Letter to Julia 20110721

YOOOOOOOLIIIIIEEEEEEEEE!!!!!

Ah, that was an excellent batch of chili. It was almost as sweet as it was savory... it must have been the red beans. I can't find any pinto beans here in Perlis, but the red beans made an awesome batch of chili. I think I will try to make a batch of chili with lentils instead of beans. I suppose I will be eating chili all through the fasting month, as it's quick n' easy to heat up at 4am for the pre-dawn repast. Fasting month starts in about 10 days. Are you going to try fasting, Julia? Well, you make up your own mind, but fasting during the month of Ramadan is mandatory for Muslims. You don't eat, drink, have sex or swear from dawn to sunset, and you must voice your intent to fast for the sake of Allah on the day before. If you're on your period then you are exempt from fasting, but you must make it up later in the year. I always look forward to the fasting month, because strange things always happen. Strange things happen to me anyway, but especially so during fasting month.

Anyway, here's a recipe for chili, out of many. Actually, it's more of a guess than a recipe- I quit measuring food a long time ago, ever since I quit the restaurant business. I just grab what's available, and eyeball everything. I suppose you could call it laziness. Anyway, before you start, make sure your beans are ready to use. Since you're in the USA, I would just use one of those big, fat cans of pre-cooked pinto beans. Drain all the juice out, because it will drown out the flavor of meat and tomato sauce! Then saute your ground beef in a large saucepan or wok: use the high fat beef, and a quarter pound should be enough for all those beans. Don't overcook the beef, just break it up and dry up the blood, and use a small flame. Remove the beef, then fry up a diced large onion in the grease over medium heat until soft. Then reduce the heat to small, add your beans, beef, a medium can of tomato paste (or ketchup or whatever), chilli powder or paste to taste, then let it cook for about 3 hours or more, stirring occasionally and adding water as needed, until the beans start to break up. Add salt and pepper to taste. Easy, huh? Time consuming, so cook up a big batch! Actually, I don't have a set recipe for chili. It changes everytime. I just grab what's available, and eyeball everything.

And don't worry so much, my love. You're my girl, Julia. I love you! I'll come and get you soon, insyaAllah.