eating 18 month old chili
04/01/2005 06:31 a.m.
My Papaw made the best chili I ever had the pleasure of consuming! And everyone who tried his chili said the same thing. Papaw was the chili king. He only cooked it twice a year, which made it taste all the better. And worth the wait, I might add.
When he did make it ~ he cooked it in a washtub. On the top of the stove ~ a washtub. Talk about country cookin! The reason he used the washtub was the amazing volume of chili he had to cook. Just to satisfy everyone, he had to make a washtub full. (not lying here people ~ he truly cooked it in a washtub)
My brother asked him once if he had the receipe written anywhere, and PaPaw pointed to his head and said, "Here it is and here it will stay." So we had this running joke that when PaPaw died, his chili would go to the grave with him. I think PaPaw liked it that way to tell ya the truth. If he couldn't cook it, then no one else was gonna! My brother also told PaPaw that he should freeze some of his chili, so that after he was gone ~ we could take it somewhere and have it analyzed for content.
That is how good his chili was.
Well the last time PaPaw made his chili was a few months before he passed away, could have even been a few weeks. I am not really sure of the date. Little did we know that before we all showed up to gobble it down ~ PaPaw had already dipped some into butter bowls and placed them in the freezer.
PaPaw passed away on April 15, 2004.
Tonight, Nannie called me and all she said was, "I have chili." So off I went. And the moment I saw it warming on the stove I knew. I asked her if that was PaPaw's chili. She just smiled and said, "Yea." I didn't even know we had any left.
So as I sat at the table tonight, with my parents and Nannie ~ enjoying the last of my PaPaw's chili ~ I realized how much I missed him. The chili tasted as if he had just cooked it. I was expecting him to walk into the kitchen and sit down, start telling stories ~ over a bowl of his famous chili. But he didn't. Everything was there ~ the smell, the taste, the rememberance.
But no PaPaw.
That was the last of his chili. And I am blessed to have been able to share that meal with three of the most cherished people in my life.
Oh, and let's not forget ~
PaPaw's spirit!
{today, tomorrow, and forever ~ I love you PaPaw)
I am currently Nostalgic
I am listening to with me ~ ginny owens.