Dropping temperatures around the Texas Coast this week have ushered in the return of several cold weather traditions.

The power lines are filled with hundreds of migrating birds each evening looking for a place to rest up for the night.

Locals are dressed like they are ready to catch a ski lift in their puffy jackets and fuzzy boots.

And I have a never ending craving for chili.

Now, in fairness around this part of Texas I am sure there are people for whom chili is an every week kind of meal.

After all, with so many chili cook offs to enter one would need to spend the entire year perfecting the recipe prior to the start of competition season.

And with the start of various hunting seasons there are all sorts of exotic meat beyond cow that people can put in their Texas chili.

More power to those who have the year round urge for chili but for me the urge to eat chili coincides with falling leaves and falling temperatures.

Of course I can eat a chili dog or chili cheese fries year round but to sit down with an actual bowl of chili as the main course takes temperatures below 60 degrees.

Over the past few weeks I have sampled chili of all shapes and sizes but much like Goldilocks and her porridge I have not really found one that has been just right.

Growing up my mom made a certain chili which much like her special birthday meatloaf just always tasted good.

Add the fact that the chili was always served in bowls that had gold leaf accents, and it truly was a meal fit for a king.

A few weeks back I went over to my parents