Two weekends ago Hubby and I attended the annual D.A.R.E. Chili cook off. It was a gorgeous weekend during Historic Downtown Days. I had been stuck in the dungeon making centerpieces for the upcoming luncheon and needed to get out. After walking through the Farmer's Market and stopping at the Coop for a Switch soda we decided to make our way to the main event. It was such a beautiful day that I wanted to walk. Hubby grumbled about how far it was, but begrudgingly obliged.By the time we arrived I was ready for the feast. We pay our entry, grab our ballots and small pencil that was provided and get in line. Bring it on! It is finally my turn. I get handed a small Styrofoam cup and plastic spoon for sampling. Bleh. I quickly gobbled up the first entry, not bad, and move on to the next. Okay, my turn again. I present my cup for filling, still licking the spoon from the last booth. The woman gives me a disgusted look and hands me a new cup containing their entry. *Blink* *Blink Blink* "No, I want to use the cup I already have." presenting it again in protest. "That's unsanitary." she says and plunks her cup into mine. The nerve! "No, that's wasteful!" I exclaim. "And I am not voting for you no matter how damn good your chili is!" I turn on my heel and the panic sets in.
Looking around at the 30 plus booths, hundreds of people, and all those Styrofoam cups and plastic spoons my mental calculator starts clicking. And clicking. And clicking! Everywhere I look more and more. People have them stacked one on top of another, some ten high. Carrying them like a badge of honor. The world starts spinning, I think I am going to be sick. Gasping for air I lean over a trash can. It is filled with little white cups! AAaaaAAaaaHhhH!! I am in Hell!
Proceeds from the event benefit local D.A.R.E. and G.R.E.A.T. programs which teach kids the dangers of drugs and gangs. Next year marks the 20th anniversary of the D.A.R.E. program in La Crosse and police officers say it's making an impact on more than just kids.
...and police officers say it's making an impact on more than just kids. I think that is worth repeating. Oh wait, I just did. You bet it is. It was estimated by the number of ballots cast that over 1,000 people attended. There were 32 chili entries. If each person took a new cup at every booth and sampled all 32 entries, they burned through 32,000 Styrofoam cups in two hours! That makes me want to cry. It gets worse. It was a hot day eating hot chili. One is bound to get thirsty. What do they have? Bottled water. Or, bottled soda. Plastic bottled soda. Just shoot me, please.
Now I am walking around with my empty glass Switch bottle, a plastic water bottle Argh!, two Styrofoam cups, and a plastic spoon. Aha! I spot someone emptying the trash cans. "Excuse me, do you have a place I can recycle these?" "No. We don't do that." Oh, bother. Is it not ridiculous that a city of 50,000 plus does not, I repeat DOES NOT, recycle plastic? WTF?! I feel I may need to borrow the cape of one of those eco-heroes over in the Green Phone Booth and address this issue.
Thankfully, only the one booth refused to fill the cup I already had. I got grief from a few and weird looks from them all, but they accommodated me. If they put up too much of a fuss, I refused to sample their chili unless they put it in my cup. A few even got it. "Aaahhh, trying to be green today, I get it." I heard Hubby snort in the background, "Today? Everyday with this one!" Well, at least he is starting to get it.
I will be sending a letter to the event chair and would like to give them a list of environmentally friendly options. Got any? In a perfect world which only exists in my head everyone would bring their own container and utensil along with a reusable bottle. The event could provide large containers of free water to fill from. Aah. Heaven.
Speaking of Heaven. I will leave you with the winning chili recipe provided by The People's Food Co-op.
Now I am walking around with my empty glass Switch bottle, a plastic water bottle Argh!, two Styrofoam cups, and a plastic spoon. Aha! I spot someone emptying the trash cans. "Excuse me, do you have a place I can recycle these?" "No. We don't do that." Oh, bother. Is it not ridiculous that a city of 50,000 plus does not, I repeat DOES NOT, recycle plastic? WTF?! I feel I may need to borrow the cape of one of those eco-heroes over in the Green Phone Booth and address this issue.
Thankfully, only the one booth refused to fill the cup I already had. I got grief from a few and weird looks from them all, but they accommodated me. If they put up too much of a fuss, I refused to sample their chili unless they put it in my cup. A few even got it. "Aaahhh, trying to be green today, I get it." I heard Hubby snort in the background, "Today? Everyday with this one!" Well, at least he is starting to get it.
I will be sending a letter to the event chair and would like to give them a list of environmentally friendly options. Got any? In a perfect world which only exists in my head everyone would bring their own container and utensil along with a reusable bottle. The event could provide large containers of free water to fill from. Aah. Heaven.
Speaking of Heaven. I will leave you with the winning chili recipe provided by The People's Food Co-op.
White Bean Chicken Chili
INGREDIENTS (serves 4 to 6)
2 tablespoons canola oil
1 large onion, chopped
4 large garlic cloves, chopped
1 tablespoon ground cumin
1 teaspoon dried oregano
1/2 teaspoon chopped dried chipotle pepper
1 pound boneless chicken thighs, cut into 1-inch pieces
3 15-ounce cans cannelloni beans
1 cup chicken broth
1 7-ounce can diced mild green chiles
1/2 cup whipping cream
1 jar green salsa or tomatillo salsa (optional)
Chopped fresh cilantro (optional)
Cheddar cheese (optional)
Salt and pepper to taste
PREPARATION
1. Heat oil in a Dutch oven over medium heat. Add onion, garlic, cumin, oregano and dried chipotles. Saute 5 minutes. Push onion mixture to one side of pan.
2. Season chicken with salt and pepper and add to empty side of pan. Saute chicken 4-5 minutes until it is lightly golden.
3. Drain beans. Add beans, broth, chilies and whipping cream to pot. Simmer until chicken is tender and cooked all the way through, about 10 minutes.
4. Season to taste with salt and pepper.
5. Top with green or tomatillo salsa, cilantro, cheddar cheese or more chilies.
2 tablespoons canola oil
1 large onion, chopped
4 large garlic cloves, chopped
1 tablespoon ground cumin
1 teaspoon dried oregano
1/2 teaspoon chopped dried chipotle pepper
1 pound boneless chicken thighs, cut into 1-inch pieces
3 15-ounce cans cannelloni beans
1 cup chicken broth
1 7-ounce can diced mild green chiles
1/2 cup whipping cream
1 jar green salsa or tomatillo salsa (optional)
Chopped fresh cilantro (optional)
Cheddar cheese (optional)
Salt and pepper to taste
PREPARATION
1. Heat oil in a Dutch oven over medium heat. Add onion, garlic, cumin, oregano and dried chipotles. Saute 5 minutes. Push onion mixture to one side of pan.
2. Season chicken with salt and pepper and add to empty side of pan. Saute chicken 4-5 minutes until it is lightly golden.
3. Drain beans. Add beans, broth, chilies and whipping cream to pot. Simmer until chicken is tender and cooked all the way through, about 10 minutes.
4. Season to taste with salt and pepper.
5. Top with green or tomatillo salsa, cilantro, cheddar cheese or more chilies.
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6 comments:
Arrrggh! I share your frustration with the styro cup story! My pet peeve is plastic water bottles..a whole generation is growing up thinking its perfectly normal to buy water that way. What do they think their taps are for?? We rent a couple of cottages out and right in the manual we say "no need to buy water, ours is excellent from our deep well'. At the end of the week most weeks, the recycle box is filled with plastic water bottles! We live in a small rural fishing village in NB, Canada and thankfully the province supplies the big blue bins for recyclables even in this small village pop, 350.
I feel your pain! I ran into this at our local farmers market- They have a hot dog stand- and no recycle bins or yard waste (for compostables)yet the city demands it's citizens recycle and compost, provided they don't live in an apartment.
If they must use disposables, they can find earth friendlier kinds like spoons made from corn polymer (compostable) and certainly bowls that are not treated. Need to take those folks to Whole Foods.
It's actually to a point where public events are getting ruined for me. I need to step back and just accept that I can only be responsible for myself and then LATER
write a scathing letter and volunteer to organize recycling for the next one. Especially for city events - they are "leading the way" by building green buildings, but go ahead and pass out styrofoam like it's candy.
Rob, I'm surprised you found the same situation at the farmers market. They are usually right on it. Our has biodegradable cups and separate compost bins.
kathi - I don't know how the whole bottled water craze got started, but it sure does seem silly. Why pay for something when you can get it for free? (if you own a well anyway) Where do they think that bottle of water they paid big bucks for came from anyway? Right out of the tap!
rob - Of all places, you'd think the Farmer's Market would get it. My market doesn't have food vendors, but they do give you plastic shopping bags from one of the local supermarkets to put your produce in. WTF?!
If they didn't offer bags people would get into the habit of bringing their own. Arrrrrgh!!!!
Oh! And while I am ranting, you'd think the farmers would want the compost to fertilize their crops!
jen - I just became aware of all the waste at public events. It's insane! I don't like to go because of it. It's hard to keep myself from running around screaming like a mad women while shaking people, "What are you doing!"
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