A serendipitously excellent chili recipe and various goings on. (A long post with a correspondingly long title, the like of which has not been seen since Spain)

I am full of chili and cornbread, but that is the most recent happening, so it shall come last. I am so blessed to have had a lot of fun stuff going on lately, so these will just be highlights.

Shelby and I after our rain adventure

 We went to Farmers Market with Lisa in the rain where we got to see Megan, who is interning there this quarter, and bought some produce (see left corner for slightly squished cabbage). On the way back from the bus stop, we were so wet, we just decided to take advantage of it and jump in all the puddles, giggling madly. I don't remember the last time I jumped in puddles. And. . .

Studying at the laundromat--woohoo!

While getting paid to sit there while a comforter was washing. Not bad. And afterwards, we went over to Nicole's house and made pizza and played fishbowl and generally enjoyed ourselves. 

[Insert a lot of busyness and blues dancing and going out to Indian food and eating cake to celebrate internships and sunny days (today I wore shorts!!) and soapmaking in O Chem lab and waffles and not enough studying and going home for the weekend to see Rebecca "sing her lungs out" in her last Musical America and looking at apartments. . .]

Today, Andee and Grace came over for chili and cornbread because, a couple months ago, Shelby was talking to our friend Isaac, and something he said made Shelby want cornbread. Well this week we finally decided to make cornbread and chili to go with. And it needed to be shared. So Andee and Grace came over and we laughed and talked about KoolAid and sleeping in and sat on the living room floor and ate around our coffee table. 

We all agreed the recipe was really good (which is excellent because it just seemed like the easiest, most flexible vegetarian chili recipe from all the ones I googled. Also, vegetarian just because we didn't want to buy meat, not because we are vegetarian). It's hearty and satisfying, with a nice variety of texture. It's basically a bunch of vegetables cooked together with some spices and olive oil, so it's pretty healthy, and it's very simple and flexible to make as you can see if you check out the original recipe I adapted it from. It's going in my recipe file, and I'm posting it here in case you want to try it. 

Inspired by Isaac Chili (heavily modified, but adapted from theendlessmeal.com) 
Makes ~10 servings
Ingredients:
2 15 oz cans of cooked tomatoes (I think one was diced and one was crushed, but eh whatever)
2/3 c pinto beans (dry)
1 c kidney beans (dry)  (Actual recipe calls for two cans of beans)
3 stalks celery (diced)
2 bell peppers (diced)
1/2 onion (diced)
3-4 cloves garlic (minced
2 T cumin
1 t oregano
1 T chili powder
1/4 t red chili flakes
2 T olive oil (or however much you need to sautee the veggies)
Salt to taste

If your beans are dried, soak and cook them like you normally do. If they're canned you can relax and not have that sinking feeling like I did during breakfast when I realized I was supposed to make chili tonight and hadn't cooked the beans yet.

Heat the oil in a big pot on medium high heat. Sautee the onions for 3 minutes or so, then add the garlic for maybe a minute more. Add the veggies and spices (this is when it starts to smell like chili. Yum :) Stir and sautee until the veggies are just starting to get soft. And enjoy the beautiful colors, especially if you've got different colors of bell pepper. When the veggies have started to get soft, add the tomatoes with their juice. Stir and bring to a simmer. Reduce the heat so that the chili continues to simmer without a lid. Simmer, stirring occasionally for about 20 minutes. Add the beans (and some bean water if the chili is too thick for you) and stir until the beans are heated through.

Serve with toppings of your choice. 

I noted afterwards that this is actually a vegan recipe too, and began to say that if I could just eat this, I would be a happy vegan. But then I realized I would want cheese on it. Or sour cream. I'm glad I don't have to be a vegan :)

The end of the quarter is rapidly approaching. This is dead week. I have two papers due, two lab finals, and I'm going surfing on Saturday. 

Also speaking of quarters, we're switching to the semester system if you haven't heard. -_-
I can't say I'm terribly surprised, but it doesn't seem very just. A clear majority of the students, and the president of the university prefer quarters, but the chancellor has decided that he wants all the CSUs to be on the same system. I guess this is a chance to learn to respect authority even when we don't agree with it. 
But the change won't go into effect for at least a decade, so I really have nothing to complain about. 

Final and serious thought of the day from the story of Mary and Martha in the Bible (Luke 10:38-42). Jesus came over to Mary and Martha's house and "Martha was distracted with much serving" but Mary "sat at the Lord's feet and listened to his teaching". Both good things. Definitely. But this is what Jesus said to Martha, "Martha, Martha, you are anxious and troubled about many things, but one thing is necessary. Mary has chosen the good portion, which will not be taken away from her." I want to choose Jesus as my portion. Because he is what is good. And eternal, not something that will be taken away. Not that I can't work hard at school and work and having fun. But those are not things to hold onto. Jesus is my good.