I’ve never written a blog before. Nor do I understand the relevance of most blogs. I know a “blog” is a tool to express one’s own opinions, thoughts, and inspirations over an ever-expanding social forum; and everyone has the right to use it, but why would anyone care about what I have to say? If I question the relevance of most other bloggers’ judgments and outlooks, why should I expect them to give me any of their time?

I think I’ve found the answer.

Food.

What better subject to write about than the one thing that truly brings us happiness. Some bloggers can express such negative opinions, expressing certain themes that, frankly, I just don’t give a shit about. I mean, why am I wasting my time on reading what some mid-thirties dungeon troll has to say about Star Trek TOS, and whether its original series ran for seventy-nine episodes or eighty? Any serious Trek fan knows that episode two, “Where No Man Has Gone Before,” was a two-parter, but still one episode– seventy-nine! But this is beside the point. There is one thing that this basement-dweller and I do have in common: food, and lots of it. I think it’s obvious.

I then came to ask myself, what is the best kind of food blog? Restaurant reviews, technique critiques, gastronomy and its associations with fusion and foam. It can be all of those things, as long as it actually gives the reader something in return, for taking the time to read their blog in the first place. Something tangible, something to take away and use for the bettering of yourself and others around you. For example, recipes.

Cooking for me is a passion I developed early in life. With my Sicilian grandmother and mother always concocting the most savory and salivation-worthy treasures in their kitchens, I was the silent, but open-eyed observer, taking in every flavor, every smell deliciously coalescing around us, as if entwined in a delicate dance of savory aromatic spirits. To me, the incorporation of different ingredients thru cooking, no matter the culture, is something almost alchemical. Like some sort of dark magic, a “roux-ish” amalgamation of all things decadent, yet, for some reason, forbidden. We know certain foods may be hazardous, yet we indulge, to an extent that not even a 16^th century Catholic Church can suffice. It’s what makes us human, food the ultimate indulgence, better than drugs, better than sex, however closely related these themes might be. A quote comes to mind, “Sex is like pizza. Even if it’s bad, it’s still pretty good.” I do love me some pizza, that’s for sure.

As I come to a close, I must leave you all with what I promised made a great food blog, the recipe. As I write more of these food blogs for PianoFight, I will include a recipe that I’ve been, through the years, perfecting. Today I leave you with my simple homemade chili recipe. As temperatures drop, what better than a hot and spicy chili to warm the body and soul? Enjoy.

Danny Boy’s Kick Ass Chili

Ingredients:

1-2lbs ground pork

4 cans chili beans

1 can kernel corn

1 green bell pepper (seeded and diced)

1 whole yellow onion (diced)

3 serrano chilis (seeded and finely diced)

4 pickled jalapenos (diced)

2 tbsp black pepper

2 tbps sea salt

¾ cup chili powder

2 tbsp garlic powder

1 tbsp cayenne pepper

2 tbsp olive oil

1 cup water

Shredded cheddar cheese

Step 1.

Add oil to a large soup pot and bring to med heat on stove. When heated, add ¾ onion, bell pepper, serranos, and jalapenos to create a mirepoix, lightly add salt and pepper. Stir occasionally.

Step 2.

Once onions have become somewhat translucent, peppers soften, add ground pork and cook until browned. Stir occasionally as to avoid burning.

Step 3.

Add chili beans (do not strain), all spices, corn and water, mix well. Reduce heat to low and let simmer until chili attains thick viscosity, leave lid off, occasionally stirring.

Step 4.

Once you’ve attained your desired thickness, serve in a bowl topped with shredded cheddar cheese and diced raw onions. I like to have some sourdough toast as well, but obviously this recipe is open to your own interpretation. This is the way I enjoy it, but for those vegetarians and vegans, there are ways around to still enjoy a great, hot bowl of chili during these cold winter days. It makes a lot so you’ll definitely have leftovers, and chili makes a great leftover.

I hope you enjoy this recipe, and I look forward to sharing many more. For now I leave you with some food for thought.

“The greatest delight the fields and woods minister is the suggestion of an occult relation between man and the vegetable. I am not alone and unacknowledged. They nod to me and I to them.”

~Ralph Waldo Emerson

Well said.

-Daniel

Posted January 20, 2012 at 1:03 pm