Spicy Two-Bean Vegetarian Chili

Arun, Carol and Jay were here for dinner. Standard vegetarian fare, although looking back at old entries, it looks like I served this when Arun was here two years ago.

- I really loved the dip. It had quite a garlic-y bite to it, but it was delicious and creamy and perfect on the plain little toasts.
- I've just about perfected the corn bread recipe. It has to cook for an hour. Trader Joe's frozen roasted corn. Cast iron skillet. The only thing I forgot this time was to add diced jalapeño, and we really missed it.

• Chive and Pine Nut Dip with Sourdough Toasts (Gourmet, June 2005)
• Spicy Two-Bean Vegetarian Chili (Bon Appétit, November 2002)
• Corn Bread (The Bread Baker's Apprentice, p. 151)
• Chocolate Oblivion Truffle Torte (The Cake Bible, Rose Levy Beranbaum, p. 84)

Wine:
- Four Vines 2002 Maverick Zinfandel (Amador County, California). This is a favorite inexpensive Zin for us. I think Arun and Carol liked it better than the other Zin - lighter, less in-your-face.
- Gamba 2004 Old Vine Estate Zinfandel (Russian River Valley, California). This was just released yesterday - Larry and I went to the Gamba release party at Uncorked! last night. This is drinkable now. It's not as fruit-forward as their Moratta Zin.
- Carol Shelton 2001 Black Magic Late Harvest Zinfandel (Rockpile, California). Yet another excellent wine from Rockpile Vineyard. This late harvest wine only has 2% residual sugar (and 17% alcohol!) so it's not cloyingly sweet.