The Joys of Cooking....removing sap, a bit of nature and a new book.

Browsing through cookbooks and trying new recipes help to keep me enthusiastic about cooking.
Cocooning inside The Humble Bungalow on a blustery day making a hearty stew feels so good.
Harvesting and eating root vegetables seem to go hand in hand with the shorter daylight hours and cooler weather.

The colours of yams, parsnips, turnips and carrots remind me of autumn...

Our family have been enjoying "Little Stew" for years.

It is a simple meal of ground beef and vegetables made with a rich gravy.

It simmers in the large Le Creuset dutch oven for hours and is just as tasty the next day.

Little Stew

Saute a large diced onion until soft.

Add ground beef and brown.

Make a "gravy" with a bouillon cube or beef stock and pour over cooked beef.

Add vegetables, any that you like.

I used carrots, potatoes, and peas.

Season with salt and pepper.

Simmer for several hours.

I served it with some home made bread.

Our large Le Creuset gets used most days.

It's a heavy Dutch oven that can go into or on top of the oven.

I feel like I get a workout merely lifting it in and out of the cupboard!

This Ulster Weavers linen tea towel is new from The Irish Linen Shop on Government Street.

I liked the whimsy of the lone black sheep.

I bought some new linens from them when I walked by 

after the Veteran's Day Ceremony at the Legislative Buildings.

Speaking of new things...

I found a new ~ to ~ me platter.

It is enormous and will be fabulous for the turkey dinner at Christmas.

I love the oak leaf and acorn detail on the edges.

In the "Oak Bay Style" 

I grew up in Oak Bay and went to both Oak Bay Junior and Oak Bay Senior High Schools.

(many moons ago)

I plan to go to out and gather up a bunch more cones to decorate this platter.

I read recently that cones are considered "autumn roses."

I got the cones but ended up getting some sticky sap on my coat!

Grrr..."How to remove sap?" 

I entered this line into a google search and to my relief the results were "hand sanitizer removes sap."

It worked and was so easy, no damage to my coat either!

Reading another book by Linda Grant and loving her writing...

a former English literature professor who spent time lecturing at Simon Fraser University in BC during the 1970's.

I've been shopping for some new core wardrobe pieces and will share them with you later in the week.

~ ~ ~

“Her pleasure in the walk must arise from the exercise and the day, from the view of the last smiles of the year upon the tawny leaves and withered hedges, and from repeating to herself some few of the thousand poetical descriptions extant of autumn--that season of peculiar and inexhaustible influence on the mind of taste and tenderness--that season which has drawn from every poet worthy of being read some attempt at description, or some lines of feeling.” 

~ Jane Austen ~

 Persuasion