1. With Patrick, Debbie, and Meagan gathered in the living room, talking some, reading, knitting, just quietly taking it easy, I slipped into the bedroom and spent an unusually long time with Copper and Luna. I took a blissful nap, my body tired from shoveling last night's snow this morning. I worked acrostic puzzles. Copper and Luna relaxed. Luna alternated between climbing on my chest and resting near my pillow. Copper never lay very close to me, but, from time to time, I pet him, listened to him purr, and was warmed by how contented he continues to be, day to day.
2. We are fortunate with it being cold and the roads covered with snow and ice that none of us had to leave the house. Debbie and Megan set up a jigsaw puzzle on our card table. Patrick went online and not only followed the journey of the James Webb Space Telescope, but participated in a Webb Telescope chat room. We split a delicious 16 oz Barrel-Aged Imperial Stout from Radio Brewing between us. We put the Sirius XM Neil Young Channel on for music. Gibbs loved the company and curled up in a ball of contentment on the couch.
3. I have often regretted that when Debbie and I spent around five or six days or so in Cincinnati back in 2005 that I never patronized the Skyline Chili that sat on Ludlow and Clifton, within walking distance of Adrienne's apartment. Since then, I've heard sports show radio hosts, broadcasters on television, and, most persuasively, Julie Rockwell, rave about eating Cincinnati (or Skyline) Chili at one of these restaurants.
So, tonight, sixteen years after my failure to go to Skyline Chili, Meagan and Patrick teamed up and fixed us a Five-Way for dinner. Meagan's sister had given Patrick a four pack of Skyline Chili cans for Christmas and Megan and Patrick brought spaghetti, the cans of sauce (chili), Tillamook medium cheddar cheese, a can of kidney beans, and a white onion. The also brought oyster crackers and we provided the hot sauce.
So, for starters, Skyline Chili is not chili con carne. It's not the chili I have been eating all my life. It's a sweet-savory sauce with hints of cinnamon and cloves and chocolate complemented with spices like cumin, chili powder, and garlic powder. It's not spicy hot, but mild.
Moreover, the sauce goes on top of spaghetti. Then some choices come into play: do you want kidney beans? Do you want chopped raw onions? Do you want a pile of shredded cheddar cheese to cover your chili dish? If you look at a Skyline Chili menu, you'll that there are three ways to have this dish:
A 3-Way: spaghetti, chili sauce, cheese
A 4-Way: spaghetti, chili sauce, beans OR onions, cheese
A 5-Way: spaghetti, chili sauce, beans AND onions, cheese
Meagan warmed up the Skyline Chili sauce with a can of kidney beans in the sauce.
We all made ourselves 5-Way bowl. On the bottom of the bowl we put spaghetti, then a layer of sauce and beans, then chopped white onion, and we topped it off with a generous amount of shredded cheddar cheese.
We put out a bottle of Frank's RedHot Sauce for anyone who wanted to heat up their bowl. Meagan also put out a bowl of oyster crackers to put on our 5-Way.
I splashed Frank's on my bowl and added oyster crackers.
Oh My God!
I discovered tonight that I LOVE Skyline (Cincinnati) Chili! I cracked open a couple of mini cans of Coca Cola and this dinner sent me straight to dinner heaven.
I am ecstatic that after all these years, I lucked out, that Meagan is from Northern Kentucky, is at home in Cincinnati, has eaten countless of bowls of Skyline Chili, and that she and Patrick joined forces to make this dinner and introduce Debbie and me to this superb dish.
Here are a couple pictures that help illustrate this divine meal and the great fun Debbie and I had with Meagan and Patrick:
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