in your pants laughing and also shares their deepest secrets and you yours and doesn't mind watching you go through two of those four boxes of Kleenex or eating leftover pizza from the double-slumber party you host one night during her visit for dinner, it was marvelous.

As evidenced by that picture.

Also last week I received a new kitchen toy, Hamilton Beach's 14-cup dicing food processor. My friend, Christine (I call her Burratine because we first truly bonded over a plate of burrata and have been fast friends since; was that two years ago, C? three?), writes the snappy food blog, Chew Nibble Nosh, and recently had a giveaway sponsored by Hamilton Beach. Out of 175 entrants, my name popped out of the Promo Simple winner generator. Y'all, I was thrilled. I don't think I've EVER won anything. And then, faster than I can type Hamilton Beach, this puppy was waiting by my front door. 

Thank you, HB; photos below courtesy of Hamilton Beach

I used it yesterday to mandoline three Meyer lemons in the blink of an eye for a Shaker lemon pie and again today to DICE many pounds of green peppers and onions for the chili verde I make most every year for the Superbowl. 

Because I was BESIDE MYSELF thrilled by the speed and mostly-accurate dicing and mandolining of all these things, which otherwise takes not an insignificant amount of time, I neglected to take any action shots. You should click here as Christine photo-documented her entire maiden voyage with her dice-chop magic appliance. It dices tomatoes without crushing them. WTF?! #winning

I cannot wait to use this bad boy to deal with potatoes in a million different ways. Latkes, hash browns, you get my drift! Thank you to Christine and Hamilton Beach!

In feline news, a beautiful little cat has been wandering our neighborhood for weeks, collarless and thin. It has emeralds for eyes and is the sweetest, calmest ball of silky fur and purr ever. Many of us have come to believe it's homeless, and so today we took him in. 

I promised T it was just a foster cat (he does NOT want another cat), and I have put signs up all over the neighborhood and also reached out to a friend who recently lost her beloved cat of 17 years to see if she might want to adopt this honey. But y'all know the truth: the boys and I want to keep this cat. Big time. Right now he's sound asleep, still purring, in bed with Jack. 

As I scooped this sweetie up today, and felt unabashed love literally course through my body, it all felt so simple. Such a perfect counterpoint to all the ugliness and complete lack of love and respect and care being spewed from the White House. It's so much easier to be kind and put a little goodness out there. #resist

Chile Verde and a Beautiful Loaf of Bread

We had a full day together, the boys and I. Snow day #1 and the enthusiasm for the powdery stuff was just where it should be after many months without. Sledding, snow-pumpkins (?), snow balls, hot chocolate... We went out for pizza, saw some friends, went to the market, watched Nutmeg frolic happily in the snow. At 5, I hit a wall and could.not.believe. that we still had dinner, bath- and bedtime to conquer. Mother of god. These are the times I would sincerely, wildly, emphatically enjoy having more help in the old childcare department.

So, I cooked. Fresh bread, which has been rising since early morn -or yesterday? who can really remember!- and a huge pot of chile verde which is always a major treat. Every single time I make this, I take my first bite and think, "Damn, I've missed you, you excellent chile." It's fiery and limey and a touch sweet. The flavors sing together and never get old.

www.em-i-lis.com

Does anyone know for REAL if it's chile or chili? I am aware that the country is Chile and the band is the Red Hot Chili Peppers. Otherwise, I see both the "i" and "e" forms of chili/e written all the time. I always kinda feel that chiles are the peppers and chili is the soup, but I am not 100%. And yes, I have spent a fair amount of time poking around into this subject.

If you know, please leave a comment on this post so that we all may learn!

www.em-i-lis.com

www.em-i-lis.com

Biscuits and chili

Tonight's dinner was delicious, but I admit to hoping that it serves as a final goodbye to temperatures in the 30s and 40s. Today was downright cold which made my indoor MHD that much cozier, but...spring needs to spring. ASAP. I've got sandals and shorts to wear, sundresses and tank tops, floppy hats and flip flops too. I want to get my Vitamin D from actual rays of sunlight rather than gummy Ds in my bathroom. My VegTrug plants looked at me in a fairly accusatory fashion today, as if wondering "why would she so loving plant us and then subject us to freezing rain?!" It's a reasonable question little ones! In any case, Jack is about to test for his red belt in Tae Kwon Do so I took him to a penultimate practice session tonight and when we finally got home I was thrilled to remember a bag of chili verde waiting in frozen repose in my garage chest freezer. A quick thaw would make for such a warming dinner! I have been DYING to make biscuits, knew they'd pair winningly with the chili and had just enough cream left to make a 1x recipe. Though I wish they'd puffed more -I fear I overworked the gluten- they were very tasty and, as I'd suspected, were a tremendous addition to dinner. I used this recipe from the recent NY Times Dining section. Next time I'm going to try a different recipe, just cuz.

Aren't the flaky layers of good biscuits irresistible? I love, LOVE a good biscuit, especially when smeared with cream cheese and pepper jelly, fresh jam or dunked into something wonderful, like tonight's chili. I have yet to take a picture of this chili that doesn't too closely resemble something gross, but imagine turkey, tomatillos, pounds of peppers, etc. It's marvelous.

The news was so stultifyingly reguarly both yesterday and today. Just violence, horror, silly Congressmen and natural disasters for the love. Maybe the MH 370 black box has been found though?