Disneyland, Home Edition: Walt's Chili

Yesterday Thatbaby turned 5.  5!!!!!  He'll always be my baby, but he certainly isn't one anymore. 

All he wanted for his birthday was to go to Disneyland.  He's been talking about it since November.  When we figured out that couldn't happen we decided to bring Disneyland to him the weekend before his birthday. 

We started the morning off with Mickey waffles.

And then we headed to California Adventure.  One of the things we've never done at California Adventure, but I knew the kids would enjoy, was the Animation Academy, where you learn to draw Disney characters.  We worked on a couple different versions of Mickey Mouse.

Thatkid LOVED this, and he spent all of Thatbaby's nap drawing more characters, then got up the next morning and did some more. 

Then we virtually rode some of the California Adventure rides.  Including some Thatbaby would never ride in real life, like Guardians of the Galaxy.

After we rode all our favorite rides, we crossed over to Disneyland park and went on a cruise.  A jungle cruise.

We took a break to watch some parades and eat lunch - Monte Cristo sandwiches!

Next we headed to the Tiki Room (this one was really for me, I love the Tiki Room!).  And you can't go to the Tiki Room without stopping for Dole whip.  I used the "official" recipe posted by Disney, but after several friends passed along their experience I'll give you my super secret tip.  Everyone I know who made it claimed it was more of a smoothie than anything else, so after making it, I threw it in the ice cream maker to process for a couple minutes which gave it that awesome soft serve consistency.

This is the point where Thatbaby went down for his nap and Thatkid spent more time in the Animation academy.  After that, it was all rides for the rest of the afternoon.

We did take a little churro break while we rode the Mark Twain.

And the great thing about virtual rides is that you don't get sick if you eat right before going on them!

For dinner we headed over to the Carnation Cafe for a little chili in a bread bowl while we watched the Disney Family Sing A Longs.

And we watched a little World of Color while having our dessert.

About that chili.  My initial thought was gumbo in a bread bowl.  I love gumbo in a bread bowl at Disney.  But the kids are not gumbo fans.  The sausage is too spicy for them.  Bah.  But chili is something we can all do.  And Disney published the recipe for Walt's Chili served at the Carnation Cafe.

When I actually went to make it, I ran into small problem.  The recipe was a mess.  The ingredients didn't match the instructions.  There were ingredients listed that were never used in the instructions, and the instructions told you to use ingredients that weren't listed.  Not to mention the fact that the ingredients called for canned beans when the first step involved rinsing, sorting, and soaking the beans overnight.  So I don't know how authentic this is, but if you're looking to make Walt's chili, at least know this is going to get you closer than Disney's recipe!

Walt's Chili

1/4 cup olive oil

1 small onion, diced

4 cloves garlic, minced

1 green pepper, diced

3/4 lb beef stew meat

3 Tbsp tomato paste

1 1/2 Tbsp onion powder

1 Tbsp cumin

1 Tbsp chili powder

1 (28 ounce) can diced tomatoes

2 Tbsp beef broth

1 1/2 cups water

2 plum tomatoes, diced

1 can pinto beans, rinsed and drained

1. Heat oil in a large pot over medium high heat.  Add onion and garlic and saute until translucent (about 5 minutes).
2. Add beef and green pepper and cook until beef is browned.
3. Add tomato paste, onion powder, cumin, and chili powder and cook for 3 minutes.
4. Add tomatoes, beef broth, and water.  Cover and simmer for 1 hour.
5. Stir in fresh tomatoes and beans.  Continue cooking until they are heated through.  Season to taste with salt and pepper.

Beach Fourth: Summer Chili

Do you ever have an image in your head of how you'd like something to be in an ideal situation?  I think most of us do.  I know I imagined being a new mother as lying in bed with my husband while our adorable baby cooed at us.  Which is not how things actually go.

But sometimes. Sometimes those romantic visions actually do materialize.  Which is what happened with our Fourth of July.

My ideal Fourth of July involved having a hotel that overlooked the fireworks so we didn't have to camp out somewhere all day, or even deal with parking and traffic.   We tossed around a couple of ideas - traveling across the country, staying in town, but eventually ended up deciding on heading north to Dana Point.

We headed up a day early and checked into our room.  

The key part of the room?  The reason behind our stay?  Our front "porch"  looking right out onto Dana Point Beach where the fireworks would be.

After checking in and dropping off our bags, we headed to the beach.  Thatboy had picked up some Zinka for fun and decided they should REALLY have some fun putting it on.

The big boys went off for a little surfing while the little guy and I played in the waves.  Then Thatboy went off to surf himself leaving me with the two sand-monsters.

Eventually we all ended up sunning and playing together.

We were close enough to head over to Thatmom's for dinner, and then back to the hotel for some sleep.  When we woke up the next morning it was July 4th!

Before I even met Thatboy, I went to the Sawdust Festival every summer.  Once I met Thatboy we both went to the Sawdust Festival every summer.  So it only made sense to take our kids while we were in the area.

The boys got to make some Fourth of July art.

And watch some glass blowing.

We then grabbed dinner at one of the most touristy spots I could find.  It seemed fitting to be extra "vacation-y" with this vacation, so we went with some place with Mai-tais and a view of the water.

After dinner we grabbed some ice cream and headed back to the hotel to it it on our porch.

Then came the magic part of the evening.  The boys got ready for bed.  Baths, teeth brushed, and in their pajamas.  I set up a bunch of glow toys outside while they got ready and then they came out and played until it was time for fireworks.

And then we sat back and watched the show.

It was the most perfect way to do Fourth of July.  Thatkid even watched the last few minutes in his bed.  And after the show, both kids were tucked in and asleep.  No driving anywhere.  No going anywhere.  It completely matched the idea in my head.

It was a wonderful way to start off our summer.  I recently learned that some people are funny about summer.  Did you know that there are people who don't eat chili during the summer?  I know.  I was shocked too.  It doesn't heat up the house and chili in summer is so much better because you can use fresh tomatoes!  YES!  We all know that fresh tomatoes make everything so much better than the canned variety, so it stands to reason that chili with fresh tomatoes would be better than chili with canned tomatoes.  The other great thing about chili in summer is using the best, most sweetest, summer corn.  I like to make chili whenever I have leftover corn after grilling a bunch for dinners or a party.  But I'm also just as likely to grill corn just to make chili.  Especially when I come into a bunch of vine-ripened tomatoes.

Summer Chili

2 ears corn, shucked

6 Tbsp butter

6 onions, sliced

3 lbs ground beef

3 lbs fresh tomatoes, chopped

6 oz tomato paste

1 cup beer

1 Tbsp salt

1/2 tsp Tabasco

3 Tbsp chili powder

1. Grill the corn about 2 minutes per side, until it is browned.  Remove kernels from ear of corn.
2. Melt the butter in a large saucepan over medium heat.  
3. Add onions and cook about 5 minutes, until tender.
4. Add ground beef and cook until lightly browned.
5. Add the tomatoes, tomato paste, beer, salt, Tabasco, and chili powder.  Cover and cook for 45 minutes.
6. Add the corn and simmer for 15 minutes.

Desert Lights: Japanese Curry Chili

Thatboy has been complaining for months that we never get out to Palm Springs anymore.  We used to go several times a year but it has been a while.  So for his birthday, I booked us a weekend in Rancho Mirage - right between Palm Springs and Palm Desert.

We've been having a fair amount of rain lately, but the skies were clear last weekend.  And that rain, meant the mountaintops were dusted with snow.

Our hotel had its own fun surprises.  The boys took advantage of the hotel pool and water slide.  There were also tortoises and giant...desert hares?  Big big rabbits.

We didn't have any big plans for the weekend, we really just spent the time walking around and hanging out.

I love traveling during the holidays and seeing towns all "dressed up."   There were even photo ops on the street.

We missed our town's annual tree lighting, but we were in town for the Palm Springs Festival of Light parade.  We got to the parade route early enough to stake a claim on some prime curb real estate, and ate our dinner al fresco.

Once the sun set, the parade began.

Garfield was the Grand Marshall for the parade, and Thatbaby got a big kick out of waving and screaming to him.

The parade is a Festival of Light parade, so there are lights.  Lots of lights.  Even the marching bands had lights on their instruments.

And the dancers had lights on their clothes.

But the main draw were the floats and vehicles that were just covered in lights.

Like all the best parades, there were also giant balloons.

And fire engines, both old and new.

Along with other interesting vehicles wrapped in lights.

The parade ended with a visit from the big guy himself - Santa!

The kids had a great vacation.  Thatkid even asked if he could get something to remember it by.  Which is about the cutest way to ask for things there is.  And he was really serious.  We ended up in a spice store where he picked out special sugar for making cookies, and a new spice mix for his "house famous" taquitos that end up on our menu week after week.

Kid takes after me.  I also get a little giddy over spices.  Like when Raw Spice Bar sent me these two spices to try out.

I'm already quite familiar with Garam Masala, and I used it to create an Indian cashew chicken.

But the Japanese curry powder was new to me.  And intriguing.  The only recipes I could find which used it were all Japanese curry - a sweet stew style dish served over rice.  The sweet, stew-y nature seemed like it would lend itself pretty readily to a chili.  A warm, thick, fall chili with sweet apples, sirloin, and potatoes.  The addition of tomatoes and kidney bean is not the traditional way of serving Japanese curry, but made for a really nice hybrid.

Japanese Curry Chili

 1/2 lb sirloin, cut into bite sized pieces

1 onion, chopped

1 large yukon gold potato, peeled and chopped

1/2 cup carrot, chopped

2 cloves garlic

1 Tbsp Japanese curry powder

1 qt beef stock

28 oz canned diced tomatoes, drained

1 can kidney beans

1/4 cup grated apples

1 Tbsp honey

1.  Brown the sirloin in a dutch oven over medium heat.  Remove meat and set aside.
2.  Place onions in the now empty dutch oven and sweat for 5 minutes.
3. Add the potato and carrot.  Cook for another 5 minutes.
4. Add the garlic and curry powder and cook for 30 seconds or until fragrant.
5. Add the stock and bring to a simmer for an hour.
6. Stir in the tomatoes and beef and simmer for another 30 minutes.
7. Add in the beans, apples, and honey and cook for another 30 minutes before serving.