Life Down Under

Not that anyone really cares what I ate for dinner tonight....

....but I care, and since this is my blog, that's what I get to write about tonight! When I was a kid, we went to Cincinnati, OH to visit my Aunt and Uncle and cousins. While we were there, they introduced us to "Skyline" and the culinary wonder called "Cincinnati Chili". I apologize profusely to those of you who have never had the opportunity to experience the delicacy, and strongly urge you to try it if you are ever presented with the opportunity. For my readers who are completely lost by now, let me explain. It's a chili with a very different flavor, seasoned with cinnamon and allspice and also the traditinal chili powder; its quite hard to describe and unlike anything you've ever tasted. The best part about it, though, is that it's traditionally served on top of a bed of spaghetti ,with grated cheese on top of the chili. If you're in Cincy, you can get it "4 way" by adding fresh chopped onions, or "5 way" by adding kidney beans.

Well, while on vacation that year many eons ago, my dad found some postcard in a tourist spot that had a recipe for cincinnati chili on it. So he bought it, and ever since then, it had been a favorite in our family growing up. Naturally, I brought the recipe with me to New Zealand and made it a couple of times, but for some reason, it never tasted right to me. The flavors of the cinnamon and allspice weren't pronounced enough, and it tasted just like normal chili. Which is okay and everything, just not the taste I was after. So tonight, I decided to make it again, and this time, it did not disappoint! I'm happy to say that tonight's cincinnati chili tasted every bit as good as what I remember from my childhood, and I savored every bite of it.