Nya. If it ain’t broke, don’t try to fix it.

So that batch of chili a that I made last week?  One word: YUM.  I was stupidly happy every time I had a bowl.

I made it again tonight, with the beer I had originally intended to make. Nope, definitely not the one.  I’m not sure if it’s the beer in combination with the spices or if I missed something but it’s good, but not the giddiness-inducing fantasticness of the last run.  I’m not devastated, just disappointed.  Good thing I made a normal sized recipe… Next week I’ll make it *right* and that’ll be it!

Bring me to the next weekend quickly!! (And snow, please don’t complicate things =P)

Constantly exciting, constantly busy!

So the new job is going great! Tons to do, it’s quite the learning experience, but it’s fantastic to see my work come to life. It’s been encouraging, too, on many creative fronts beyond design… There’s quite a few foodies in these offices, and so far hardly a week goes by without a few treats gracing the lunch room. Fantastic pastries, quiches, sausages, artisan cheeses, cellar-aged beers… and that’s before going upstairs to the brewpub!

Chili bento with cheese/prosciutto roll, cheezits and a hello kitty-pressed egg.

Well, on the horizon for VBC is the Chili Challenge, on Feb 27th, and though I haven’t been there long I’ve decided to give it a shot! On Sunday I made my first batch of chili, starting my quest to finding the one I want to compete with, and this was an encouraging start for me… I have enjoyed it so much, it’s in my lunchbox with rice (since it’s a bean-less chili), shredded cheddar and sour cream. All mixed together, it’s definitely a cold-weather favorite!

hello kitty pressed egg!

So along with the chili and bento fun, I’ve been making more homemade butter, this time with wild flower honey and white pepper.  It’s awesome.  Try it.  And the hard boiled eggs.  I honestly set out to make egg salad, but instead I ended up playing with my food ^_~  Hubby won’t take them to work because they’re pressed to look like the head of hello kitty. =d

I was also busy *ahem* baking again, I made another chocolate layer cake (see the previous post for a lovely picture of that)  For Christmas the number of wrapped gifts were fewer, but there were plenty of edible ones!  Cranberry-orange pinwheel cookies, cinnamon-sugar puff cupcakes, and my favorite ‘car-bomb’ cupcakes!  I didn’t have anything to bring home… *sniffle* But the New Year is off to a tasty start!  Good thing I’m doing yoga a little more lately…

What are your cold weather favorite foods?  Soup? Casserole? Pie?