Today you get beef and criminal justice.
The rain is sheeting down the windows and I don't know when my employers are going to pay me, but I have beef casserole and Master and Commander, so I am content.
Speaking of meaty goodness, it occurs to me that someone asked for my chocolate chili recipe freakin' ages ago, so I'm going to put it up here for all and sundry. This was originally an epicurious.com recipe involving turkey mince and other difficult-to-obtain things; this is just a beefy adaptation.
You will need:
~900g beef mince
two 400g tins of tomatoes
1/4 cup tomato paste
2 cups beef stock
1 400g tin each kidney beans and white beans
1 each medium red onion and white onion
1/4 cup ground chili (yes that much)
1 heaped tablespoon cocoa
teaspoon paprika
1/2 teaspoon dried oregano
teaspoon cumin seeds
pinch of cinnamon
salt to taste
Heat a little oil in a fairly gigantic pot. Finely chop the onions and saute them; when they're going soft, add the cumin and oregano, and when the cumin's very fragrant and the onions are very soft and going brown, add the beef. When it's browning, add the paprika, cinnamon, chili and cocoa, stirring until the beef's completely cooked. Salt to taste. Add the tomato and tomato paste, the kidney beans and stock, and simmer for a good half hour. Now add the white beans (they're likely to be softer than the kidney beans), and simmer for another fifteen minutes, until thick and rich and well-reduced. Serve over rice, maybe with some sour cream. And unless you're feeding ten people, yes there will be leftovers.
~
Aaaaaaand meme. Day 11 - Favorite black-and-white film:
This is actually my all-time favourite film, so you're about to get some gushing.
Fuck yeah, 12 Angry Men. There is no way you can describe this movie without it sounding really boring, which is a shame, because everyone should see it. Basically, 12 jurors, whose names we never learn, sit in a room on the hottest day of the year as one juror slowly convinces the rest that a seemingly open-and-shut murder trial may actually be worth spending some time on. It's a struggle for several reasons: most of the jurors couldn't give a shit, whether because they're actively racist or classist or just hate kids, or the evidence has them thoroughly convinced, or they have better things to do - like go to the baseball game. What's really amazing is that even though there are twelve characters and you don't know any of their names, each man is a unique personality, and almost all have rich motives and backgrounds that are explored. The dialogue is fantastic; the conflicts are tense and awesomely dramatic. On a technical level, it's nigh-on perfect in terms of acting, writing, editing and camerawork. Most of all, it's just a great piece of populist cinema about using your brain and giving a damn. I just love it.
Speaking of meaty goodness, it occurs to me that someone asked for my chocolate chili recipe freakin' ages ago, so I'm going to put it up here for all and sundry. This was originally an epicurious.com recipe involving turkey mince and other difficult-to-obtain things; this is just a beefy adaptation.
You will need:
~900g beef mince
two 400g tins of tomatoes
1/4 cup tomato paste
2 cups beef stock
1 400g tin each kidney beans and white beans
1 each medium red onion and white onion
1/4 cup ground chili (yes that much)
1 heaped tablespoon cocoa
teaspoon paprika
1/2 teaspoon dried oregano
teaspoon cumin seeds
pinch of cinnamon
salt to taste
Heat a little oil in a fairly gigantic pot. Finely chop the onions and saute them; when they're going soft, add the cumin and oregano, and when the cumin's very fragrant and the onions are very soft and going brown, add the beef. When it's browning, add the paprika, cinnamon, chili and cocoa, stirring until the beef's completely cooked. Salt to taste. Add the tomato and tomato paste, the kidney beans and stock, and simmer for a good half hour. Now add the white beans (they're likely to be softer than the kidney beans), and simmer for another fifteen minutes, until thick and rich and well-reduced. Serve over rice, maybe with some sour cream. And unless you're feeding ten people, yes there will be leftovers.
~
Aaaaaaand meme. Day 11 - Favorite black-and-white film:
This is actually my all-time favourite film, so you're about to get some gushing.
Fuck yeah, 12 Angry Men. There is no way you can describe this movie without it sounding really boring, which is a shame, because everyone should see it. Basically, 12 jurors, whose names we never learn, sit in a room on the hottest day of the year as one juror slowly convinces the rest that a seemingly open-and-shut murder trial may actually be worth spending some time on. It's a struggle for several reasons: most of the jurors couldn't give a shit, whether because they're actively racist or classist or just hate kids, or the evidence has them thoroughly convinced, or they have better things to do - like go to the baseball game. What's really amazing is that even though there are twelve characters and you don't know any of their names, each man is a unique personality, and almost all have rich motives and backgrounds that are explored. The dialogue is fantastic; the conflicts are tense and awesomely dramatic. On a technical level, it's nigh-on perfect in terms of acting, writing, editing and camerawork. Most of all, it's just a great piece of populist cinema about using your brain and giving a damn. I just love it.