So October 24 came and went and no terrine. I had bought all the ingredients, picked out a recipe for something that was at least layered (a ragu and polenta "terrine," layered then baked and served hot). But crises at work, the arrival of my parents for a visit then Todd's, and the exhaustion of late pregnancy foiled me.

My dad made "chili soup" out of the ingredients that would spoil. I guess to a lot of people "chili" is not really a type of soup, more of a stew (which I would also considered a type of soup). The chili soup I had growing up always had onions and peppers, ground beef, kidney beans, spices and a lot of tomato juice to make it soupy. Even now my dad had to improvise and add a couple serving-size cans of V8 to the whole tomatoes in juice I had him break into the chili.