Team Chili and the Frito Pie

In an earlier post I mentioned a chili-making scheme that my coworker and I hatched.  Today it came to glorious fruition.  The idea was that we needed to make Frito pies for an event and [here I feel it incumbent on me to explain the Frito pie: our boss who grew up in Texas told us of the snack, which she said was served at high school football games and the like--it consists of a small bag of Fritos corn chips slit open with chili poured inside, topped with diced onions and cheese] the typical way is to use canned chili.  Well, my coworker and I were dismayed by that idea, and we proposed to make the chili ourselves instead.  Dubbing ourselves Team Chili, we donned aprons this morning and chopped onions and browned ground beef on the stove.  We poured these items with chili spices into Crock Pots along with canned beans and tomatoes.  All day long, one end of the office was filled with the aroma of chili as the Crock Pots did their slow-cooking magic.  Then tonight we were able to share our creations (one pot of beef chili and one of vegetarian).  Having never tried a Frito pie before, I discovered they're quite tasty.  And the novelty of eating out of a tiny bag of chips using a spoon is quite satisfying.

Some of you may have noticed that my drawings have become less intricate of late.  It's partly because I've been tired out and trying to finish them quickly, but partly because I've been using a thicker pen.  It's not better or worse, but the thicker tip does have a noticeable effect on how I draw.  Sometimes it feels freeing not to need to add as much detail and other times it feels stifling not to be able to.  I would have liked more detail in this picture, for instance, but that's a key part of this blog--embracing imperfection and moving along.  Now to bed with fond memories of Frito pies still in my head . . .