Vegan Chili with Beaf

So a few days ago Charly and I decided to have chili for dinner. I was excited because I like chili. This time was different though. Charly and I had some canned chili and I wanted to add some vegetables to it so I looked up a recipe online and completely ignored the instructions, using the picture as a reference.

"Charly do you want some vegetables in your chili?" I asked as I chopped up the sweet peppers and spinach. She looked over at my preparations and gave me her look.

"No thanks," She said.

"Come on!" I insisted.

"Nope," She answered again.

"Just try some," I said, holding out a chip with some chili on it.

"Ok," She said." Charly ate the chip with my chili on it.

"It's pretty good actually," She said with a smile.

"I know!" I answered excitedly. "I didn't make this one up like the corn soup Charly. I found a real vegan chili recipe online."

The excitement left my voice as I looked down into my bowl.

"Oh no! There is beef in this chili!" I exclaimed. "I made vegan chili with beef in it!"

Charly just laughed.

Marriage and Leftovers. (The True Story)

I love this story. I think it shows how even when two people can come from very similar cultures, and have very similar beliefs, that we are still all very different.

A few weeks ago Charly was making dinner and I had just gotten back from work. I'm not exactly sure what she was making but I think that there was chicken with it. I love chicken. I'm trying to eat more proteins because I don't think I get enough during the day.

When I was growing up I was never much of a big eater and so my mom would pretty much let me eat as much as I wanted as long as there was enough for the other people in the family as well. That was what I was used to, so when Charly started putting the rest of the dinner in the fridge, after dishing some out for each of us, but before we had even started eating, I had no clue what she was doing.

"What are you doing?" I asked.

"Saving some dinner for later," she replied as if it was obvious.

I looked down at my plate and back up at her, "Why?"

"Because that's just what you do. You make dinner, dish some out, put some in the fridge and save it for later."

Now, at this point in the story you should know that Charly often does things simply because she has seen someone else do it that way. I don't know if she has a good reason for it because often she doesn't tell me. She just says, "Because that's just what you do." I think it's really cute when she does this even if I don't understand it.

Back to the story.

"What if I want more?" I asked.

"You don't need more. We need to save this for later. It's called 'leftovers'," she said
.
"What?" I responded laughing. "That's not leftovers. Leftovers is when you eat all you can and then you put what is 'left over' into the fridge. You are putting some of the food away before we have even eaten. That is called 'rations.'"

Charly looked over at me and we both started laughing.

Moral of this story is that when you find the person you want to marry, remember that they are different from you and that the differences you have are good things. Look for them. Laugh at them. and expect them. They make marriage so much more adventurous.

Rations

I have to admit, I don't know a ton about cooking, but what little I do know, I learned from my mom. And my mom was an expert at cooking so that we would be able to make another meal of it. Naturally, then, when I got home from my last grocery shopping trip, I cut up and froze the chicken I had bought. I put three pieces in each bag, two to eat right then and one to put in the fridge for later.

One night, Ben and I got out the chicken and cut it up into little pieces. Ben then cooked it in just a little bit of oil over the stove. That's our favorite way to eat chicken. When he was finished, we put some of it into a casserole I was making. Then Ben started eating it straight out of the pan with a fork.

"What are you doing?" I asked, glancing at him while I scooped the casserole into a pan.

"Eating chicken," he said. I, of course, had already deduced this. When I had asked him what he was doing, what I really meant was, I don't actually want you to do what you are currently doing.

"Okay," I said, compromising. "Just don't eat all of it."

"I'll save some for you," he said.

"Okay," I agreed. "But I also want to put some of it in the fridge for later."

"Why?"

"Leftovers," I raised my eyebrows at him.

"Leftovers?" He asked, shaking his head. "That isn't leftovers. It's rations."

I laughed. "Yes huh. I put extra chicken in the bag for that exact purpose."

"Charly," he said, putting on his most serious face. "Leftovers is when you eat all you want and whatever is leftover you put in the fridge. This is rations."

"Benjamin!" I said exasperatedly. I was mostly joking. "I just want to save some chicken for another meal." I started towards the pan with a container in hand. Benjamin was still standing next to it, a piece of chicken stabbed onto his fork. He grabbed the handle of the pan and started moving away from me. I followed him and we started moving more quickly around the island counter top.

"Benjamin," I said again, my tone less of a joke now. "If we put this in the fridge, then we can eat it tomorrow, or I can put it in something else."

"Charly, do you know how much protein I need?" he asked.

I faltered. "No."

"A lot. Besides, look at this chicken. There isn't even enough left to make it worth saving."

"Thanks to you," I pointed out with a laugh. He shrugged, giving me his I-just-won-and-I-know-it face. I rolled my eyes.

"Fine," I set the container on the counter and stabbed a piece of chicken with my fork.

"Trying to put me on rations," Benjamin said, shaking his head as he set the pan back down.

"Benjamin!" I said again. He grinned at me as I popped a piece of chicken into my mouth.