Chili on a Rainy Sunday

Today was one of those rainy Sundays, and it seems that we've had an endless stream of them lately, where you just end up puttering around the house doing a lot of nothing - and for the most part enjoying every moment of it. This is an acquired skill for me because I've always had trouble doing nothing, mainly because I was raised to believe that I was the laziest human being in the world. It is actually something I've "worked on" over the last few years - just letting myself be without feeling that I had to be accomplishing something every day. That said, I did end up doing several things, although, beyond devoting my usual hour to studying Arabic, it didn't have much to do with work. Like the rest of the country it seems that we're suffering through an endless string of rainy days. So, today I couldn't get outside for a bike ride (nor, apparently, will I for the next week), and instead spent the day alternating reading, working on Arabic (Unit 1, Lesson 3, Grammar), watching baseball (and thanks again to my son for convincing me to invest in MLB.TV), watching movies (giving a second chance to Sin City, mainly to make my son happy, a film noire movie called Where the Sidewalk Ends [featuring Andrews and Tierney, probably trying to recapture Laura magic], and later a few episodes of Archer with my friend False Mike Kelly), and whipping up a big bowl of Cincinnati style chili. While I cook chili quite a bit, and usually serve it Cincinnati style (that is, ladled over pasta or on top of hotdogs), I had never actually tired to cook it as it would taste back in the Natti. It's definitely an acquired taste, but anyone who grew up in Cincinnati knows exactly wat I'm talking about. If you are unfamiliar with it then - much like my good friend Bob Mayer - you would not like it. I did a little research on the net and came up with several recipes, and eventually settled on one as an experimet (detailed below). It actually turned out a lot better than I would have thought, and was a big hit with Mike who came up for dinner. Of course, I suppose if you put just about anything on top of paste or a hotdog, complete with cheddar cheese, then you'll probably be OK. Normally I would make it very spicy, but this is close enough to the real thing that I think I'm going to continue tinkering.

Here's the recipe I found online:

8 ounces spaghetti (for slathering under chili and cheese - hotdogs optional)
1 tablespoon olive oil (for marinating the onion, optional)
1 pound of hamburger
1 onion chopped
1 tablespooon minced garlic
1 cup tomato sauce (although I think I used more than two)
1 cup water
1 large can diced tomato
2 tablespoons red wine vinegar
2 tablespoons chili powder
1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1/2 teaspoon paprika
1/2 teaspoon ground all-spice
1 tablespoon light brown sugar
1 tablespoon unsweetened cocoa powder
1 teaspoon hot pepper sauce
1 cup kidney beans
1 cup shredded cheddar cheese

It was pretty painless. I just fried up the hamburger and onion together, then threw the meat and onion and the rest of the ingredients into a crockpot and cooked it on high for four hours. I wish I had had the opportunity to invite my friends Original Mike Lange and Andy Burkhardt over (but they were both out of town). They've eaten Cincinnati chili at my place before, but that was Skyline Chili that I had brought back from the Natti. Mike has Ohio roots and he was very happy.