07.26.08
Web radio “Poetry Is For People” hosted by Michael C. Flanigan & Chili on a hot day.
I’ve been listening to an online radio program titled Poetry Is For People for the last four weeks. It’s hosted by Michael C. Flanigan, a poet I had never heard of before. There was a post on the Poets org Forum a month ago about it. The program is scheduled to run for ten weeks with special programs promised. Michael Flanagan has a wonderful voice, the voice of a storyteller, and each week he talks about a different poet. There are segments in the program where he plays recordings of the poets reading their own work, and during the last half hour or so, listeners can call in to the program. The programs can be downloaded the following day. I’d recommend this series to anyone, whether you’re interested in poetry or not. It’s an hour well worth spending.
I made a huge pot of chili today. Sounds good, doesn’t it, chili on a hot day. Hmm, that could be the title of a poem or book. Both Daniel and I have been craving chili for a few weeks. The temperature was in the upper 80’s today so I plugged the 5 qt. crock pot into the outlet on the porch and let it cook for five hours on high. The trouble is, I made too much to fit in the pot. I had started soaking the beans last night, changing the water three times until 1:00 this afternoon. By the time I had assembled all the ingredients, they filled the crock pot and my soup pot as well. I had to use the stove which seems to have defeated the whole purpose of cooking outside. It’s been nearly eight months since I’ve made chili and I had forgotten just how much the beans expand with soaking. Fortunately, there was a decent breeze today, and with the exhaust fan going in the kitchen, it never got hot in there. I heated up the pot on my large burner, then moved the pot to my simmer burner and it did just fine. Yesterday, I made cornbread in the toaster oven, again out on the porch, and it came out great. I cut up some cheddar cheese for both of us, and I added a large dollop of sour cream to my serving. One nice thing about chili, it freezes fairly well, so we can always have it again months from now.
O.P.W.