I made my first chili yesterday

Yummmm!!!

For the first time ever, I made chili. It needs to be tweaked a little, so for those of you who cook - what do you put in to add a little spice and heat, but without making it inedible?

I *think* this is what I put in (I tend to just keep throwing things in, even when I'm working off of a recipe, so it's not exact)

2 lbs ground sirloin
1 large onion
2 red peppers
1 large can diced tomato
1 small can of tomoto paste
3 medium hot chili peppers (I can't remember what I used - 1 red 2 green)
chili powder (don't ask how much, just kept adding until the taste was close)
ground cumin (again, until the taste was close)

I'm thinking that a touch of ground cinnamon might help to bring out the heat. Any other ideas?

Blessed

Today was one of those days when I realized how truly blessed I am. I was driving home after dinner with friends, and I actually had one of those rare moments when I thought to my self "Right this moment, this particular second, there is nothing I would change about my life".

And it's mostly because of my friends. I have no idea what I would do without you guys. I communicated with no less than 10 close friends today, and every single one lifted me up in one way or another. How fucking lucky am I that there are that many people that I love, and that love me back?

I'm still not sure if I believe in God/Creator/Buddha. I thought I gave up on that a few years ago. But days like today make me think that there are people who come in to your life at a particular moment, for a specific reason. And I'm grateful.

Or it could be that I've been on a diet for 2 weeks, forgot to eat today, had 4 beers and then went to Red Robin. Maybe a greater force in the universe just brings the right restaurant in to your life at the right time. Maybe God is a woman with wicked PMS. I could get behind that as a basis for a religion.

Interesting...

Did you ever get so caught up in your own bad self-esteem and petty life drama, that you forget the impact that you have on other people? It happens to me all the time. I'm an extrovert, but in times of extreme stress I become a hermit, and isolate myself from everyone. I've done that quite a bit over the last few years, but have made a New Year's resolution to do a little bit better with that this year.

To that end, I was cleaning out my email and trying to figure out who I owe email to, who I owe phone calls to, who are the most neglected of my peoples that need attention first.... and I came across an email I received 10 weeks ago. From a long lost male friend, someone who was pre-baron. Someone I was crazy about, but that I perhaps did not treat the way a person should be treated. Huh. It was basically trying to find out if I am who he thought I was (he saw me through my myspace page).


So...let's play a game of Devil's Advocate...what would you do? Would you send a reply back? Would you just chalk up to someone closing in on age 40 and trying to evaluate their life? Would you think it's a breach of trust with the baron (even though I'm reading this to him as I type it, so it's really not a matter of not disclosing). Okay ladies, I'll be eagerly looking at the comments to see what you would do.