The critical ingredient

Yesterday was my sister, Karen's birthday. So today we had Karen, her husband, Jim, and their son, Robbie, over to celebrate.

Because it was such a cold, blustery day, chili and cornbread were on the menu. I headed to the grocery store this morning to pick up the ingredients, and was very impressed with myself that, despite not having taken the time to write a list, I remembered everything. So far, so good.

I made some cornbread ahead of time, and then cleaned the house some. By the time they arrived at 3, we were pretty much ready. The kids played, the guys watched the football game, and my sister and I chatted in the kitchen while I was making the chili. I was using the same chili recipe that I always use. It's one of our favorites, so I kind of talked it up to Karen. She said that she was excited to try it because she was looking for a good chili recipe.

I tripled the recipe because one of my best friends recently had surgery, and I thought I could bring her some as dinner for her family tomorrow night. I was a little nervous that I would get the measurements right with the tripling of the ingredients, and there were a few distractions with the kids. I was also a little anxious because both my sister and brother-in-law are amazing cooks. However, I felt fairly confident that I had it all under control. After all, I make that chili all the time and it's a super easy recipe.

Finally, it was time to sit down and eat. After my sister and brother-in-law dished up, Dave and I did the same. I saw Jim and Karen take their first bite, and although they said that it tasted good, a small delay in their reaction made me wonder. I took a bite and immediately knew something was wrong. It didn't taste like it normally did, and I couldn't figure out why. It definitely tasted bland, so I thought that I probably forgot to add the salt and pepper. I added some, but it still didn't taste right.

When I said to everyone that something was still wrong, Dave was the one to figure out what it was.

"Sarah, did you forget to add the chili powder?"

Ahhhhhh....yes. That would be it. Chili powder. That is usually a good thing to add to chili, as you might imagine. ;)

Oh. My. Word....I was soooo embarrassed. But HA!, we all had such a good laugh!