MAUI CHILI

Last night, we had a chili cook-off for our ward party. This is the second year I've made my Maui Chili, but I made a few tweaks to the original recipe to make it better for this year. Here's the base recipe:

MAUI CHILI

Instead of chicken, I baked some Kalua Pig all day and shredded it into the mix (3 lb pork shoulder roast + 1/2 small bottle of liquid smoke and salted all over - baked slowly in the oven covered with foil). I think that made it more authentic tasting. I omitted the cayenne pepper and only put a whole bottle of fresh chili powder rather than a whole cup ( I think it was about 1/2 cup, but I'm not sure). I doubled the basil, and put 1/2 in at the beginning, then 1/2 in right at the end before removing from the stove. I only used fresh oregano, basil, and thyme, and that seemed to make it taste fresher. I only used 1/2 of the oregano too. I also substituted the beer for some lemonade. I only used 3 jalapenos and added 5 serrano chili peppers. Perfect heat for me. I think next year, I'll cut up some mangoes and have people put some on top of the chili. I also had a big bowl of rice right next to the chili. One of these days, I'll post the recipe I settle on, since it's quite a bit different from the original Maui Chili recipe seen at the link above. By the way, I made a HUGE pot full. I'm sure you could cut the recipe and use 1/4 of all the ingredients to come up with a sizeable pot for a family dinner.

The kids were able to decorate halloween cookies, but I had to leave early last night, so I'm not sure who won the cook-off awards. There was a lot of good chili there, so I'm sure it was a real fight! Noa ended up eating 3 whole bowls... which is an accomplishment for him. I wish I had pics to share, but my camera is A.W.O.L. right now.

I'm sure Bubba Doo would have many bad things to say about me (if he could) after consuming all that chili. I'm just glad I only had a couple of cups left over. He's probably going to hate me for days.

Pictures Can Say 1000 words... or in my case 10.

From left to right, top to bottom - 10 words:


1. Barbie's Butt: Some kids got a hold of the camera.
2. Noa In The Hood: Hey, he's signing I love You.
3. Blowin' Tray: Vic's kid is trying to get someone's tush
4. Grillin' Chad: Rachel's hubby slaving away at the barbie -- yum.
5. Snickering Scar: Some game has the cousins in a pickle.
6. Snoozing Baby: Isaac, Michelle's son, is just about done. g'night.

Annnnnd, more pics of Bubba Doo

Tekina's Birthday Party

I'm finally posting pictures from Tekina's birthday party a few weeks ago. Rachel and Rebecca and families were all here visiting. So, when the 4 sisters get together, we always have a fun time. In addition to all them, I had a couple other families over whom I adore so much.

The first picture is Tekina in her attire that auntie Becka bought her. Becka took her to Walmart to pick out something for her birthday. Then something turned into quite a few things. Apparently, she was enthralled with Hannah Montana that day (we've never even seen the series on Disney Channel). Becka picked up a Hannah Montana backpack, shirt, hat, and Barbie. She also got her Hannah Montana party favors and plates and a special cup. It was so funny how Tekina just all of a sudden became interested in Hannah Montana.


Here she is with some of the stuff she got for her birthday:

And a picture of the girls (and Liam) opening the goods:


Then, the kids wanted to take pictures, and here are some of them. I really dig the picture with all the kids' hands. So cute!

Tanner and Tekina

Violet and part of Tanner's chin


Liam

Here's the video of the birthday cake and cupcakes. The kids got a little too excited to blow out the candles.

* Becka made me remove the video, even though I think she's LOVELY *

Michelle (one of the friends of mine that came with her family) told me that her cheeks hurt afterwards from laughing so hard. We had a great time, and Tekina sure was spoiled.

Now, I have another birthday party to perform for tomorrow. Finelea is turning 9. Then next month is Noa's birthday, followed by his baptism and the baby blessing. More pictures coming!

Updates

Here's the Bubba Doo Growing.





And Tekina Mauling Him.


Here are some pictures from the Hospital when Finelea had her surgery. Some people dressed up as characters from Pirates of the Carribbean and came to share the love with the kids at the Stanford Children's Hospital. They gave her a necklace which she wore the whole time she was there, and if I didn't know better, I would have thought the Jack Sparrow guy was the real thing!




And here she is with her buddy remote control! Those things are never loud enough.


All is well with Fine. We decided to postpone the other two surgeries for the time being so she can have more time to heal from the tonsillectomy and adenoidectomy (or whatever you call it).

Tekina had a big birthday bash with most of her cousins. That post with all the pictures and videos is coming shortly!