Chili and Popsicles

Yesterday, I made my weekly pilgrimage to the local grocery store. After a week of barely cooking, I decided to make a big pot of chili and some cornbread for dinner. In the process, I learned that my favorite chili recipe did not make the trip from the northeastern post-industrial wasteland. Somehow, the cookbook with the chili recipe disappeared with the cookbook containing the favorite spaghetti sauce recipe. I'm not sure how this happened, but I hope they are very happy together.

Finding a good chili recipe is particularly challenging for someone who doesn't like beans or peppers. A lot of recipes call for a lot of beans and lots of green pepper. Vegetarian chili is right out, because those recipes usually call for multiple bean variations - black beans, kidney beans, chili beans, Jack's jumping beans. All little balls of rot, in my humble opinion. I prefer a few beans, no peppers and lots of meat and tomatoes in my chili. I've tried omitting the beans all together, but the chili doesn't thicken up like it's supposed to. So, I put half of the required beans in, then pick them out as I eat the chili. Yes, it's insane, but I don't care. We all have our "things" that make us unique individuals. This is mine. Well, one of mine.

As I collected the necessary ingredients at the grocery store, I turned down the canned vegetable aisle. There, in front of the beans, was a scruffy looking fellow with a backpack. He had long, unkempt hair and a mustache and beard, and seemed particularly interested in the beans. He didn't have a shopping cart, and wasn't carrying any groceries, unless he put them in his backpack. And, here's where it gets weird: he was eating a popsicle. By the time I came upon him, he was halfway through his snack. He stayed in front of the beans long enough to finish the popsicle, then he threw away the stick and moved on.

See, we all have our "things." Apparently, his is eating popsicles while looking at canned beans. My "bean avoidance" seems less crazy in comparison.