Wednesday, December 13, 2006

Yipee-yi-O-kie-yay!

My Darling Wife and I often call ourselves “Pioneers.”

It’s almost true. No, we didn’t arrive on the Mayflower or strike out across North America in a prairie schooner. But we are among the first people to resettle this part of the city--a part of town where the closest restaurant is a pizza wagon parked in the driveway of a still-shuttered gas station, and where there are still more people living in FEMA travel trailers than in their houses.

This “pioneer” spirit teamed up with a run of cold weather recently to inspire me to cook a pot of “Sons of the Pioneers” chili.

It was a frigid, windy night last week when I decided to play frontiersman. I had to improvise some of it. I don’t own a hat or saddle, and I substituted a propane stove for an open campfire, and two domestic cats for horses.

But that’s not what it’s all about. Our here, it’s the grub that counts! So I started with Carroll Shelby’s Chili Kit, a can of diced tomatoes and two pounds of lean ground beef.

Carroll Shelby's Chili Mix

I can’t exactly say I made a big pot of chili because we don’t really have any “big pots” in the trailer, but I pulled out the biggest I could find and I started browning the meat over the open flame.

Cooking chili in a FEMA travel trailer

I added the spices and flour paste as directed on the package. Because of our hypersensitive smoke alarms, I had the hood fan blowing the whole time. Still, somehow the trailer managed to fill up with that beefy, spicy chili aroma.

To really get into the mood, I put on a “Sons of the Pioneers” cd while I cooked and ate.

Sons of the Pioneers CD

I'm an old cowhand from the Rio Grande
And I sing the songs in the cowboy band
I know all the songs that the cowboys know
About the big corral where the doggies go
'Cuz I learned 'em all on the radio
Yipee-yi-O-kie-yay! Yipee-yi-O-kie-yay!


Okay, so it’s not real cowboy music. The Sons of the Pioneers, whose most famous member was Roy Rogers, are actually Hollywood cowboys. But that’s okay, because I’m not a real pioneer either. Besides, that’s not what counts here. In New Orleans, it’s always about the food.

And lemme tell ya--it was good vittles!

7 comments:

Anonymous said...

This cowgirl is envious -- looks yummy!

Anonymous said...

I guess we're nearly neighbors pardner.

When you moved yer wagon in I didn't see the smoke from your fire so I didn't recon how close you were.

I went lookin' fer yer wagon t'other day, but didn't run across it.

Mosey on by sometime, when we git the 'lectricity fixed.

Anonymous said...

That post reads like the post of a man who had a few beers with his chili.

Yipp-yi-O-kie-yay!

Laurie a/k/a Miss New Orleans

Anonymous said...

I'm venturing a guess that the wind blows right on through your trailer. *sigh*

Tim, if you are not an indomitable spirit, there has never been one! Oooooo-weee! And ye can cook, too!

Tim said...

Beer? You betcha! Abita Restoration Ale!
http://www.abita.com/brew/restoration.html

Peace,

Tim

Anonymous said...

yoddeling hollywood cowboys rock.

it's one of my fondest childhood memories of summers with my grandparents in the ozarks.

thanks for bringing that back today.

Judy Thorne said...

A perfect meal: chili and abita beer!