drinks...more drinks...and chili

It all started last weekend with my friend Mandy's bachelorette party in Chicago. It was a great time. I went up early with some of the girls and had a great day of super shopping with my partner in crime, Emily, and hung out with her family a bit. Then, Saturday night came where the sangria, mango margaritas, tequila shots, dirty martinis, beer, blow job shots and whiskey flowed like honey. It was wild n' crazy and so much fun...especially because the bars stay open and bumping so late in the city, so me and the 2 other wildest ladies stayed out until 5:30 our time...something that happened without our realizing it, which is the best part. How often can you party so effortlessly for 12 hours straight? Anyways, I blame it all on Mandy, a true top-notch bachelorette:Then, we all awoke tenderly...and slowly made our way out to a superb hangover breakfast at Glenn's Diner (in Ravenswood, I believe). I ordered the scrambled eggs with parmesan and chives along with a tasty potato pancake and some slammin' thick, soft, raisin toast with butter. It also happened to be my birthday, so the sneaky gals ordered me a short stack with a candle:That night, Chris made some Ghirardelli brownies with added peanut butter chips, and sang to me.Fast forward through one busy week of school, and we are ready for another weekend made for partying. Last night we had another wine gathering at our house, this time in honor of Chez Megane's return to Bloomington for a visit. Beforehand, a couple of fine ladies came over for a vegan dinner - Mandy clearly loves Tofutti sour cream :) I made this chili after hearing so much about it from my friend Emily, and then seeing it posted on Chez Megane's blog...I used the same spice combination, but veganized it and used a different combination of beans. It was delicious! I think in terms of texture at least, the results were fairly different, considering mine was really super thick, and the original seems to be a tad more soupy. The ladies brought over yummy bread and cheese, and made a beautiful salad of mache, radishes, yellow bell peppers, tomatoes, and (avocado). It was really good, and made me realize that I need to use mache and radishes more in salads. Quinoa and Three Bean Chili

adapted from this Epicurious recipe

1 tablespoon olive oil
1 large onions chopped
1 1/2 teaspoons dried oregano
1 1/2 teaspoons ground cumin
1 1/2 c. quinoa (for a thinner chili, try 1 c.)
1/4 cup chili powder
2 bay leaves
1 tablespoon unsweetened cocoa powder
1 1/2 teaspoons salt
1/2 teaspoon black pepper
1/4 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1 28-ounce can diced tomatoes
3 cups vegetable stock (or 3 c. water and one vegetarian bouillon cube)
1 8-ounce can tomato sauce
3 15-ounce cans of beans (I used black, garbanzo, and kidney), rinsed & drained
chopped fresh cilantro, parsley, chives, or green onions
soy sour cream

Heat oil in heavy large pot over medium heat. Add onions; sauté until light brown and tender, about 10 minutes. Add oregano and cumin; stir 1 minute. Add quinoa; stir 1 minute. Stir in chili powder, bay leaves (which I didn't have, but would be delicious I'm sure), cocoa powder, salt, pepper, and cinnamon. Add tomatoes with their juices, stock and tomato sauce. Mix and bring to boil. Reduce heat; simmer 30-45 minutes, stirring occasionally.

Add beans to chili and simmer until flavors blend, about 10 minutes longer. Discard bay leaves. Ladle chili into bowls. Top with fresh herbs and sour cream. Serves 8.

After our delicious dinner, the wine started to flow, and although it was raining, we managed to find a point in the evening to start a modest fire and make s'mores as promised...and then we danced for the rest of the night to the tunes of D.J. Ninja RumbleKid. Now I have a couple of really pooped out kitties on my hands...