Odds 'n Ends

Well things are definitely cooling down her in Boise. The leaves are falling, the furnace is on, and the blankets are out. When the cold weather hits, where do our thoughts turn?....CHILI!!!! Teresa and I are both big fans of Wendy's chili, so I found an knock-off recipe on the internet and it turned out fantastic. Nothing better than some chopped romaine and shredded cheese, topped with some chili and sour cream. Best dinner ever. So we must have been bored today because we went and bought a cup of Wendy's and decided to do a blind taste test. Teresa was the victim. First she compared the two with her eyes open to see if she could identify the right one... that was easy.

Then I put a blindfold on her and that was not so easy. She guessed that mine was the Wendy's chili. So for all you chili fans, I've included the recipe, that's out on Recipezaar.

Ingredients
2 lbs ground beef
1 (29 ounce) can tomato sauce
1 (29 ounce) can kidney beans (with liquid)
1 (29 ounce) can pinto beans (with liquid)
1 cup diced onion (, 1 medium onion)
1/2 cup diced green chili pepper (, 2 chilies or a small can of green chilies)
1/4 cup diced celery (, 1 stalk)

1 can diced tomatoes
2-3 teaspoons cumin powder
3 tablespoons chili powder
1 1/2 teaspoons black pepper
2 teaspoons salt
2 cups water
Directions
- Brown the ground beef in a skillet over medium heat.
- Drain off the fat.
- In a large pot, combine the beef plus all the remaining ingredients, and bring to a simmer over low heat.
- Cook, stirring every 15 minutes, for 2 to 3 hours.

So enough with the chili. Another one of our favorite things to do is to go out to the Parade of Homes and check them out. Seems like whenever we do we want to come back and do something to the house. This time we decided to paint the shelf over the fireplace. After much deliberation we finally decided on a certain shade of red.

I think it turned out just right. Mom thinks that it has a little too much rust in it. Cast your votes!

We're Goin' to the Dunes, Dunes, Dunes

Teresa had a couple of days off this week, so we decided to head down to Bruneau Sand Dunes State Park for a quick overnight trip. We wanted to try out some new gear so we left Thursday afternoon in spite of some not so rosey weather forecasts. Turned out to be not so bad after all... a little windy at times, but that's to be expected along with a little bit of rain.

First thing we did when we got there was set up the tent. Got a new one this summer for backpacking that is a little larger than most. Turned out to be really comfortable... nice and dry and roomy.Next on the agenda was dinner. Here's a picture of me boiling water with my "pocket rocket". Only takes a couple of minutes to boil water and does in fact sound a bit like a rocket engine. We decided to do "freezer bag" cooking this trip (see my favorite web sites below). We had spaghetti, along with chicken & rice for dinner and breakfast rice w/dried apricots for breakfast. Even the boss thought it was all good as is evidenced by the picture below.We brought some wood from home so that night was spent around the campfire. No marshmallows like we did with Hannah when she was here visiting, but still nice to just sit around and stare at the flames. I guess we're all just pyromaniacs at heart.

The next morning we took a hike up the dunes which was very pleasant because the sand was a little firmer than ususal due to the rain.

All in all was a fun time. Since we missed the VP debate Thursday night, we caught the unbiased debrief (not!) on the Dennis Miller and Sean Hannity shows on the ride home.