Dex's Style Chili

I made some chili this weekend for an office chili contest. I'm sharing the recipe for you to make, alter and enjoy for football season. Warning: it's pretty spicy as given but you can modify to suit your tastes.





Ingredients:

2 lbs of cooked Cajun seasoned ground beef
2 12 oz cans of small red beans
3 12 oz. cans of diced tomatoes
About 2 cups of water

1 red pepper
1 green pepper
2 jalapeño peppers
3 cloves of garlic
1 chopped onion
A handful of dried Japanese style chili peppers
Several heaping tablespoons of chili powder
A handful each of oregano, paprika, cumin

½ cup of mesa, water, flour, sugar mix
2 tablespoons salt

Crushed red pepper &/or cayenne pepper sauce to taste for hotness
(As if it isn’t spicy enough already!)
shredded cheddar for topping

Steps:

1) Chop peppers, onion & garlic
2) Add tomatoes, water, chili powder & spices
3) Bring mixture to a boil - Let simmer approx 30 minutes
4) Cook beef (or leave out and substitute more beans later for vegetarian)
5) Let beef simmer in chili approx 30 min.
6) Add beans and flour mixture. More tomatoes if desired
7) Let simmer another 15-45 min depending on patience
8) Let cool and enjoy. add shredded cheddar. Serve with beer and tortilla chips

Citi Field Preview

Well it's another disappointing October for Mets fans. Once again lack-luster pitching led to a late season breakdown which kept the promising ball-club from making the playoffs.

Oddly enough, this Tuesday I found myself in the epicenter of the Mets breakdown... the right-field bullpen. My Dad invited me to tag along while he visited the construction site for Citi Field which will be the new home of the Mets starting next season. Before checking out Citi Field, we walked over to shea's bullpen. The outfield fence had been removed so I was able to go over and grab some dirt from the warning track to keep as a momento of the Mets days at Shea.


Overall I think Citi will be a great place to watch baseball. They've build a concrete stand for the world famous homerun apple in center field (most likely it will be a newer, shinier apple with the original one located somewhere in or around the stadium).



The shape of the field is quite different from the simple pitchers park layout of Shea. The left field fence is quite high and at dead center it is slightly higher in front of where the apple will be. Right field is especially strange coming in at a strange angle and going back out again with the upper deck hanging slightly over the field. I wonder if this will require any strange ground rules.



All the seats are angled towards the infield with cup holders so no more kicking over your neighbors beer onto someones back. Your average seat at Citi Field will be closer to the field giving the stadium a much cozier feel. It really has been built specifically for baseball and the bathrooms and concessions will be much more plentiful. There's also considerable outdoor space with concessions even in the upper levels. The whole place is interestingly laid out, and the routounda, though still unfinished, makes it feel like your entering someplace really special.

Check out the photos and I'll post some more if I can locate them.

Sarah Palin must not be allowed anywhere near the Oval Office

Okay, so this proves it... that Sarah Palin knows truly nothing about the world and foreign policy. To some extent she's just dancing around a question that she doesn't know much about. But the fact that she's dancing around such a simple discussion is what makes this ridiculous...: Sarah Palin must not be allowed anywhere near the Oval Office!!

Her ignorance here is SHOCKING for a person who's running for a position which may potentially make her Commander in Chief of this country. Bush is a President who many have tired to justify as ok, so he's not that bright, but he has smart people around him. But apparently John McCain, smart or dumb as he may be, does NOT have smart people around him because they selected this ignorant person as a VP candidate.

Watch and be dumbfounded....



This debate tomorrow should be a riot. I don't know if I'll even be able to watch the whole thing through the pain of watching this fish out of water.