Food for Thought: Amazing Adobo Black Bean Chipolte Chili

This concoction that I whipped up on a whim may have a silly-sounding name, but I only made it that way because it not only happened to be amazingly-good, but the word "Amazing" completed the acronym I thought up to help make the dish easier to rememer - "AABBCC". Okay, it still sounds dumb, so let's just call it "ABC" and move along...

- 1 box of rice

- 2 cans of black beans

- 1/4 lb of ground beef (or just a solid handful, vegans may substitute with tofu, or whatever)

- 1 small can of chipolte peppers in adobo sauce

- 1/2 an onion, chopped

- 4 cloves garlic, chopped

- 1 small can of diced tomatoes

- 2 bay leaves

- A handful of chopped cilantro

- Olive oil

Coat a large skillet with olive oil and fry the onions and garlic until they become soft. Add the chipolte peppers and beef. Stir-fry for about 10 minutes.

In a separate, large pot, cook the black beans, tomatoes, bay leaves, until they start to boil. Reduce heat about halfway and add the beef/adobo sauce mixture. Return to a boil and cook for another 10 minutes, adding the cilantro after about 5 minutes.

Cook rice according to instructions, top rice with the chili, serve, and enjoy.

Fast, easy, delicious. My kind of meal. This isn't anything extravagantly spicy, but it has that nice, smoky kick with the aftertaste that many will associate with chipolte. Also, I didn't have any available, but shredded cheese will go nicely with this (I recommend pepper jack, but only because I'm a masochist when it comes to hot or spicy food).

Mangia!
- Jon

Eulogy To My Grandmother

In spite of the circumstances, I’ll always remember this year as one of the most eventful ones for my family, at least from my perspective. Even though I will miss my grandmother, I know she is in a better place; free from the suffering she had experienced with difficulty.

It has been eight years since I recall a loss from my father’s side of the family. While eight years may not seem like a long time, remembering events that have happened up until this point makes us realize it is. For that, I feel very fortunate. And I feel fortunate that we are together here as a family.

We won’t be around forever, but we can always be certain our family will. And our family will be there to take us with them. I’ve seen our family grow with cousins, and extend with in-laws. Family is the essence of humanity. It’s not about who makes more money, or who has a better house, it’s about being with the people you care about. It’s about what truly matters. And that’s why long after we’re gone; we will go on forever, because our family will remember us. And we’ll remember Grandma Sue.

I’ll always remember, when I was little, my grandmother and I used to read Shel Silverstein poems. To the best of my memory, we never had one favorite; we liked reading them all. So I selected one I thought reflected how we both enjoyed the simple things in life…

Where the Sidewalk Ends

Shel Silverstein

There is a place where the sidewalk ends
And before the street begins,
And there the grass grows soft and white,
And there the sun burns crimson bright,
And there the moon-bird rests from his flight
To cool in the peppermint wind.

Let us leave this place where the smoke blows black
And the dark street winds and bends.
Past the pits where the asphalt flowers grow
We shall walk with a walk that is measured and slow,
And watch where the chalk-white arrows go
To the place where the sidewalk ends.

Yes we'll walk with a walk that is measured and slow,
And we'll go where the chalk-white arrows go,
For the children, they mark, and the children, they know
The place where the sidewalk ends.

MOVIE REVIEW: Super 8 (2011)

Hi everyone, I know this is long overdue, but understand: I was quite busy in between the time I saw this and am currently sitting down to write this review. But in a nutshell - I finished moving into my new apartment and passed my Contracts final for law school! It only took half the week for my professor to disclose the results whilst I waited as a nervous wreck. But enough about me...

Super 8, as evident by it's name, is a love-letter from the production/direction team of Steven Spielberg and J.J. Abrams to amateur filmmaking. In the late 70s, young Joe Lamb is doing makeup and special effects for his friend, Charles' zombie film, when a mysterious UFO crashes into an adjacent trainyard. Narrowly avoiding death, Joe and his pals investigate the wreck and discover the trappings of a government conspiracy, and a strange object with an unexplained purpose. When the mysterious alien begins rampaging around the neighborhood, Joe and friends must band together in order to figure out why the creature came to Earth and what they can do to stop it.

Super 8 is pretty much The Goonies meets War of the Worlds (or maybe even E.T.), but that is to say the film takes the best elements of those films, and perhaps even other works of Spielberg and melds them into a charming pastiche of science fiction, filmmaking and retro appreciation, and family drama. The latter is what the film initially appears to set itself up as. Once the "invasion" occurs though, it's a completely different ball game that may seem a little jarring to some, but makes sense once you factor in a lot of the exposition that was elaborated upon earlier. I don't really have much else to say about the actual film itself without spoiling what would be crucial plot details that manifest in many parts of the film throughout, but I will say it's an incredibly enjoyable romp that takes drama and action and weaves them both in the ways that only Spielberg is experienced in doing. A solid addition to the summer movie lineup.

8/10

Peace,

- Jon