I don’t think I’ll have much time for cooking or blogging this week. My sister is getting married on Saturday! I’ll try to get in a post at some point, but for now, here’s a picture I took from our wonderful bachelorette dinner at Mario Batali’s Otto.

I imagine everyone who writes a food-blog dreams of one day opening their own restaurant or cafe (if they haven’t already), or landing Frank Bruni’s job at the NYT. Me too. Throughout high school and college, I worked in ice-cream shops and cafes, and since then I’ve been dreaming of my own place. Reading Alice Medrich’s Bittersweet only made things worse. So, if I can’t open up my own shop yet, I might as well bake.

These brownies are simple and delicious. I used 99% unsweetened Michel Cluizel chocolate—well worth the money. You can add nuts if you like, but personally, I don’t want anything to detract from the chocolate. This is Alice Medrich’s recipe for “Classic Unsweetened-Chocolate Brownies,” followed exactly. Next batch I’m going to play around with them and maybe add 1/4 cup less sugar. I also plan on letting the next batch of batter sit covered in the fridge for a night or two before baking because Medrich says this makes dark-chocolate brownies more chewy and delicious. I just couldn’t wait that long last night!

I’m actually not sure if it’s appropriate to post published recipes verbatim on a blog, even if you give credit. Can anyone answer this for me? For now I’ll just give you a picture of my little ones on a cute strawberry box-top:

I would do it to you.

Yesterday I had a craving for chili, but because I no longer live at home with the chili-master, my mom, and because I never took the time to take down her recipe, I decided to find my own.

I went on epicurious.com, foodtv.com, allrecipes.com, and a whole bunch of blogs searching for the right chili recipe. After a (much too-long) time, I realized that I was never going to find it. Everyone’s chili is different, and everyone’s chili is somebody else’s. To make the perfect chili, it has to involve your own personal tastes and loves. There’s green chili, white chili, vegan chili, chicken chili, Cowboy chili, Mexican chili, Texas chili and Cincinnati chili. There is even a Frito-lay chili. The list goes on and on.

So you can judge me by my chili. It contains ground beef, not cubed sirloin, and a lot of it. It has lots of onion and corn. I use dried ground chilis because I am too clumsy to work with fresh ones (and anyone who knows me will remember that fateful day when I tried.) I would never, ever use bottled tomato sauce, and if I am too lazy or cheap to cut up real tomatos, I always use San Marzino. I also add a little tomato paste and some fresh basil, because–goddammit–I’m Italian. I make my chili hot and then I add sour cream and cheese. It’s not fine or fancy. But it’s freaking good.

Robin’s Chili

1. Saute onions and garlic on medium-high heat in soup pot coated with olive oil for a few minutes.
2. Add meat and saute for about 5-10 minutes.
3. Add green pepper, black beans, salt, chili, cumin, chili powder, pepper, Worchestire and tomato paste. (Add more spices at the end if needed.)
4. Cook for another 10 minutes, then add crushed tomatos, basil, and corn. Cook another 5-10 minutes and then lower heat and simmer for 30 minutes. Turn off heat and cover.

I love this chili served over a bowl of iceberg lettuce, with cheese and a dallop of sour cream on top!