Olivia Rose's Homemade Chili!

Sunday, November 23rd, 2014 was a very significant day for us.  We adopted a beautiful 9-week-old German shepherd/lab mix and named her Olivia Rose.  So I'll always remember making this chili, because it was in the crock pot when we found her.

The basic recipe was as follows:

ADD THESE TO THE CROCK POT:
1 can diced tomatoes
1 can crushed tomatoes
1 can tomato sauce
1 can chili hot beans
Half of a large yellow onion, diced
One bell pepper (any color), diced
2 cloves of garlic, pressed
1-2 jalapenos, depending on your heat tolerance
Chili powder, to taste
Paprika, to taste
Cinnamon, to taste
Cumin, to taste
Black pepper, to taste
Sea salt, to taste

SET CROCK POT TO HIGH.  COOK AT LEAST 4 HOURS.

Brown one pound of ground turkey.  Add that to the mix.  Cook another 1-2 hours.

Chop up 1 zucchini and some carrots (I used 2 large handfuls of baby carrots).  Add those and cook 30-60 more minutes.

Here are some pictures!

Just the tomato ingredients, onion and bell pepper so far.

Chopping a jalapeno with a Wusthof chef's knife.

After adding the jalapeno and all the spices!  Time to cook for a few hours.

After 4-5 hours, add the browned ground turkey!  I added chili powder to the turkey as well.

After another hour or two, add the zucchini and carrots.

30-60 more minutes and it's done.  So good.

Eiderdown in Louisville, Kentucky

November 16th was my papa's 65th birthday, and I took him to Eiderdown.  They have a short menu, but the recipes are very creative and always beautifully executed.  The alcohol selection is fantastic as well.  We visited on a late Sunday afternoon and had the place largely to ourselves.  Here are four pictures of my food and drinks.  I was bugging my dad enough with my excessive phone use, so I didn't photograph what he ate.

Off Color Scurry.  I'd rate it 8/10.

Another view of the Off Color Scurry.

Viking's Wurst.  "Pork sausage en croute, fried egg, cherry-almond granola, maple gastrique."

Just incredibly good.  Every element was perfect.  10/10.

Lindeman's Framboise, always nice as a dessert beer.  9/10.