The Eve of the Chili Cookoff

I'm psyched for tomorrow's chili cook-off at Buppy's brother's house in VA. It's an annual event, but this will only be the 2nd one I've gone to. I think it might only be Buppy's 2nd too, but that's a horse of a different color. Come to think of it, I'm not really sure how long they've been doing this. But I digress.

The kids will go to their mom's tomorrow morning, at which point Buppy and I will go shopping for a bit; Buppy is in need of some new pants and I, of course, can't let him go shopping alone. What kind of girlfriend would I be for that?

I think he's making his chili today, but I don't think I'll make what I'm taking until tomorrow during the day. This is mostly because I'm still undecided on what I want to bring. Appetizer? Dessert? Something other than chili is all I've decided on at this point. Cornbread? Decisions, decisions. Something yummy.

Buppy has no recipe for his chili. While I appreciate his carefree attitude, for gosh sakes man, it's a chili cook off! He knows he wants to use meat and beer. Possibly beans. Sorry honey, I'm not giving away all your secrets, am I? I'm sure it'll be good; Buppy does really well in the kitchen. I just love giving him crap. Last year he did a white chicken chili, and while it had really good flavor, it was thinner than most chilis, like a soup. He told me this morning he wants to use bacon in his. He asked if I thought that would go well. Hello, it's bacon!?!!? What doesn't it go with? Puh-leeze. It's like he forgot who he was talking to for a minute.

I'm leaning towards a chili con queso dip I found over at The Pioneer Woman’s blog. It's like a jazzed up version of the normal Velveeta-Ro*tel chili con queso that's found on most people's spreads. It's looks yummy and has hot pork sausage, green chiles and jalapeno, among other traditional ingredients. If you want to check out the recipe and pics, stop here. The top picture on her site makes me wanna bust out a Tostitos Scoop and dig in. Besides, I figure it'll fit in relatively well with the whole chili theme, right? Good.

As for dinner tonight? Jumbo sea scallops were on sale last weekend, so we picked up a pound or so. They need to be eaten or frozen, and I'm all about eating them tonight. But how? Bacon wrapped and broiled? Buppy suggested we use the marinade we used for the Asian pork last weekend, but I'm a little skeptical that the marinade will overpower the delicate flavor of the seafood. Garlic and butter are always a possibility; easy yet delish. We have leftover rice noodles to round out the meal (and yes, we'll add in some fresh chopped veggies too), so dinner tonight is going to be a winner.

Sunday, after we get home (and hopefully I'm not super hungover), we plan to relax. Play some Firefighter Monopoly maybe, light a fire in the fireplace, watch a movie or two. Plan out next week's meals (ok, that's more of a 'me' thing than an 'us' thing). I love lazy days like that, especially when they follow a par-tay!