Chili as a religious experience....

Made chili last night--half beef, half venison--and Whit pronounced it especially fine. I am all out of my last batch of home brew, the Black Cat Ale. And since I cook chili with beer, this is important. The fuller lagers and ales make the best chili (as long as you don't go overboard--Anchor Steam, for example, tastes like Anchor Steam, not chili seasoned with AS) so Newcastle Brown, Fat Tire, and Shiner Bock all make very nice chili. Dice up some fresh cherry tomatoes and shred some aged cheddar or gruyere, and you have a wonderful chili! My personal chili seasoning was especially spicy tonight.

We look upon chili as a religious experience, so to speak--so I couldn't use something light and hoppy in the beer. I have been saving a bottle of friends' home brew for literally six years or so, moving it from fridge to fridge--and tonight I decided that the LBb may never let me "drink" again, and it was time to try it in chili. I always sip a new beer first, just to make sure I think it will work with the chili....and sweet heaven, I have FOUND it! Susan & Matt have made the most AWESOME full-bodied Vienna Lager style, very thick--a sweet porter of the best kind.

It was an over-sized bottle, and I capped the rest in hopes of being able to sip at it later.

Well done, my friends. Well done!

Summertime Approaches

It's already 88 F, and the coral vines are going crazy, climbing up a storm, trying to hop onto my neighbor's hackberry. I have to go train tendrils occasionally--the silly vines are supposed to be covering that blasted chain link fence! The other vines are basically healthy but taking their time. The Cecile Brunner rose is lovely, and starting to climb--I need pics, obviously. Eventually will post on the house section of my site.

At least I'm in good company...

...with those other philosophers and writers....

The Dante's Inferno Test has sent you to the First Level of Hell - Limbo!
Here is how you matched up against all the levels:

Level	Score
Purgatory (Repenting Believers)	Very High
Level 1 - Limbo (Virtuous Non-Believers)	Very High
Level 2 (Lustful)	Low
Level 3 (Gluttonous)	Low
Level 4 (Prodigal and Avaricious)	Very Low
Level 5 (Wrathful and Gloomy)	Very Low
Level 6 - The City of Dis (Heretics)	Very Low
Level 7 (Violent)	Low
Level 8- the Malebolge (Fraudulent, Malicious, Panderers)	Low
Level 9 - Cocytus (Treacherous)	Very Low

Take the Dante's Divine Comedy Inferno Test

TWO quizzes in one day?

Disorder	Rating
Paranoid:	Low
Schizoid:	Low
Schizotypal:	Moderate
Antisocial:	Low
Borderline:	Low
Histrionic:	Low
Narcissistic:	Moderate
Avoidant:	Low
Dependent:	Low
Obsessive-Compulsive:	Low
-- Personality Disorder Test - Take It! --