Halloween Chili Tradition

Over the past 13 or so years it has become tradition around the Chapman house that we make chili for Halloween. Two batches - one super spicy and one mild (ostensibly for the children). I brew a pumpkin ale (this year - pumpkin porter) and make homemade caramel for caramel apples. We invite a whole bunch of friends and their kids. Everyone takes turns walking with the kids to trick-or-treat; drinking pumpkin ale and eating chili all the while. A week or so ago a friend asked about our Halloween plans. Would we have the usual celebration? Would there be beer, caramel apples and ... chili?

Don't get me wrong. I love our chili - I still do "quality control" daily. The latest batch of mild I borrowed a brewing technique called dry hopping - hop oils, like toasted dried chile aromatics, are quite volatile and boiling drives them off. If you want an extra wallop of hop aroma in your beer (yes please) then you soak fresh hops in the beer while it conditions in secondary fermentation. I did something similar with the mild chili; fresh-from-the-oven ancho and cascabel aromatics are preserved, integrated and embedded in every bite. I love our chili. Love it! However - do I serve it for Halloween? I wonder if Ray Kroc served Big Macs on special occasions at his house?

So that is the question - should we continue our tradition or find some new scary spicy Halloweeny type food to serve? What would it be? Durian braised sweetbreads? Habaneros stuffed with ghost chiles? All suggestions welcome.

Start your own chili Halloween tradition! Come on by for 32 ounce containers - if you need larger quantities just give us a call (214-887-8872) and we'll work something out. Also, kids just love stuffed jalapenos in their trick-or-treat goodie bags! If you need chili or jalapenos at the last minute don't forget that Fran is down at the Dallas Farmer's market - even on Sundays! It's kind of like the liquor store being open an extra day - now you don't have to plan ahead for those last minute football parties.

A New Hope

Since I was a pre-teen I have had an agreement with my mom. She worries incessantly about everything and I attempt to either foster that worry or convince her of impending senility. She used to keep a running grocery list on the refrigerator for weekly shopping trips. I practiced and could soon mimic one word of her handwriting, adding "eggs" to the list each week.

"Why do I have four dozen eggs?"

My mom reads this blog and has appointed herself chief grammar Nazi, combing sentence structures to find tiny mistakes that would make Jack Lynch smile. I guess it is only fitting that the intentional grammar bomb in my last post ("Our son, Graham, and me...") would end up getting propagated throughout the ether. An email with the subject line "Arrrgghh!" appeared in my inbox and I smiled because it was not the content of the post that caused the consternation. Satisfaction was fleeting as I read that this, of all posts, got forwarded to the D Magazine and Dallas Morning News blogs.

We want to thank everyone for the kind words and making the trip to the downtown Dallas farmer's market on Saturday. We had a great weekend and Fran plans on being there each Saturday and Sunday. The kitchen hours will remain the same. Hopefully we can build momentum from last Thursday's low point when we were ready to throw in the towel. I am writing a new business plan centered around finding a larger location; ideally in the same vicinity. We want to make sure anyone who bikes or walks to us now can continue to do so.

Fran says: "Thanks so much for buying peppers and chili this weekend. Continue buying peppers and chili."

The Will To Survive:

We may not be able to overcome the location, size and hours we are open. Our son, Graham, and me have had flu symptoms all week so I have not been in to help Fran. It seems clear that the owner of the building has no interest in renovation and therefore we will not be able to expand. I need to focus all my efforts on finding a job so we can at least keep our house even if we have to close the kitchen.

Fran had been doing well at the various farmer's markets but the health department effectively shut down Celebration and Green Spot by requiring vendors to have "mechanical refrigeration" (coolers and dry ice not being sufficient).

I apologize if this sounds doom and gloom but it looks like we need some kind of miracle.