to paint or not to paint

"That doesn't sound real!" -Tim

"It sounds almost too good to be true!" -Maureen

These are two comments from two of my coworkers after I told them about our latest recipe. Now, our office tends to be rather quiet when we are all hard at work at our computers. Tim often comes in and says, "There's too much excitement goin' on down here!" So, I pointed to my chili and said, "This is what's exciting down here. Chocolate Chili, man!"

I'm convinced that if chocolate is added to just about anything, it will be good. It just has to be done in the right way. And this chili was definitely done the right way. Who would have thought that cumin, tomato, onion, garlic, beans, chicken and cocoa, would somehow end up mixing together into a delicious pot of chili. Oh, and don't forget the sour cream. Seriously? Yep, but it works! I love the chili, however I have to admit to one thing. I DO NOT get along with raw chicken. I have discovered my absolute disgust for cutting it up. It might be because I still don't have an amazingly sharp knife. But, I think the main issue is the look and feel of raw chicken. It honestly wigs me out and I get really anxious just looking at it. So, once I finally had it all cut up, I could breath a sigh of relief as I threw it in that pot and could watch it start cooking. I texted Heather in the midst of my stressful chicken chopping and said, "I request that we never make another recipe that calls for cutting up raw chicken!" I know that might be hard to do though....unless....I become truly vegan! Or truly vegetarian! It's definitely a consideration. At least it would get me out of having to interact with raw chicken!

Once the chicken was cooked to a lovely color and no longer pink (and veiny I might add), it was exciting to add all the spices and start smelling that chocolate chili aroma. What I love about recipes like this is that you can't really guess how it's going to taste. Certain recipes give you an idea, especially if it's mainly a curry dish, or a bbq flavor. You can pretty much assume that you'll either like it or hate it. With this chili, I honestly had no idea what it would remotely taste like. Will it resemble chocolate? And if so, would that taste good with garlic? In the first bite, I was super impressed and delighted that all my stressful chicken chopping turned into a successful chocolate chili. Yes, the name might sound too good to be true...but it truly does exist! Chocolate Chili!

Like I said at the beginning, I think that if chocolate is added to just about anything, it will be good. Since I became convinced of this, I decided I should take it to another level. Why just use chocolate in food? Why not paint with it? So, yes, I cooked with chocolate and I painted with chocolate. There's also some added squirts of tomato too, to add some seed texture. I have to say that the soup smelled MUCH better than the smell of chocolate and tomato mixed together on paper. Warning: Not a lovely scent! (Figured I'd let you know now, in case you ever get the urge to paint with these two items). However, I am still convinced that chocolate can make just about anything pretty darn good! What do you think?