I can do tollhouse cookies or and easy chocolate chip recipe but she's got the snickerdoodles, peanut butter crispy cookies, and everything else.

Spices lose potency in about a year...especially chili peppers. Toss the ancho. I love chipotle but I don't think that is the what you are looking for....too smoky. Some curry paste I buy is plenty spicy....did you taste your paste first and see if you just need more of that? Do you have any dried whole chilis....thai bird (super hot)? Remember not to go overboard...you can always add more but hard to take out spiciness. It is the same mantra as with edible...you can always do more but can't do less. :p

oops, good to know. Plus it’s chili New Mexico molido with “(very hot)” on the package header. It’s not even the mild ancho. So wow, it’s lost its potency and now I know to use these sooner than later :-)
I do have a package of Ancho that I hadn’t yet opened and only bought in April because I want to try to make a birria stew. Maybe I’ll try this when I reheat the curry.

Taste your chilis before you put them in and you will get an idea of both the flavor profile and the potency. Actually, most spices lose their potency after about a year although I still use them.

You need a red or black dutch oven to make it spicy enough. The blue dutch oven absorbs the spiciness. :)

we truly lack space for another dutch oven (le creuset). On the shelf above it is our unused, still in plastic wrap ROASTING PAN that we bought circa 2011. However, I foresee us using it for thanksgiving turkey this year. I last was in sf for thanksgiving in 2004! I just can’t imagine flying at all this year and next year. It’s so surreal.

Wow, I never thought to taste the chilis because it seems too burning on the tongue. I’m sure I’d feel spice from licking a raw jalapeño.

maybe put a tiny bit on a piece of btead.

LOL, I thought he needed yellow.

Thought I'd revive this thread with a slight twist. The general conversation here seems to indicate that many of us are either improving or trying to cook new things that we hadn't bothered with before, thanks to the pandemic.

With that context, here's my follow up question. If the world went back to normal tomorrow, and assuming you had no virus concerns, would you now adjust how often you eat out vs. cook at home?

I'll start. While I'd certainly eat out a lot more than I have been, it would be because of business travel. For non-business meals, I'm pretty sure we would go out less often. I'd guess once per week for dinner, and occasionally a breakfast/brunch/lunch. It's not so much that we "discovered" home cooking, but we've kind of settled into a nice routine that we're enjoying. I think we'd focus our restaurant time on meals that were a little more special rather than just a burger and fries...things that are a little more complex and not economical to make at home for 2 people.

Things have started to open up around me. Other than going to breakfast on Friday, Saturday, and Sunday, I'm still eating meals at home almost 100%. I'd continue this, even if things opened up completely. I'm enjoying the variety of meal options and the cost savings.

Yellow makes it taste like bananas.

I thought it added the spice of Devil's Tongue Peppers. :)

Before the current fun began our dining out was either travel related, a social occasion with family and friends or to eat food that we couldn't cook equally well at home. I suspect if the world returned to the way it was the same criteria would apply and we'd eat out as often.

this would be our new approach at least with carryout. Pre Covid we went out for almost 2/3 of every luncheon and supper. We’ve had rare carryout. I’m fond of saying that I can’t return to a restaurant. I’m not even enjoying carryout now that much - we fetched Thai food that my spouse craved and in hindsight it wasn’t that super. Some big extremes but the new liftstyle of cooking is why we acquired a red retro freezer for the garage.
I definitely can’t justify ever going out for ice cream again. With our 15++ flavors and waffle cones, we are our own parlor!

I’ve really enjoyed having so many groceries in the house and being able to make so many things. Pre pandemic I was always rushing after work and throwing whatever I could find together for dinner. Now we have options bc so many items at the ready. And of course all day at home to plan better and defrost etc.

I think we will go out less. Maybe a date night to escape kids/family life for a few hours.