Culinary wizard and hostess all in one

The first week back to the ol' University of South Brighton has been pretty low-key. But underneath it is the knowledge and drive that this really is my last semester there... after this I'll finally be moving out of town to finish my bachelor's degree. I can't articulate it just yet, but it's a weird sensation this semester. I guess I shouldn't actually count my chickens till they're hatched though... I haven't sent my transcripts (still!) so I can't bank on it yet, although I don't see them shooting me down. But still, we'll wait for the Official Word before we get all excited.

I'm back to house-sitting at mom & pop's again... they're in St. Pete visiting grandma. I had TJ and Jessy over last night for food and drinks. And a couple of dad's cigars for the men. I made a pasta dish... penne in a blush sauce. I used a hefty pound of ground beef, garlic, vodka, a jar of Wegmans smooth marinara, dehydrated minched onions, more garlic, a table-spoon of butter, and about half a cup of ultra-pasteurized heavy cream. Yummy. I topped it with fresh ground black pepper, freshly greated romano cheese, and some dried parsely flakes, useless for flavor but marginally interesting for the final presentation. You gotta love non-functional American garniture.

Today I'm going to try to get some deer from Brett for friday night's fete. I'm making chili, preferably venison chili. I'm making it by this evening, whether I have Bambi or not though, as I want to let it cool and reheat it tomorrow... it'll have substantially more flavor and kick then. I have to head to the store to get a couple more provisions, but I'm going to keep Alton Brown's philosophy in mind: chili was originally an economical dish; a way chuck masters on the cattle trails could make a meal out of lousy cuts of meat.

Chili:
meat (chuck/stew beef or venison)
tomato paste
an onion
chipotle pepper in adobo sauce
corn tortilla chips (for the cornstarch in them, to thicken the chili)
garlic!
chipotle chile powder
cumin
Tabasco chipotle pepper sauce
beer
kosher salt
pepper
beans of some kind... probably red kidney

I know i have at least 3/4 of these ingredients hanging around Chez Griffith, but I'll have to pay Wegmans a visit after school for a couple things, it seems.

More on this later... it's 1:05 and I have about 45 minutes to shower and get to school! No more being a dead-beat this semester... I'm on the ball till May 21st!