ness

You guys were oversimplifying it

Don't think that had been said, but we were figuring there was some Walton $$$ behind them since they're registered in Waltonville. Not a hobby for regular guys

So, way back in the 60's my mom found a recipe called 'Company Beef Stew' in one of those women's group cookbooks where a bunch of ladies combine their recipes into a cookbook to sell as a fund raiser. It was a favorite in my family growing up, and I've made it over the years because it's still good, and because I'm a sentimental dude. It's the opposite of 'farm fresh', so it's kinda out of style these days, but it still works for me. Everything is out of a can except the meat and the carrots. And it uses....better sit down...cooking wine (shudder) contrary to every single TV chef's recommendation. When mom starting making it, it was done in a big roasting pan in a low oven all day. Then Rival came up with this thing called a Crock Pot© and she switched over to that modern miracle. The way we make it is just dump everything in the Crock Pot© -- no browning, fond, umami, heirlooms. There are some unusual ingredients that I've never felt the need to leave out, so it just plods along the same way it did in 1969. You can Google 'Company Beef Stew' and still find the exact recipe my mom used, but most of them are modernized or changed in some way. (The original recipe called for pearl onions and whole canned tomatoes. We kids poo-pooed the onions so she started leaving them out. We picked out the tomatoes, but she left them in. I took the liberty of changing it to diced tomatoes along the way, but my kids still picked them out). Now, my sister, not being one to just freakin' leave things alone, still makes some version of this but has tarted it up and renamed it 'French Stew'. Well, la-tee-da! To me it's always gonna be 'Mom's Beef Stew'. Here it is: Mom's Beef Stew 2-3 lbs beef in one-inch cubes 3-4 large carrots 1 can tomatoes and juice 1 can LeSueur brand peas, drained 2 cans whole potatoes, drained 1 can green beans, drained 1 can consommé 3/4 cup wine 2 teaspoon tapioca 1 tablespoon brown sugar ½ cup bread crumbs 2 bay leaves 1 teaspoon salt Pepper Place meat in Crock Pot. Add remaining ingredients on top. Cook on low for 12 hours. Eat with reverence. Had this put together in less than five minutes this morning. I peeled and cut the carrots last night, and had it all set out and ready to go. House will smell great when I get in tonight.

That's just crazy enough that it might work!

Thanks for that -- I couldn't remember the name of those things.

Heat from sunlight during the day is absorbed by the soil and the plant. Covering them provides insulation and slows the release of that heat. Also, since the covering restricts the amount of moisture-carrying air near the plant, there is less moisture available to condense into dew/frost on to the cold plant that can ultimately cause cellular damage. Billethead's frames are like miniature greenhouses that trap even more heat during the day and the straw works as a super insulation to help keep it warm in there. I've done something similar but simpler with hoops and plastic. It's pretty fun and amazing getting vegetables into December, or an early jump in the spring. But I didn't do that this year, and I kinda miss it. Sniffle.

Well, I lost an uncle in Italy in WWII. My mom came from a big Catholic family and he was the oldest. They never talked about him except to say what a great guy he was. The 'Greatest Generation' is certainly accurate.

Haven't decided what I'll do for dinner tonight, but here's what it WON'T be: or this:

A couple years ago I sat down at Taco Bell for lunch next to a guy wearing a Veteran WWII hat. I struck up a conversation and it turns out he went into Normandy on D-Day. He was one of the engineers that had the long poles with explosives on the end that blew up the barbed wire. He said he fought at the Bulge, then went on into Germany and was in it until the end. I was just in awe of this guy eating at Taco Bell. Growing up, three doors down, there was a dad of a kid my age who had been at the Bulge. We just never talked about it with him. It was just Kevin's dad, it was just the war, and we'd since been to Korea and were then in Vietnam.

Lunch today

If you plant it, they will come. Looks like a fine garden. Mine is fallow this fall.

Boy, those were the good old days

Love that story! But I sure don't see wine, especially in the AM.

Swiped from Facebook.

In my experience, those guys just didn't talk too much about it. I had two uncles (actually my dad's first cousins, whatever that makes them to me) who were pilots in WWII. One flew reconnaissance in a P-38, not sure what the other flew. My dad was in a MASH unit in Korea. In my 40s I sat my dad down and interviewed him and recorded it. Tons of stuff I never knew.

Leftovers.

I thought I was too

I've done that too. Fry some slices, same condiments. This was eaten like a porridge, but it can be dried and fried.

From a few days back--corn meal mush. Anybody ever have this? I just don't hear about it anymore, but my dad loved it and I do too. Cornmeal, water, salt, cook it and keep stirring. Add a little butter and some real maple syrup.

Some good looking/sounding stuff here lately. Tonight I sliced up a chicken breast, dusted pieces in flour and sautéed in a little oil. Set aside and added mushrooms to the mostly dry pan. When they'd gotten golden I removed them and added a bunch of sherry and some marjoram. Reduced and added a slurry of flour and water to thicken it up a bit, then some milk and added back the chicken and 'shrooms. Served over basmati rice with some steamed broccoli.

Lately I've been using Montreal steak seasoning. Put it on a couple hours beforehand. Love to do it in cast iron and finish in the oven, but I'm laying low after the visit from the fire department a few months back. Outside on the gas grill is good too. I'll add a sliver of butter after the fact. I've done compound butter in the past with tarragon, or just parsley, but don't seem to get around to it lately.

I'm starting to wonder. I was out on the golf course last fall and a family of skunks came ambling towards me. All bunched up close together and kinda cute, and cool to see... But, they just kept coming towards me. What the heck? I stopped, thinking they'd see me and change course, but they kept coming. Just when I was about to throw my clubs down and skidaddle, they dove down into a culvert.

Bump. Hunted NW MO last Saturday for quail mostly. There are still a few pheasants around, but not on the ground I was hunting -- just not that kinda ground. Hunted a bunch of tree lines and didn't move a bird. A couple hours in my 3-year old Brittany Ruby locked onto a point in some grass near a brush pile. I gotta say she looked pretty good. Dang -- where's the photographer from Pointing Dog Journal when you need him?? I started walking up to her and a rabbit scooted out of the grass to her right, but she didn't move a muscle. I chuckled to myself, sure that's what she was locked onto. But she stayed rock-solid, so I walked up and kicked the grass all around her. Nothing. I figure it's time to go and try to call her off, but she's not gonna budge. Wow, maybe there is something in there I missed. Is the training paying off?? I circled around behind her and see shes looking down into the ravine with the brush pile over it. I finally get in the right position and.... ....there's a friggin' skunk down in there, about 15 feet away and down about 5 feet. I yelled at the top of my lungs, but the highly-trained skunk dog would not break the point. I fired my gun in the air (steady to shot and all that) -- nothin'. I fired again and that finally broke her trance and trotted over to me, looking kinda dejected. Not sure what skunk-quirt protocol is, but I feel pretty darn lucky we both didn't get misted. Dang I hate skunks.

Good point

First picture has been edited -- highlights and contrast at least, probably saturation too. Taken in better light, as it's overcast. Second is right out of the camera with the sun behind. Could be improved, but started as a fairly bad picture. Some would say the fish and hands in the first look like they came from somewhere else...