Smokin' Chili Soup

Yesterday was my birthday. I feel like all I did was eat! I woke up to my family singing to me while I was served the breakfast of champions in bed.... a big pink sugar cookie with a candle in it and a coke. Then a couple of my friends took me to Betty's for pancakes and a coke. My husband took me to Cafe Rio to get my favorite tortilla soup and another coke for lunch. Then last night we went over to the Labrums for a pasta bar and the "better than anything cake". It was a great day! I didn't get many presents, but I got something better..... lot's of warm wishes from friends and family. I was overwhelmed with the love I felt from everyone yesterday.

I never know what my husband is going to do for my birthday. Sometimes he is so wrapped up with taxes that he barely remembers. Other times he goes all out and surprises me with something big.

One year he gave me an old Rolls Royce. I didn't even know what a Rolls was and he drove up in a beautiful black one. We had a lot of fun in that car. Our, "save a restaurant dinner club" used to take it when we would visit a dying restaurant. One year we took my mom to the Grand America for her birthday. We made her wear a crown and gave her a bottle of Grey Poupon for her birthday. We called her Queenie and the bell boy at the hotel asked us who she was because he thought she was a famous person.

The most memorable experience with that car though had to be the day it caught on fire. It was Christmas Eve and my husband went out to start it up to take it to Grandma's house for our family party. It dripped oil so he had put a piece of card board underneath it. Evidently it sparked and caught the card board on fire and then the car. Thank goodness, Dar rolled it out into the driveway before it caught our house on fire!

The fire department came and we had all the neighborhood in an uproar. It was quite the site! That night when my husband started it up to pull it back into the garage, he got quite a surprise when the brakes wouldn't work after the brake line was burned during the fire. He hurried and slammed it into park, but the big heavy car had already slammed into his metal tool chest and pushed it into the sheet rock at the front of the garage. Thank goodness he acted so quickly or it would have been in my family room next to the Christmas tree! But wait, that isn't the end of the story. When the tow truck man was unloading it off of his truck at Ken Garff Jaguar to have it fixed, he thought he could just roll it off of his truck. No, no, no! The big heavy car slammed into a brand new Jaguar. The Jag lost that fight! After that I called the car Christine, after the possessed car in the movie. We sold it last year because there wasn't really anywhere to go in it in our small town. Some how driving down my dirt driveway to go to Mc Donald's just didn't seem right. But we had lots of fun memories with that car!

One of my friends, Deidre Durrant, brought me over a plate of cookies yesterday. Then she and her cute daughter Ann sang to me with their amazing voices. She gave me the best present though.... the secret family recipe I have been trying to get from Stan Green for his awesome Green Chili Soup! Now that's a true friend!

Green Chile Soup

Brown a boneless pork roast.
Then, place it in a crock pot and cover with water.

Add: 2 onions, diced. 2 cans of diced green chilies, 1t. cumin, 1 1/2t. roasted garlic, 2 peeled and cubed potatoes, 1 can of pinto beans, 1 small jar of salsa, salt and pepper.

Cook on low in the crock pot all day. Shred the meat right before eating.

Serve with sour cream, tortilla chips and sprinkle with cheddar cheese.

Guess what we are having for dinner tonight?