Stew in the summer, that's crazy...crazy delicious!!

made some beefy beef stew last night.  Rock!  It was pretty delicious.  Probably one of my favorites.  I was actually going to start out making it like beef burgundy but used ale instead of wine.  I actually think I might like it better this way.  I have also recently ditched using roux in stews/soups and gone with sprinkling flour over the aromatics while they saute.  It seems to work just as well, for the most part, and sometimes it seems like the flour/butter taste never cooks all the way out when using a roux.  If I am going to eat beef, I want it to be super beefy, dig it?  speaking of beef, chuck roast is the way to go on stews.  the meat to fat ratio is perfect and it is just a very flavorful cut of meat.  The chunk of bread you see there is the pain de campagne from the other day.  If you have never been to where I work (Le Quartier Baking Co.), you really need to check it out.  We make awesome bread without preservatives and all that crap, just flour, water, yeast, salt, and in some cases, (ciabatta) olive oil.  We are the best bakery in the state, for sure, nobody in lincoln/ omaha can do what we do...amateurs.  anyway, I am proud of where I work, and that's that.

My tiny garden is doing pretty well, I am actually going to go pick some beans here pretty soon and am starting to get quite a few tomatoes.  Also, I am thinking about making some red chile (as in sauce, think "enchilada sauce") this afternoon.  My mom gave me a giant bag of dried new mexico peppers I need to do something with.

Got some new pedals and straps for my commuter bike, pretty excited.  Hopefully I can figure out how to put them together (I'm somewaht mechanically challenged/half retarded).  should be just like riding clipless, super fast. Amy has been taking the food photos, I think that they have been turning out pretty good for just using a little digicam. Speaking of wife, she recently was awarded employee of the month at the design firm she works at in omaha that has over 900 employees!  what does that mean?  well, 50 clam gift certificate to use at the movies and primo parking for the next month...OH SNAP!