I N T H E N I G H T K I T C H E N 6.30.2001
Chili Recipe Last night we had some friends over for dinner and, with the recipe help of sometimes-vegetarian Sue, I made vegetarian chili. It was pretty damn good. Here's the recipe with comments:
Actually, Sue's recipe called for 2 large red onions but when I chopped the one, it looked like enough. Next time I'll add two. Well, maybe one and a half.
I think I cut these a little thin but they were really tasty. If I make this again, I think I'll use more celery.
I left this out entirely. Carrots in chili? Didn't seem right
Now, here where it got a bit interesting. When I was home, my Mom took me to a bakery in Wheat, Montana, on our way to Butte. We had some yummy pastries and coffee. Wheat, Montana, holds the Guinness Book of World Records for turning standing wheat into loaves of bread. It took them 8 minutes and 13 seconds. Difficult, sure, but you have to consider that the bakery -- an almost-solitary structure on the side of the highway -- is surrounded by wheat fields. While there, on a whim, I bought a package of Wheat Berries with a recipe for making chili out of them. So, choosing the bean randomly, I substituted the pink beans for about two cups of the Wheat Berries which had soaked over night. And, actually, the recipe that came with the berries got destroyed sitting on our countertop and I ended up calling the store at Wheat and having the lady who answered read it off to me. I just wanted to know if I was missing anything and she seemed glad to do it. I stuck with Sue's, though.
I used a little less on all of these (though maybe the full tsp of cayenne) and it was a bit hot. I think I'd start with less chili powder and less cayenne and add as it gets cooked. We ended up slicing a potato and putting it in there the last 45 min. to rid some of the spiciness. That seemed to work pretty well and it was still good and hot which I do like.
Now, this is where I ended the recipe. Sue had a whole thing about using TVP (textured vegetable protein) which I'll include for those of you who may give it a try but the Wheat Berries she told me were going to be pretty chewy and I wasn't too sure about this TVP stuff anyway. Here's what else she had regarding TVP:
So, like I said, I ignored all that. We did add in a small can of tomato paste since the chili looked a little watery but I'm not sure if it made a real difference.
I started all this at 4 o'clock in the afternoon for a 7:30 p.m. dinner and we just let it simmer and simmer, tasting as it went and adding bits here and there. I think it stayed on the stove for over two hours. In the end, I think there was enough chili for at least 8 people. I made a big pot of rice to have the chili over which was really excellent for helping people balance out the spices and tasted good, too. I also made Krusteaz cornbread which was damn good! I wish I had had two pans of that ready to go because it was so yummy. The chili? Everyone said it was great and I thought it was really tasty. The wheat berries sort of had the consistency of corn but didn't seem too starchy and sort of "popped" in your mouth. The whole meal seemed really, really healthy and so far there have been no aftereffects. 6.29.2001
"Networking" Last night I went to The Pint, a networking event here in Portland. It's been going on for at least two years, I think. The two guys that started it had a design company which got bought by another company who then layed them off. I have no idea really who is running it now though I assume it is my friend Franz (I met him when I was temping code-monkey jobs back in '99) who is still at that company. Wierd, wierd world. Anyway, I haven't been in ages and my friend Bonnie wanted to go so I agreed to go with her and just see who I could see. It ended up being rather mellow. I chatted with Franz. I accidentally got my picture taken by some guy who was doing official pictures. I didn't "network" because, well, how much networking can you do in this industry right now? Please. I did run into a handful of my old coworkers from the company that layed me off. Even the president of the interactive group was there. It was kind of funny because I'm pretty sure he recognized my face but he had to peek at my nametag. I'm sure of it. Not that I'm put off by that. I was only at that company for three months. He was travelling most of the time and only saw me in big group meetings. There were so many new people at that time and, well, I just wasn't there for very long. The saddest thing is that since I was new, I didn't really get to know people very well. I liked a lot of them. There were a lot of friendly, bright and cool people there. I know that they just do not know me that well. Instead of avoiding them though, I just forge right over that and be friendly as though we are all old pals. That's really the only way to do it, I think. The Pint was pretty boring otherwise. Loud band -- far too loud for the number in the crowd and for an event where people were supposed to be chatting and "networking." After awhile, I convinced Bonnie and her hubby and Steve to take off to The Tunnel. We had a couple beers and chatted and Steve and I co-dependantly bought cigarettes together which, naturally, I regret today. I think I had four and I'm sure that those are fully responsible for how I feel right now. Blech. I'm such a weakling. Hey kids -- don't smoke! + + + It's 10:30. I'm going to see if I can work on my computer for two hours without opening my email. I'm so addicted. 6.26.2001
Up Today is an "up" day which is a blessed thing. Yesterday was a "down" day. Very, very, very down. But, it ended with a softball game which was nice. I chatted with a recruiter today about a full-time position with a "semi-conductor company" out in Hillsboro. They wanted someone with over three years experience in web who could do web design, flash and html -- standard, front-end, jack-of-all-trades type work. This person would be maintaining their company site and internal sites. And, it was absolutely mandatory that the person work on-site from 8-6, Monday through Friday. Fifty hours a week mandatory. I passed. I have been thinking about forging ahead and trying to find a full-time *something* that uses my skills. Whether this means I'll miss out on a chance to go to school in the Fall is definitely something to consider. However, while I look for more work, I need to pound the pavement for more freelance stuff. I have about five things on my list that I need to do in order to pitch some work at people. It's all difficult though because it means going way out on a limb and basically cold-calling people. Granted, I'm not going to actually be phoning people and pitching design at them but I will be sending unsoliticited pitches. And, I may go even farther and pitch myself to a couple companies who are only very tangentially related to my field. Talk about rejection, baby, I'm going to get it. The biggest thing that I have to do though is keep moving. It's hard, though. I have these moments -- panic attacks, really -- where everything that has to be done and everything that isn't getting done and everything that requires money and everything, everything, everything just washes over me in a big, tidal wave and I feel hopeless and full of self-pity and anger and I get a huge, hard lump in my throat and all I want to do is sit in a dark room and drink. Mmmmm... yes, that's healthy. I honestly cannot believe how much my job became my life. Though, I really have a difficult time passing judgement on that. I enjoyed many aspects of my job. But this thing of identifying one's self worth through one's employment has to be a bad thing, right? Well, good or bad, I'm still getting over the devastation of losing my job. Logically, I'm cool with it -- it is what it is. In my heart and in my darkests moments, I am not. Though, naturally, I shouldn't forget that this is compounded exponentially by the fact that the job doesn't exist anymore. And, it's also compounded by media and all the people *out there* who seem to relish that I and everyone like me got what I deserved. I've stopped going to a lot of my favorite sites because I just can't stomach the commentary anymore. And, in other news, it looks like I'm going to lose unemployment benefits. Since I had a job when I started unemployment (the crappy brewery job) they are seriously frowning on the fact that I quit. Nevermind that unemployment is supposed to help me get on my feet in my field. Also, for those of you who may be tsk-tsking me regarding unemployment... IT'S NOT WELFARE! I have had more than one person kind of narrow their eyes at me over it. Unemployment is something that your company pays into and which you pay into with your taxes. If your company lays you off, it's designed to help you find a new job in your field and keep you afloat so that you're not completely bereft of funds and go bankrupt due to no fault of your own. Didn't I say today was an "up" day? It is. I'm off now to sit and chat with some friends (mostly layed off folks) about how we can work together to find work and promote ourselves as professionals. Hopefully, it will help us all come up with some ideas and get those creative ideas flowing. Or, we'll all get drunk. 
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