Pre-Tailgate Prep and New Dogwalker Nerves

Tomorrow Earl and I will be at the 49′ers game all day, thanks to one of my Lake Tahoe skiing friends who so awesomely gave me his tickets as a Christmas present! They’re great seats and even though the game is going to be a wash, I am psyched to go. Neither Earl nor myself are crazy football fans, however we plan to get drunk and have fun cheering on the home team.

Two things I am stressing out about:

1. Because we are going to be at the game for a really long time (9 hours?  I have no idea- kickoff is at 1:00, and we are getting there at 10:00 to start tailgating and then who knows how long with traffic it will take us to get home), I booked a new dogwalker for Linus.  I tried to book Andy from Dogs in the Fog, who had good recommendations and reviews on Yelp.  DitF was on vacation these two weeks, so he recommended this woman Robin, who he knew was available and worked in our neighborhood.   Robin sounded nice on the phone, however when she came to meet us today to meet Linus and get our keys…. she was…. erm, interesting.  First of all, she lives on the corner of Haight and Central and is a total old school hippie.  She told us how she moved to the city 30 years ago to “be in the scene.”  Upon meeting Linus, she raved about his “gentle spirit” and how they have a “great connection.”  She then asked us if we would cool if she “brought Linus to hang out at her house, in case he didn’t want to walk up the hill.”  WTF?!?!?!? At this point I am making google-y eyes at Earl, like, erm, how do we get out of this and get this crazy woman out of our house and not offend her, but he shot me a look like he was fine with it.  Sooo… at his discretion we are letting this burnt out long-haired hippie womyn take our dog on a TWO AND A HALF HOUR WALK tomorrow and then afterwards she is probably going to take him back to her house to do bong hits.  Earl and I were joking about how she is going to smoke him up and they will eat junk food.  She also mentioned that she walks a Dr.’s sheltie who works at the UCSF med center, and how she takes naps with his dog.  Oh.  My.  You know, as long as Linus is not dead or tortured and actually gets taken out so that he hasn’t gone the bathroom in his crate, I really don’t mind if she takes him to her house… and she did seem very nice and “into” the dog…. so I am hoping she is just a mellow, nice soul.  I have some reservations and am going to be a bit nervous about it but hopefully all will be fine.  **clenches teeth and bites nails***
2. Tailgating!!  We made chili tonight and I really, really, REALLY hope it come out well!  I tried using my late, beloved Uncle Bob’s Famous Chili recipe and I want to do him justice.  Uncle Bob loooved to make chili and would bring it to all of our family parties.  It was always a highlight, and I hope that the chili we prepared in his honor serves his memory well. We will certainly have some beers tomorrow and wish he could be there with us!

Here is how I made the chili:
STEP 1:

minced garlic, onions, and chili peppers

STEP 2:

dried chili pepper infusion- smashed up dried peppers (should use a pestle but we don't have one so i used the blunt end of a spoon, peach butter, a bit of water and a few dashes of cane sugar. pulsed in food processor

STEP 3:

rinse, rinse, rinse canned dark kidney beans

STEP 4:

sautee the following: olive oil, chopped yellow onion, lotsa and lotsa garlic, assorted peppercorns, 1 stalk chopped celery

STEP 5:

brown meat and spice it up with whatever suits your fancy, i used garlic powder, cumin, celery salt and lots of chili powder

STEP 6:

add kidney beans, sauteed veggies, meat and chili pepper infusion to crockpot, top with 1 bottle of dark beer, a few spoonfuls of HOT salsa and 1 28 oz can of diced tomatoes

STEP 7:

cook on low for 2-3 hours, reheat at game and enjoy

I’ve already had a few spoonfuls to “test” and it’s great. Spice-wise, I prefer things to be on the medium to mild side, whereas Earl loves things crazy insano hot, so I think this is somewhere in between… probably more how Earl likes it, however if I am imbibed with lots and lots of beer I can tolerate the pendulum more his way.

Soooo…. here’s hoping that things will work out with the dog walker tomorrow and Linus has fun.  And also that the chili goes well tomorrow!  We’ve also prepared some brats and buns and bacon, egg and cheese sandwiches to make while tailgating, as well as ton of beer.  Oh- one other quick note- we unwittingly went grocery shopping tonight at a very hippy grocery store WHICH DOESNT SELL MEAT! AGHHH.  We had to go to Trader Joe’s afterwards for the brats and bacon.  Too bad, too, because it was actually a nice grocery store and sold some very cool stuff like dried persimmons and dried mulberrys.  But no meat?!? They also had an entire “meat alternatives” aisle, although at the time I didn’t realize that was IN PLACE OF REGULAR MEAT!!

Enjoy your Sunday… and go 49ers!