From the category archives:

American Culture

I’ve updated my latest and greatest chili recipe. If you like your chili savory, spicy, and with better than average heat, you’re gonna love this revised addition.

I’ve integrated Chipotle Peppers in Adobo Sauce for extra heat and a wonderful aromatic smoky flavor.

The chipotle peppers can be found in the ethnic or specialty section of your favorite grocer. All it takes is one pepper, about a tablespoon, minced and mixed with tomato paste to add savory flavor to the chili. If you want to add more, then go for it. You will not be disappointed if you love savory and spicy chili.

Here’s Craig’s newly updated Chili recipe.

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Persona Non Grata - Quantum Leap Possibly indicative of the album title, Greek progressives Persona Non Grata hoped to ‘up their game’ with their sophomore release, Quantum Leap. Released in December, this fine work of progressive metal could easily be added to the best of 2011, right along side their peers Symphony X and Dream Theater.

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Royal Hunt Show Me How to LiveThe creation of keyboardist Andre Andersen, Royal Hunt has been going strong for better than 20 years. Their first mainstream success came in the mid-Nineties with Moving Target (1995) and Paradox (1997) with D.C. Cooper on lead vocals. Recently, following a reunion tour, Andersen asked Cooper to return to the Royal Hunt fold. The result is their eleventh album, Show Me How to Live.

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Theocracy’s As the World Bleeds offers an exciting blend of Christianity and epic melodic heavy metal

23 November 2011 American Culture

Another three years has passed and so Atlanta’s Theocracy returns with their third album As the World Bleeds. Considering the strength of its predecessor, Mirror of Souls, this album was born with certain expectations already in place. Fret not fans as you will not be disappointed.

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This new chili recipe hits all the right hot spots

5 November 2011 American Culture

Revised:  January 24, 2012; change below in italics. I found an interesting recipe for chili with beans in, of all places, a calender from Classic Rock magazine. The use of tomato paste, parsley, and spices other than a quick dose of straight generic chili powder was appealing. After several experiments with this recipe, I came [...]

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A Moment in Chiros: Lance King’s solo debut a tour de force of melodic progressive power metal

30 October 2011 American Culture

Okay, so here’s the short review: Buy this album. If you dig well-composed and entertaining melodic progressive power metal with powerful and versatile vocals, then Lance King’s first solo project, A Moment in Chiros is simply primo material. So head on over to Nightmare Records and order the album; otherwise read on if you want [...]

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Knight Area’s Nine Paths: simply great melodic progressive rock!

10 October 2011 American Culture

Knight Area’s fourth release, Nine Paths, is simply a great sounding album of melodic progressive rock. Earlier works were likely gathered under the symphonic rock genre also. But Nine Paths seems to find Knight Area upping the rock ante just a bit. With that said, don’t think that founder, composer, and keyboardist Gerben Klazinga is [...]

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Cole slaw with cilantro and sauteed garlic, a fresh and delicious alternative to the traditional mayo slaw

6 October 2011 American Culture

I stumbled across this ‘different’ recipe for slaw salad in a grocery store flyer. There’s no mayonnaise, traditional white vinegar, paprika, celery seed or some combination of these ingredients. The garlic gives the salad some bite, and a smoky flavor. The cilantro brightens the whole salad for a fresh feeling. After several tries, I discovered [...]

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With Kingdom of Ruin, Vangough returns with another massive and entertaining opus of progressive metal

2 October 2011 American Culture

Unexpected and challenging are apt words to describe the latest project, Kingdom of Ruin, from Oklahoma’s Vangough. But that’s certainly ‘expected’ from this talented band. It’s nearly odd to say, but one might call Kingdom of Ruin ‘thinking man’s’ prog. It certainly offers a high degree of creativity and ingenuity, yet without sacrificing immense entertainment.

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Delicious, bold, and easy, black bean and corn salsa

1 October 2011 American Culture

I discovered some prepared Texas black bean and corn salsa at my local grocer over the summer. It was a tasty diversion, even with its simple ingredients in an Italian dressing base. Yet, with that latter ingredient, I suspected that it was not really authentic. Rather, it appeared to depend on the simplicity of ingredients [...]

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