Day 112-chili

   April 25-The implosion of the Icelandic economy in 2008 sent schock waves through Iceland and left many of the locals feeling very glum.  In the immediate aftermath, a couple faculty members at Bifröst brought in soup to share with the rest of the employees here in the faculty/staff lounge.  Their only stipulation was that no one was allowed to discuss politics or economics, which was asking a lot at a school, whose focus is politics, economics, law, and business!

Sally thought this was an ingenious way to sell lettuce in
the grocery store.  You know it is fresh when you use it!

   The faculty and staff enjoyed the chance to socialize and decided to keep doing it.  So, a sign-up sheet is posted at the beginning of the fall semester, on which pairs sign up to supply soup for dinner every other Wednesday.  When we showed up in January, every time slot was taken, so we figured we would not have the chance to make soup for Sally's colleagues.  However, while sitting in the lounge earlier this week, it was noted that there was some confusion regarding the people who were signed up for soup for the next couple of weeks.  Sally had made chili dogs recently and discovered that chili is not commonly eaten over here, so she offered to make soup for today.  Of the two people who were signed up for today, Emma had already made soup with Pálmar two weeks ago, and Lára had forgotten, so they quickly took her up on the offer.

   So, Sally went shopping for the supplies she needed on Tuesday and did the initial cooking last night.  This morning, she put in more meat and beans and Shan carried the 15 liter pot over to the staff lounge so she could finish letting it cook on the stove there.  Around noon, we sent out an e-mail telling everyone that, "the grub was ready.  Come and get it."  (We figured we would go all-in with the Southwest theme.)  Sally did not make the chili very spicy, but she had some chili powder available to add to it.  She also provided some cheddar cheese and Ritz crackers, since she could not find any saltines over here.
   In short, the chili was a success!  Many people were very complimentary and a number of them asked for the recipe.  It was nice to finally find some American food that is not widely available or eaten over here, so we could feel like we were introducing them to something new!
   Shan got four posts up today.  He is on a roll now!