Chilli con Carne

Last week end was kind of a busy one for the two of us. We were invited to attend a German - Chinese culture evening on Friday which was held at the school where hubby works. The school has a partner school in Hangzhou, China and every year they make an exchange program for pupils from both school. This time there're about 25 pupils from Hangzhou who stay with their guest families and 4 teachers. It was an interesting evening for us and on Sunday we were invited again to accompany the teachers with a translator because they speak hardly English nor German. For that invitation I prepared my self by digging my Mandarin knowledge which I learnt years ago at the University but never had a chance to speak it and now it's kind of blocked out with another foreign languages I speak. To make it short, we went to Kampenwand in Aschau.
The Kampenwand is a 1669 m high mountain peak of the Alps of Chiemgau and its cross of the summit is the highest in the Bavarian Alps. In Winter is a ski region and in summer is popular among the paragliders, mountain bikers, mountain climbers. The name of Kampenwand is because it looks like a crest. We took gondola cableway to up to the mountain station at 1467m. Those gondolas look so vintage in this modern world. It was a beautiful sunny day and I was totally impressed by the nature, by the view we had up there. We and our guests enjoyed it so much. It wasn't easy to speak Mandarin again but I felt lucky to have had that chance. I said to hubby, he should probably try to apply for a German school in Shanghai, so I can learn Mandarin again. Well, we'll see ...

Weekend is over and here comes Monday and it has been snowing the whole day. A perfect weather for being lazy and enjoying the coziness at home. After doing some house chores, put the fire on the fireplace then I made myself comfortable and continue reading the novel. It's called Hummingbird's Daughter by Luis Alberto Urrea and took place in Mexico. Reading this novel makes me want to travel back to Mexico, to eat fresh tortillas, to eat chicken Mole, to have a breakfast at the market with fresh juices, to be back in Oaxaca and to get to know the northern part of Mexico. During to our backpacking time in Mexico, we'd learnt that popular chili con carne is not part of Mexican culinary but Texmex.

Adapted from Favourite Everyday Dinners

Ingredients:
1/2 tsp allspice
1 tsp paprika powder
2 small fresh chillies -- finely chopped
1 large onion -- finely chopped
2 cloves garlic -- crushed, chopped
350 gr lean beef mince
2 tomatoes -- chopped
2 tbsp tomato paste
Red paprika -- chopped
425 gr can red kidney beans -- drained, rinsed
1 cup beef stock
200 gr can sweet corn
1 tbsp oregano
Salt, fresh grind black pepper and sugar to season
1 tbsp vegetable oil

Directions:
Heat a small frying pan over medium heat and dry-fry the allspice, chilli and paprika powder for 1 minute or until fragrant. Remove from the pan and grind

Heat the oil in a large saucepan over medium heat. Add the onion and cook until soft for about 2-3 minutes. Add the garlic and cook again for 1 minute. Add the beef mince and cook over high heat for 4-5 minutes, breaking up any lumps with a fork

Add the tomatoes, tomato paste, kidney bean, paprika, corn, beef stock, oregano, sugar and the grind spices. Reduce heat and simmer for 1 hour or until thickened, stirring occasionally then season with salt and black pepper