The End of an Era

Good morning!

Yesterday, since it rained and rained and kept on raining, I had lots of time to check out this lovely online magazine.

I usually have mixed feelings about online things – books, magazines, Kindle. I like having paper to hold, underline or tear out so I can look back at it later. But this online magazine might have me crossing over to the dark side. Or the pretty, cosy, holiday side, as the case may be.

This one is just so lovely and I loved being able to click on the links for products and see what else the designers might have come up with. I’m trying not to dive head first into Christmas, but it’s getting tougher now that Halloween’s over and there’s no Thanksgiving over here!

Just roll your mouse over the image below and you’ll be able to click to view it full screen. (Or click here)

http://static.issuu.com/webembed/viewers/style1/v1/IssuuViewer.swf?mode=embed&documentId=101101135100-5f73d06310684c31a28dd2ddda33c58f&documentUsername=creaturecomforts&documentName=gifted_magazine&layout=http%3A%2F%2Fskin.issuu.com%2Fv%2Flight%2Flayout.xml&showFlipBtn=true

So what do you think of online magazines and books? Anyone have a good site for saving online snippets? I’ve started using Tumblr, but I don’t think I’ve quite got the hang of it yet.

In other news, I’ve got a confession to make. I made stew last night, but I kind of wung it (that’s the past tense of winging it, which was and is my mom’s specialty). I got home from work and looked at the recipe, but it just felt a little fussy. So here’s what I did instead. It was great, not too thick and heavy, with loads of vegetables. And as I write this, I think I’m still full.

We’ll call this new creation Bayside Beef Stew

Ingredients:
500 gram package of diced beef
2 chopped onions
4 chopped carrots (big ones)
3 chopped celery stalks
1 cup peas (I used petit pois, the teeny ones)
1 package button mushrooms
2 cups red wine (you could probably use a mixture of water and wine if 2 cups seems like a lot to you)
1 tsp dried thyme
1/2 tsp salt
1/2 tsp ground pepper
1/4 cup water
1 heaping tbsp flour

I used the biggest pot I have, turned up the heat to medium/high, and added in the package of beef and about 1/3 of the onions and carrots. I let this cook until the beef was brown all around. I didn’t even use olive oil or anything – the beef’s juices kept everything from burning to the bottom of the pot.

After the beef was all brown, I added the 2 cups of wine (just cabernet sauvignon I had open), the thyme, pepper and salt. I turned down the heat to a simmer and let it cook for about an hour. After about an hour, I added the rest of the carrots and onions, and the celery. I let that simmer for about another half hour.

Finally, I mixed the flour and the water together, then poured that in. And I added the mushrooms and the peas (still frozen!), and as soon as the mushrooms are cooked and the peas are no longer frozen, it’s done!

When I write it all down like that it seems like it will take a while. But really, it’s one of those recipes you can walk away, do some laundry, work out, or put away all the size 14 sneakers laying around, and then come back, add a few things and walk away again.

I nuked a few baby potatoes (they’re my favorites because they don’t come in a giant bag that grows eyes way before we’re through with it), and served the stew over those with a little creme fraiche (sour cream will work). Very yum, I had thirds.