Crisp Air Means Stew Time

This was tonight’s creation. As much as my daughter laughed at this pic and said it looks like dog food (I miss my dog when I cook...at least SHE always appreciated it), if this were a scratch and sniff you’d be drooling. It was so damned good I ate 2 bowls. There’s something about the weather getting colder that screams “new furnace filters” and “beef stew”.

I love cooking, always have (since I was 12). I used to look after my little brother while Dad was away fishing and mom was at work and I’d make “menus” with the evening’s selections. Real good stuff - mac & cheese, grilled cheese, cheese and crackers, cheese. I’ve grown a little since then.

My father is a cook. I’ve been spoiled my entire life and, to this day, he still delivers entire hot meals to my door after work so I don’t have to slave over a hot stove. He grows his own organic fruits and veggies, smokes fish and pickles beets, makes homemade cabbage rolls and pies, etc. Having a fisherman in the family (whose friends are all fishermen) means a never ending supply of fresh off the boat seafood - everything from halibut and salmon to oysters, crabs and prawns (and my kids won’t eat ANY of it - they hate seafood...d’oh). The rest of Dad’s friends are farmers...need I say more? I’m just starting to really appreciate what this means. Growing up in Steveston meant little local farm markets scattered all over the place and seafood was a given - we lived in a bustling little fishing village. We never gave the fresh produce/seafood a second thought - it was just always readily available. But that was then and this is now - times have really changed in the town that’s now a city. I’m very fortunate to have these things and, with Thanksgiving coming, I guess I have a lot to be thankful for.

Dad’s have been big shoes to fill in the kitchen but, in watching him (and the cooking network) over the years, I must admit I’ve been known to fix some pretty satisfying meals myself. My kids think I’m the best cook that ever lived (as does my ex - there are two things that he says he misses about me and my cooking’s one of them. My big mouth is not the other. I’ll let you figure out what it is).

Now, keep in mind I AM trying to wean myself off chewing on cow’s (and their friends) - if I had my way it would be a meatless stew - I like onions, garlic, celery, peppers, (especially) parsnips, potatoes, tomatoes, fresh corn, cabbage, mushrooms, parsley, carrots...pretty much every veggie but the kitchen sink. But my kids won’t buy in yet so I’m slowly cutting back on the meat portions. Soon there’ll be one little cube of stewing beef in the entire pot - they can fight over it. Or we’ll play a new game called “meat, meat, who’s got the meat?”.