ChiliFest 2009

Thank you everyone who came to our First Annual Chili Fest! Sorry the post is two weeks late; thanks for your patience. Chili Fest was a raging success. We had six chilis - three vegetarian and three meat - plus cornbread, desserts, beer, and wine. The thirty or so people we packed into our tiny apartment voted on a veggie and meat chili winner, but everyone agreed every dish was delicious.

Here's the insane chili paste I made with a combo of hot hot dried and fresh peppers. My fingers were burning for days.

All the accoutrements: chili paste, chopped hot peppers, red and green sweet peppers, avacado, sour cream, cheese, lime, and adobo.

Peter's Team ATM killer Lucha Libre meat chili.

Some of the veggie chilis (including a family recipe and Keegan's winning chili).

My meat chili - secret ingredients included dark beer and chocolate.

And don't forget the desserts! Lindsay made heavenly mini chocolate cupcakes with peanut butter icing.
And Vicky made the best carrot cake with cream cheese frosting I've ever eaten. This picture does not do it justice.

Excuse the poor and missing pictures - I was so busy eating, I practically forgot to document the night! Again, thanks everyone for coming; this will definitely be an annual event. I heard lots of discussion about possible future food-centered activities. Can't wait. Bake-off, anyone?

Annual Gingerbread House Competition

The holiday season would not be complete without gingerbread houses, and what better way to celebrate and display your holiday spirit than with a competition? On Saturday night Evan and I braved it through the unpleasant weather to the warmth of Sean and Nick's Third Annual Holiday Party and Gingerbread House Competition. Over the years things have gotten pretty serious. People plan ahead of time. Houses get more outlandish. There is more yelling. This year also showed the best contestants I have seen, with creativity and innovation.

As per usual, each team was given a few boxes of graham crackers, two tubs of vanilla frosting, and a whole lot of candy. This year we were told in the middle of the competition that we could use "anything in the kitchen" and one team used eggs, to the discontent of some.

I won't tell you who won - you be the judge:

Medieval Castle in France - complete with Fire-breathing Dragon and Beheading

Washington, DC on Inauguration Day 2009

The Pyramid of Giza and Sphinx, Complete with Desert and the Nile River

"Old Lady Housing" - in a Shoe

Event: Shalom Y'all!

My father-in-law helped to sponsor this evening, "Shalom Y'all," at their local temple. The focus, as you might guess, was on Southern Jews. So my husband and I went to temple, which was the service followed by a brief lecture on the history of Jews in the South, followed by a Southern Jewish meal.

The lecture was actually really interesting. Did you know that before 1820 Charleston, South Carolina, had the largest population of Jewish people in the United States? (Of course, this was 700 people. And this changed dramatically after the wave of immigrants started arriving in the 1830s). Today, however, Brooklyn alone has more Jews then all the states in the South combined. Jewish people make up 1% of the Southern population. It was very interesting to hear about the ways in which Jewish people assimilated in the South but were also able to maintain their cultural and religious identities. Then again, I'm a history nerd.

Although we were not sure what to expect from a Southern Jewish themed Temple dinner, it turned out to be delicious. It was standard Southern fare, but with a twist. The corn bread, for example, was made with coconut milk (so that it could be kosher to serve with meat). If anyone has a recipe for this let me know! The collard greens were cooked with smoked turkey instead of ham hocks, and the fried chicken was really good. While everything was delicious, my favorite were the black-eyed peas. They were served room temperature with chopped arugala, red onions, and red pepper. Yummy!
Dessert was also fabulous. They served mini-pecan pies and peaches. The peaches were like canned peaches, but fresh. Mmmmm.