Cookie making list for the holidays (to be done either this weekend or next):
- stained glass trees
- nipple cookies
- Pumpkin Chocolate Chip cookies from the Moosewood cookbook I bought a few years ago
- double chocolate chip cookies

Shopping List For Christmas Gifts to Purchase
- For Mom & Grandma - a cheesecake or dessert sent (maybe the Cheesecake Factory?)
- Uncles? Aunts?
- Cousins? Lord, it’s getting late.

Random To-Do
- Drop off 3 bags of donated clothes to appropriate place
- Vacuum
- Call carpet cleaner and get them over here to clean before Chinese New Year
- January 1 - buy Chinese New Year plane tickets
- Get Ava groomed, the dirty dog
- Get tins/bags from Dollar Tree for cookie packing
- Fix seams in pants
- Finish holiday cards and buy stupid stamps!

Things I Eventually Want to Write About:
- The Hon Kee Restaurant in my ‘hood
- Annoying commuters
- Being called a sir
- Being called a ma’am
- Being an East Coast Girl in a Midwest World
- Food!

***

Speaking of food - this is the beef & black bean chili recipe adapted from a cookbook we’ve got here (courtesy of the Josh Husband Person):

2 cups black beans (or pinto, kidney)
2 tsp dried epazote (optional)
4 tsp cumin seeds (or ground cumin)
2 tsp dried oregano leaves (preferably Mexican)
3 onions, finely chopped
3 tbsp vegetable oil
4 garlic cloves, coarsely chopped (or if you’re like us, 8 or 9)
1 lb lean ground beef
2-3 tbsp ground red chili
salt to taste
4 tsp sweet paprika
2 c peeled, seeded, and chopped tomato, juice reserved
1-2 tsp pureed chipotle chili
1/4 c chopped fresh cilantro
dash of red wine vinegar or sherry vinegar (optional)

garnish:
sour cream
1 poblano or long green chili, roasted and peeled and sliced
cilantro sprigs

If you want to use dried beans and whole cumin seeds, follow steps 1-3. Otherwise, skip to step 4.

1. Sort and rinse the beans, add 6 c of water into large pot, soak overnight.
2. Drain beans, add epazote and enough water to cover by 4 inches. Heat to boiling and cook for 5-10 min, removing any surface scum. Lower the heat and simmer, partially covered.
3. While beans cook, toast cumin seeds in a large dry skillet over med heat until fragrant. Add oregnao, cook 5 sec., shaking pan so seasonings don’t burn. Cool on plate, grind to powder.

4. Saute onions in oil over med heat, 7-8 min. Add garlic & saute until tender. Add ground beef, brown well, breaking into pieces with wooden spoon. Add cumin mixture, 2 tbsp ground red chili, 1 1/2 tsp salt and paprika and mix well. Lower heat and cook until onions are soft, another 5 min. Add tomatoes and juice, 1 tsp chipotle puree, and cilantro. Simmer for 15 min and add to the beans.
5. Continue to cook until beans are soft, about 30 min, adding boiling water if necessary to keep water at least an inch above beans. Taste and season with more ground red chili, chipotle and salt, add dash of vinegar if needed. Serve with garnish.

Josh added a habanero pepper somewhere in the mix; other volatile peppers would do equally as well, I think.