Chili fest

Today was chili fest at work. Last week I thought they were running short on volunteers for chili providers, so I said I'd be one. I had never made chili before.

I brought the stuff to work this morning to mix it in the crockpot and let it cook. Supposed Mistake #1: Dumped the whole can of beans in. Unknown to me, you're supposed to drain and wash the beans before dumping them. Supposed Mistake #2: I put it on high heat. When I checked on it 10 minutes later, it was about to jump itself right off the counter with the furious boiling. When I went to stir it, the bottom was basically dry from boiling all the water out of the bottom layer.

I added some water and took it back down to medium heat for the rest of the morning, but my smelling and tasting it had me thoroughly convinced that I had burned it somewhat. The result at lunch? My chili was the first one gone and several people told me how unique (in a good way) it was. Something about it having a smokey flavor and how it had a really "hardy" taste that the other ones didn't have. Personally, I still thought it tasted not-all-that-great, but hey, I'm glad to make some people happy. The only problem is that I don't know if I can replicate that for next year.