She loved the canned chili that I used to make chili dogs, so I thought we should take our relationship to the next level- homemade chili. Not just any homemade chili, but one made from the “best chili recipe ever”- as declared by Google.

I found the recipe two weeks ago so we planned on cooking it one of these weekends. I decided that that weekend would be during her birthday. She wanted me to meet two of her best friends and thought that that day would be best. During the week, I’m often busy and too tired to entertain company.

Since it was her birthday, I wanted to get everything right. I woke up early that Saturday (10 AM) and got ready to meet her for lunch and go shopping for ingredients. She was already busy with friends and had to meet me later. That left me with the shopping.

First grocery store: Western Canned Goods Store, 1. Beef broth. None. Tomato paste. None. Diced tomatoes? None.

Go to second store.

Second grocery store: Trang Tien Plaza. Bread. Check. Buns. Check. Potatoes. Check. Roma tomatoes. Check. (Is that how you spell “potatoes”? Potatos. Yep, it’s right. There’s a red line on this version.) Onions. Check. Garlic. That’s at home. Check. Dark beer. Too expensive. Pass. Proceed to checkout.

Head home. Drop things off.

Third grocery store: Big C. Ground beef. Awww, this is going to be expensive. Check. Beef sirloin. My vocabulary isn’t that good, but this looks like it. Check. Hotdogs. One of these brands I don’t like. Three of one brand. Two… of the brand.. I think I don’t like… Check. Tomato paste… Nope. Diced tomatoes… Nope. Spices… Too expensive. I think I have some at home. I’m pretty sure we do. Pass. Beef broth… Beef broth… Nope. Dark beer. Will be too heavy if I buy a lot of stuff. Pass.

Go home to drop things off. Waiting for bus. Waiting for bus. Waiting for bus. Finally! Transfer to second bus. Waiting for bus. Waiting for bus. Waiting for bus. Get on a different bus that might go in the same direction. Damnit! It’s turning! …Wait, I know this street. Get off and wait for third bus. Short wait. Get on; head home.

Unexpected stop.

Fourth grocery store: Western Canned Goods Store, 2. Diced tomatoes. Too expensive. Pass. Tomato paste. Too expensive… I think. Pass. Beef broth… Nope.

Fifth grocery store: Citimart. Diced tomatoes. Expensive… but running out of time. Buy. Tomato paste. Expensive… but… Buy. Dark beer. Yikes!… Buy. Beef broth… Beef broth… Dangit! They don’t have it! Coca Cola. Buy. Fanta. Buy. Bargain with xe om to get a ride home.

Xe Om: 15,000 VND.

Me: 10,000..? Okay.

She’s already at the house- washing her hair. Not making that up. I start cutting onions, garlic, and tomatoes. The cooking is finally starting and I find almost all of the spices needed in the cupboard. However, no beef broth. I think that was a crucial ingredient… One thing I failed to do was compensate for it. I still added the 1/2 cup of brown sugar… Dang… The chili had a sweet taste to it, and I don’t mean cool. We managed to add in salt and other spices to counterbalance the sweetness. In the end it turned out “binh thoung”.

The guests arrive and the meal starts off quite. This is not how a chili dinner is supposed to sound. They were all very new to the experience, minus my girlfriend and roommate. I thought someone was going to hurl because it’s not exactly what Vietnamese people usually eat. They don’t like to mix their foods, and with chili… well, it is what it is. And if you think about it, to the untrained eye, it looks like something else. In the end, my girlfriend’s two best friends praised my dish washing and were able to finish their servings of chili with a polite smile. My Chinese friend gave it a try and said it was too different for him. My Vietnamese friend who eats a lot of Western food loved it. The roommate loved it. My best friend says, “It’s good. Not really spicy, though. It tastes a little bit like Thai food.” Hmm… not what I was going for.

In the end, I think the recipe is still good. If I had the right ingredients and side dishes- especially if I had Frito chips- it would’ve been a blast. I’ll have to try making it again, but only when I have all the ingredients. It did teach me one thing though, chili is too much of an ethnic American food to be served as an introductory meal to people that have had little exposure to American food. Next time, I’ll have to go with turkey, pizza, or burgers.