The credit belongs to the man who is actually in the arena…

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This is a variation of the “It is not the critic who counts” made by John F. Kennedy.

“The credit belongs to the man who is actually in the arena, whose face is marred by dust and sweat and blood, who knows the great enthusiasms, the great devotions, and spends himself in a worthy cause;

who at best, if he wins, knows the thrills of high achievement, and, if he fails, at least fails daring greatly, so that his place shall never be with those cold and timid souls who know neither victory nor defeat.”

– John F Kennedy, 35th US President, 1961
comment quoted by William Manchester in frontispiece for The Last Lion
Little, Brown 83.

Simpson, James B., comp. Simpson’s Contemporary Quotations. Boston: Houghton Mifflin, 1988.  www.bartleby.com/63/
. 13 Sep 2003.

Easy German Texas Chili

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There’s nothing like a good bowl of Chili…

Ingredients

1 lb ground beef
1 cup chopped onion (optional)
1 clove garlic, minced (optional)
1 tbsp Gebhardt Chili Powder
2 tsp ground cumin
1 tsp salt
1 (32 oz) jar Picante Sauce (pick your heat – Mild, Medium, Hot)
3 tbsp masa harina or flour (optional)
¼ cup water (optional)

Directions

1. In a skillet, brown ground beef, chopped onion (optional), and minced garlic (optional).
2. Combine ground beef mixture, Chili Powder, ground cumin, salt and Picante Sauce in a slow cooker.
3. Set on low and cook for 8 hours, stirring occasionally.
4. For thicker chili (optional), combine masa and water.
4a. Pour mixture evenly over the chili and mix.
4b. Cook for an additional 15 minutes.

Prep Time: 20 minutes

Cook Time: 8 hours and 15 minutes

Description

So what’s so “German” about Chili?

Chili power was invented by a German Immigrant by the name of William Gebhardt. He developed his mixture of ground chili and spices in a small restaurant in New Braunfels, Texas. Since chiles were only available after the summer harvest, chili was only a seasonal food during that era. Gebhardt solved the problem by importing Mexican ancho chiles, grinding the peppers through a small home meat grinder three times, and then dried the ground pepper into a powder. The resulting mixture could be used to serve Chili year-round. Gebhardt moved to San Antonio in 1890 and registered Eagle Brand Chili Powder in 1896. The Gebhardt brand of chili powder is today regarded by many chili cooks as a premium chili powder and specified by name in their recipes.

This recipe won the 2004 IBM Austin Linux Technology Center chili cook-off.

Gutten Tag Herr Voigt!

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Ernst Voigt
Ernst Voigt

Every time I went over to see my Grandma and Grandpa Voigt (that is pronounced “Foeht”, not “Voit”), Grandpa greeted me with a resounding “Gutten Tog Hair Foeht. Vie gayts?” in German. Unusually he was sitting on the porch smoking his pipe and watching the humming birds at the two feeders he kept full. Of course the answer was always “Gayt gut” as I walked up the stairs to the porch (rather loudly, since Grandpa was a little hard of hearing.) It took me a while to fully understand why he got such a kick out of it.

On the o­ne hand, I think he enjoyed trying to speak German to his grandson. I was the first generation to not speak German in the home since the family arrived in Texas in 1844. To learn it, I took German in High School — getting some of the lowest grades of my high school years. I would listen to my Grandma and Grandpa talk to Daddy and try to understand what was being said. Most of the time I could generally figure it out given the number of English words that crept into the Texas-German dialect in New Braunfels. But I never really got a hold of it. Even after the classes in High School, they talked just fast enough that I was always a few seconds behind in the mental translation.

But I think Grandpa also got a kick out of the “Hair Foaht” because he could call me that. Daddy was his o­nly surviving son. So besides Daddy and Grandpa’s brother Ervin, I was the o­nly other family member he could call “Hair Foeht”. This is not to say he did not care for his other 17 grandsons (and 3 granddaughters) — I know he did. I just happened to be the o­ne that carried o­n the family name. Now as a father and as many other fathers and grandfathers know, that can at times be special.

And to be honest, I got a kick out of it too.

NOTE: Those that know German will recognize the “”Gutten Tog Hair Foeht. Vie gayts?” as really “Guten Tag Herr Voigt. Wie Gehts?” in German. This is the equivalent of “Good Day Mr. Voigt. How is it going?” in English. “Gayt gut” is really “Geht Gut” in German, which is short for “Es geht Gut”. This is the same as “It goes well” in English. This dialogue is a very standard German exchange of greetings.