totally NASTY

(bowl and chili by Gary Rith)
Kind of a funny story. I was walking Penny a little while ago and as we headed UP the street I could see a newly flattened squirrel on the other side of the street. Knowing my sweet little beagle (nasty, dead, smelly??? YUM! FLATTENED SQUIRREL IS MY FAVORITE she says) I grabbed a stick heading back. Do you know how hard it is to keep a very small but very motivated and athletic beagle back with your left hand while trying to scoop a dead squirrel on a stick with your right???? Some of my country friends might be wondering why I got rid of perfectly good eatin'....but I am a vegetarian :)

But that isn't the point of this story, just the warmup.

17 years ago the first time I went over to the sexy woman's house who later became my Petite tastycake, she was making Spanish food and asked me to make Sangria. Sangria is a mix, roughly speaking, of fruit, juice, and wine----how can you go wrong????? So, I saw this stuff at the store---3 and change! Wow! Almost bought a dozen.
Anyway, I was making the pizza last night and listening to Terry Gross on the radio and she had wine experts on the radio. She asked the ABSOLUTE PRICE bottom on wine. (in this house? we have had plenty of good 4-5 dollar bottles!) The experts said "we have not enjoyed any wines under 4 dollars, but you're safe over 4".
I was like "oh cr@p!!!!!!!! this stuff is 3!!!!!!".
And it was definately more horrible than you can imagine. Helpful in inducing regurgitation. Plus we both had tummy aches all evening.
BUT, I am resourceful and frugal. When I make chili, I toss in just about anything (NO SQUIRREL!!!!!!!!!!!) starting with the pepper, onion, olive oil, black beans, tomatoes, hot sauce and spices, soy burger, then adding anything (noodles! corn! cashews!!!) and in this case 2 buck chuck. There is a hefty glass of this nasty sangria in my chili today, and it is superbbbbbbbbbbbbbbb. The best chili ever. A secret ingredient, eh?