[jdub]

My Yankee wife took me, a Texan, to Skyline chili telling me its the greatest chili ever. Being one who is openminded and who is at least a bit open to the suggestion that just maybe Texans dont do EVERYTHING better, i ordered a bowl. All I can say is that if they left out the nutmeg, oregano, cinnamon, beans, and all the other stuff that doesn't belong in chili and added in some peppers it probably would have been quite good. Needless to say we had to stop somewhere else for me to get some lunch.

However I will have to say that I've been humbled in my stance on beans in chili. My wife has made what she calls chili, and as long as I call it a stew we can get along. Once she said she gave in and made it without beans. I admitted it was very good and of course she goaded me into making some comment like "see, you didn't need the beans in it". I was then informed that the beans were still there, just pureed. I just shut up and ate another bowl.

For a bit of revenge, I'm going to tell a (true) story that happened on our visit to the Texas Hill Country this past spring. We were there to see the flowers, the wildlife, and for me to generally expose her to the Texas ambience. One of the animals I had told her about were roadrunners. As we were pulling out of Luchenbach to go to Fredricksburg, she shouted "Look! there's a roadrunner! Two of them! THEY'RE HUGE!!!

I looked up to see a pair of ostriches on a nearby ranch running over the top of a hill. I spewed Shiner Bock all over the windshield.....

[AppyPappy]

Ha-ha. That can't be true. People don't drink in their cars in Texas.

[hispanarepublicana]

That is a GREAT story about the "roadrunners." And, she was even sober, huh?

[francisandbeans]

I love my own personal chili, but I think most folks here would scoff at it:

Lawry's Chili mix as the base
Ground chuck (ya need the fat all)
Stewed tomatoes (canned)
additional chili powder
2 bay leaves
2 beef bullon cubes
onions
cumin (lots of cumin)
Shredded carrots
nutmeg
kidney beans (chili has beans...no debating)
daves insanity sauce (4 drops...but 5 if I'm daring)
crushed red pepper
cayenne pepper

and the thing that will really piss off the purists:

Elbow macaroni

[Brookhaven]

Chili's OK, but I'd take a bowl of brunswick stew over chili anyday.