I climbed up to the top shelf of the cupboard, and found a big plastic storage bag that has 4 12-oz. bags of chocolate chips. They've gotta be a dozen years old, because it was my mother that bought 'em, and the last time she went grocery shopping was in '96, maybe. She's been dead for 5 years, and home-bound for 5 years before that. They look ok, but is there ANY chance that they could be ok to use?

I threw out several old bottles of liquid flavorings (one was peppermint), and now the whole house smells of it. Unfortunate association with that smell, however. When I was a kid, the doctor would concoct a batch of paregoric (that's opium, for the younger crowd) medicine and flavor it with peppermint. So that's all I can think of is being sick with stomach "flu" and taking that chalky awful stuff. And it's too cold to open the windows.

About the recipe, the Mexicorn just adds some red & green peppers. I don't usually keep peppers on had, so this is convenient.