texas is right

so it turns out all those texans who vilify "with beans" chili and instead wax poetic about true chile con carne (note: chile with an e) may be on to something. i had been craving chile con carne, which may have been my stomach's way of getting my brain to decide on eating some of bryan's fantastic chile sauce. as making chile paste is a rather labor intensive process (toast dried chiles, reconstitute dried chiles, blend dried chiles, strain dried chiles to obtain paste, reduce paste with or without water/stock and onions if you're making sauce), bryan tends to make very large batches, freezing it off in one or two cup ziplocs for easy use later. we resurrected some on sunday for chile con carne. p-freaking-nomenal. i grew up with northern chili (with an i), which includes ground beef, beans, tomatoes, and even sometimes (gasp!) pasta or (blasphemy!) carrots. i have nothing against "with beans" (and tomatoes, et. al.) chili; it can be delicious and comforting on a cold night. but true chile con carne is in a league of its own.

we had some beef stew meat from peapod which bryan seasoned and seared in the cast iron. he added some shredded onion, stock, and the chile paste. this simmered for four hours or so, resulting in beef so tender as to be nearly indecent, and a thick, rich, silky chile sauce which could convert any "with beans" die hard. no other chile stands a chance. topped with shredded cheddar, sour cream, and sliced green onion (all of which is not needed - the chile does beautifully on its own), it far outshone my sweet cornbread (no small feat - that cornbread usually kicks the pants off whatever it's served with).

i'm savoring the only bowl of leftovers for lunch today, along with some el rey tortilla chips, lemon flavor (seriously, try them). the short story is: you win, texas.

of course, i'm pretty spoiled to have homemade chile paste at my disposal. reason #9 Why I Love Bryan (that is not to suggest that there are only 9 reasons; chile paste is just pretty high up on the list ;).

other than that, we're boring as always. oliver did not nap or sleep well all weekend due to his cold, which resulted in a Seriously Cracked Mommy. i worked from home yesterday so i could get in a few naps, and was actually able to have a sane conversation by dinner. he did MUCH better sleeping last night as well, so hopefully we're on the up side of this virus. poor little munchkin. i submitted a new peapod order this morning, for delivery tomorrow, which gives me no small amount of pleasure. something about delicious produce delivered right to my door makes me blush with gastronomical pleasure. i don't believe we have any fun plans for the weekend, which is a relief.

WFD: carne asada, black beans, yellow rice. we had bought a beef tenderloin which bryan sliced into filets, so we'll toss those on the cast iron grill pan. the black beans will be interesting, since we're not big fans. :) i think bryan was inspired by shannon's cuban pork roast dinner. ;)