Cooking in the Fishbowl

Yep, it's November in the Northwest. I made "Tired Vegetable & Chicken Soup" yesterday. Actually managed to keep it simple. Was a great excuse to use up some things that were past their best-by date, but still perfectly edible. I really need to do that more often. I woke up today thinking about Beef Stroganoff. Recently, I've been thinking of other comfort foods--Shepherd's Pie, Coq au Vin, Beef Bourguignon. And, dammit, I'm going to figure out how to make something like the tuna & broccoli dish I remember from eons ago. But, back to the stroganoff. Because it turned out how I wanted it. And, if I do say so myself, way better than the Alehouse's rendition a couple weeks ago.  This was also an exercise in using up things that were languishing. A frozen steak, a decidedly not-fresh bottle of beer, some wilting green onions, the last few cloves of garlic, sour cream approaching it's use-by date. Had to buy some mushrooms and a package of egg noodl...

11/5/23:  Apparently never hit Publish on this one...and it was an oddly busy summer... I knew when I moved back to the Northwest that I was trading the dry, sunny Paso skies for plenty of liquid sunshine and grey. My coping tactic has been what most Seattleites do…when the sun comes out, you go outside. And if it’s not sunny, you still “get out there”.  But, man, this lack of Spring has been tough. We’ve finally turned the corner to warmer temps, but the highs are still abnormally low, and the rainfall abnormally high. Summer starts July 5th, right? Right?!? As I try to break out of hibernation mode, I’ve been craving both comfort food and summer flavors. Mom & I had lunch at Duke’s on Lake Union recently, and their recipe of the day was a corn chowder. Just the ticket as early fresh corn hits the market.  I didn’t follow their recipe. It had chicken, which seemed unnecessary. I looked at a few recipes, and proceeded to do my own thing. Big surprise. Ingredients 2 fr...