1. I was going to surprise Christy, Carol, Paul, and Molly at not say ahead of time what I was cooking for Monday's family dinner. But, here I go: I'm writing about it right now, spoiling the surprise! To get the Cincinnati Chili started, I combined the water, tomato paste, and unsweetened chocolate in a Dutch oven and heated it up for a few minutes. Then I added the seasonings and other ingredients: chili powder, cinnamon, garlic powder, cumin, allspice, cloves, red pepper flakes, black pepper, salt, sugar, and vinegar. After I crumbled about a pound and a half of ground beef into the pot, I brought all of this to a boil and then turned the heat way down and the chili simmered away and thickened for a few hours.
I accidentally put 3/4 of a teaspoon of red pepper flakes in the chili instead of 1/4 of teaspoon. Out of concern that the chili might have too much heat, later in the evening, I fried more ground beef and added it to the chili.
Cincinnati Chili has some cooling ingredients in the final bowl. The spaghetti, the grated cheese, the option to use oyster crackers, and maybe even the beans might help make the dish less spicy (if it's too spicy for any family members). In addition, I'm going to have sour cream available at the table. It's not, at least traditionally, an ingredient in a bowl or plate of Cincinnati Chili, but it would taste good, I think, and would definitely help the dish if I have created a problem of too much heat.
The funny thing is, I'll also have a bottle of Frank's RedHot Original Sauce on the table for anyone who might like their Cincinnati Chili spicier than what I've prepared.
2. I discovered that Epix, the maker of the docuseries Slow Burn, also made a docuseries called Fiasco, a six hour plunge into the Iran-Contra mess that occurred during Ronald Reagan's second term as president. The docuseries efficiently and insightfully provided context for the Iran-Contra mess by looking at the Iran Revolution of 1979 and the taking of U.S. hostages in November of that year and looking at the civil war in Nicaragua which resulted in a regime change in 1979.
The hostage situation was particularly important to this story because Ronald Reagan made a lot of hay on the 1980 campaign trail criticizing current president Jimmy Carter for being unable to bring about the hostages' release.
During their second term, Reagan and his administration suddenly faced hostage situations of their own in Lebanon and, concurrently, were conducting covert operations in Nicaragua in support of the Nicaraguan Contras as they fought to take the country back from the Sandinistas who had seized control of the country from the strong-armed dictator Anastasio Somoza in 1979.
The Iran-Contra debacle was a consequence of the US selling arms to Iran (to help them in their war with Iraq) with the understanding that Iran would, in exchange for the purchase of arms, help negotiate the release of the hostages in Lebanon. Then, members of the Reagan administration diverted funds made from selling the arms to Iran to the Contras, as a way of working around legislation forbidding such governmental support.
How all of this covert negotiating and arms dealing with Iran, covert support of the Contras, and the diversion of the arms sales monies to the Contras came about and how it came to light for the public to see was fascinating to revisit.
Debbie and I couldn't pull ourselves away from Fiasco and watched all six hours of this series from the middle of the afternoon until about ten o'clock in the evening.
3. Reliving those years covered in Fiasco from about 1979-1987, I needed some time to wind down before going to bed.
My mind was reeling with memories, not only of the conflicts around the world and the powerful impact of Reagan's presidency and policies on life in the USA, but also of the upheaval in my life as I started graduate school, suffered through divorce and the annulment of my first marriage, and entered into a long period of instability, confusion, and uncertainty. I'm grateful that the chaos of my life was balanced by the stimulation and success I enjoyed in my work as an instructor at Whitworth, U of Oregon, and Lane Community College and by the company of friends, friends with whom I talked, drank countless cups of coffee, watched movies, ate many meals, listened to music, danced, discussed ideas, and went on long walks, whether in Spokane and Eugene or into the great outdoors. Thankfully, many of those friendships are still alive and thriving to this day.
So how did I wind down?
I watched about an hour of yet another tournament on the World Poker Tour on Pluto TV with Luna velcroed to my chest.
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