Soup and a Snowman

Aaaaaaaah, yes. Guinness Beef Stew on a cold and snowy winter day. You can't get much better than that. I used this recipe, and stuck to it more or less except for the following: In step two, where you cook the vegetables, I used onions and carrots as suggested, but added mushrooms too, because we are a mushroom family. Also, I didn't add in the potatoes with the other vegetables because I thought they would get overcooked and mushy, so I just threw them in the pot about 25 minutes before I planned to serve the stew. (I used Yukon Gold instead of Russet just because I like them better in stew). It was really good, and I don't usually like beef stew all that much. The meat was really tender. I think the lady who published the recipe was right about using the Guinness and the wine (I used Coppola Claret)...very tasty. Anyway, this stew is kind of time consuming. I started on it at about 3:30 and we ate at 6:30. There is just a lot of washing and peeling and chopping and stirring. So, make it on a Sunday when you have some time to spend in the kitchen. Good stuff. I think I'll turn the leftovers into pot pies tomorrow night.


While I was making stew, Kev and Daphne were hard at work on the world's smallest snowman. I wish I could have joined them. I think Kev did all the work while his helper ate snow. She must think the world is covered with ice cream when it snows or something. I keep telling her it's just water, but she won't listen to me. She just scoops up handfuls and licks it off her gloves. Yuck. I gave up trying to stop her. Anyway, the snowman is still out there this morning, although he has lost his carrot nose. I should try to find him a tiny flag in honor of inauguration day.

Speaking of which, is it unpatriotic of me to ask who is paying for all these inauguration festivities? Just curious.

Unrelated: They are re-making the Electric Company. Not sure how I feel about that.

And one more thing: Add to my Texas list

• Watch the Mavericks.

That is all for now.