664th Post - Toastmasters Party

We had a Toastmasters Winter Party this afternoon and this evening. I thought I'd take a few paragraphs to tell you about it.

I had originally planned to buy a pizza for the party, but late Thursday night decided to make a chili instead. It is, in fact, my world-famous, patent-pending, lip-smacking, rib-sticking, yes-I'll-marry-you-oh-god-oh-god-yesss, chicken chili.

Do you want to know how I make such a chili? I am in a charitable, expansive mood this evening, so I will tell you. However, you must promise not to tell anyone how you learned this recipe. Do we have a deal? Good!

Such a creation requires a great deal of preparation. This type of chili doesn't exactly grow on trees.

Several years ago, I bought many varieties of dried beans from the local Bulk Barn. Light kidney beans, dark kidney beans, white kidney beans, black beans, great northern beans, bean mixes, probably 10 different types of beans.

Early Friday morning, before I went to work, I grabbed about half a cup of each type of bean and placed the beans in a deep bowl, covering them all with water, lots of it. I figured by the time I got home last night, they would be soaked enough so that I would only have to boil them for 20 minutes or so.

I worked, and after work bought some food for Newbie, took Patricia out to dinner, and then we bought some groceries for the chili. I bought boneless, skinless chicken breasts, some canned tomatoes and some onions.

When I finally got home for the evening, around 9:30 last night, the beans were fully soaked, so I transferred them to a pot for boiling. I cooked the chicken and chopped the onions. To a large crockpot, I added 3 cans of tomatoes, the onions, the chicken, most of the beans (I overestimated) some cumin, and some chili powder. I turned on the crockpot, letting it cook on low for 10 hours. It was now 11pm.

By lunch time Saturday, today, the chili was ready, and delicious! We transported the crockpot to the party. It was a skating party as well, so I got to watch people skate while I shot some photos, a couple of which you'll see in this post. I got some really nice pics of Patricia outside as well, and you'll see one of them here, too.

Coming back inside, I got a pic of Patricia and our friend Marie reclining on a couch, along with pictures of members of my TM club.

I hope you enjoy them.

See you in February!