NEW YEAR CHILE

2 28 oz can crushed tomatoes
1 16 oz can tomato sauce
1 lb lean ground beef
1 lb hot spicy ground pork
2 onions, chopped
4-5 cloves of garlic
1/2 lemon juiced
1/4 cup Dijon mustard
1 red or green bell pepper, chopped
1 jalapeno, chopped
4 beef bouillon cubes
2 cups water
1/2 cup chili powder
2 tbl spn cumin
2 tsp oregano
1 tbl spn basil
2 tsp sea salt
1 tbl spn black pepper
1 tsp white pepper
16 oz beans cleaned and soaked over night or according to directions.
I used black eyed peas for New Years chile.  Also pinto or black beans.


Saute the pork and beef in nonstick skillet until brown.  Transfer to a large stockpot.

Add onion, garlic, bell pepper and jalapeno to skillet and saute until the onions are slightly translucent.  Add to stock pot.

Add tomatoes and tomato sauce, bouillon cubes and 2 cups of water to the stock pot.

Mix together the spices in a bowl then add water to create a thin paste. Add to stock pot.

Drain and rinse the beans.  Add to the chili.

Simmer for 3-4 hours.

Serve with Fritos, scallions, cheddar cheese and sour cream

10 Grammar Mistakes Almost Everyone Makes on the Web

10 Grammar Mistakes Almost Everyone Makes on the Web With more of your communications going over the web, you, like other business people, may worry about grammar. You don't want to get nailed by the grammar police or, worse, make a goofy grammatical mistake that goes viral. Here are 10 grammar errors to watch out for as you post and comment.  1. "Fewer" or "less?" Use "fewer" when referring to a lower number, as in: "They have fewer than 100 workers." Use "less" when referring to a smaller amount, as in: "We need to get there in less time." 2. "More than," not "over." When referencing a greater number, use "more than," as in: "We have more than 15 new clients." "Over" is simply incorrect. It indicates a physical position in space, or can mean "instead of," but not "more than." 3. "Affect" or "effect?" Think what these words mean as verbs and you'll use them correctly as nouns. To "affect" something means to influence it. So if you influence something, you will have an "affect" on it. To "effect" something is to cause it. So if it's the result of something, it's an "effect." 4. "Me" or "I?" Always use "me" following a preposition, as in: "for me," "with me," "to me," etc. But people can get tripped up when something else is added. They'll say: "for my company and I" or "to my partners and I." Check yourself by leaving out the other element. You'd never say "for I." 5. "I could care less." People say this to be dismissive, but it's incorrect. If you could care less about something, that literally means you care more about it now than you ultimately might! People forget to include the "not" in the phrase. The correct statement is: "I couldn't care less." 6. "Nauseous" or "nauseated?" "Nauseous" refers to something that's sickening to contemplate, but it's not how a person can feel. The correct expression is: "I feel nauseated." 7. Irregardless. This isn't a word. The word is "regardless." 8. The Oxford comma. This is the name for the last comma in a series of three or more items. It appears before the word "and" or "or" at the end of the list. For example: "The shirt comes in Small, Medium, Large, and Extra Large." You can omit the Oxford comma, but there will be times when the sentence won't make sense. Better to always put the Oxford comma in there. 9. Commas for clarity. Always read your copy out loud to see if you need a comma to make the meaning clear. "Let's eat my friend" is not the same invitation as: "Let's eat, my friend." 10. Quotation marks and punctuation. Punctuation belongs inside quotation marks. The best way to make sure your grammar is correct is to check an authoritative source. PR professionals say two of the best are The Elements of Style and the AP Stylebook. Here's to your continued success with grammatically correct online communications, as you keep putting together your best year ever.... Enjoy a great month!

DFW Gains 96,100 Jobs in 12 Months; Gains Over 125,000 Net New Residents

DFW Gains 96,100 Jobs in 12 Months; Gains Over 125,000 Net New Residents

Dallas-Fort Worth appears to be leading the nation’s job growth, according to data released Thursday by the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics.   For the year that ended Oct. 31, Dallas-Fort Worth recorded a job growth rate of 3.1 percent, tops among the 12 largest U.S. metropolitan areas. Houston was No. 2, with a rate was 2.9 percent.  Both D-FW and Houston beat the nation’s job growth of 1.7 percent.  “Dallas and Houston have ranked No. 1 and No. 2 for quite a while, and that’s partly due to the overall health of the state,” said Cheryl Abbot, a Dallas regional economist for the BLS.   Preliminarily, the Dallas-Ft Worth area is expected to once again have a net population growth of over 125,000 people.

-          Dallas Morning News, December 5, 2013

Nationally 6% Growth in Closings, RMDFW Sees 27% Growth

RE/MAX DFW Associates is expected to close approximately 4,700 units for 2013, up from 3,725 units in 2012.  This is over four times the national growth rate in closed sales.

Texas Market has Massive Influx of New Residents

Texas Market has Massive Influx of New Residents

The Texas housing market is reacting to the massive influx of new residents spurred to move to the Lone Star state in search of high-paying energy and professional service jobs, as well as low cost of living.  As more residents move to Texas from other states with higher median home prices, the housing markets in Dallas, Houston and Austin have been bolstered by rising home prices of double-digit year-over-year growth, according to technology-based real estate brokerage firm Redfin's latest report.  About 2.5 million people relocated to Texas between 2008 and 2012 in search of jobs from more costly regions of the nation, the report stated.  In Dallas, the median list price was $192,500 in October, compared with $389,450 on Long Island and $495,000 in Los Angeles, according to the data.

-          Dallas Business Journal, November 28, 2013

Austin Firms Cut Off Zillow and Trulia

Austin Firms Cut Off Zillow and Trulia

Eight more Austin-based real estate brokerages are taking a cue from their local Realtor association and will no longer send their listings to real estate portals not affiliated with a Realtor trade group.  Earlier this month, the Austin Board of Realtors announced that as of April 30, 2014, it would no longer distribute its members’ listings to third-party listing portals through listing syndicator ListHub, citing concerns about unethical business practices and inaccurate listing data on third-party sites. Members would then be free to decide whether to syndicate their listings to third-party sites on their own.  At the time of the board’s announcement, Realty Austin, which claims to be the second-largest residential real estate firm in Austin, announced that it would stop syndicating real estate listings to national third-party websites.  Today, eight additional firms announced they would take the same step and end listing syndication to what they called “real estate advertising portals.” These include Zillow and Trulia, but not realtor.com, the official site of the National Association of Realtors.  The brokerages cited the desire to protect consumers from third-party sites’ inaccurate listing data and lack of oversight, as well as objections to the sites’ ad-based business models, as reasons behind the decision.  “Our 220 agents are excited to regain control over where their listings are advertised online. We turned off our direct feed to all unregulated third-party websites because we believe they cause distrust between consumers and Realtors by posting inaccurate and outdated listing information, ” said Jonathan Boatwright, co-owner of Realty Austin, in a statement.

-    Inman News, October 30, 2013