Beef Stew

I decided to cook tonight, so I started plundering about, made a quick trip to the store, picked up some essentials, then called Milady and gave her a choice of three menus.  She picked beef stew.  Nothing to it, easy-peasy.  Stews are simple, they're basically meat and veggies boiled in gravy.

I found some little steaks in the freezer that I was afraid might freezer-burn, so I cut them up, browned them in a little oil, then took them out of the oil, added flour and made a roux.  After making the gravy, returned my meat and carrots to the pot.  They're simmering as we speak.  In another half hour I'll drop the potatoes that I've already peeled and chopped into the pot.  Let them simmer for another hour.  When Milady gets home I'll make a pot of rice.

This is the weirdest storm I've ever been through.  It seems that it's picking up a lot of dry air from the north and pulling it into the rotation, effectively killing the rain on the west side of the storm.  The center is somewhere over the Atchafalaya basin, southeast of Baton Rouge.

PawPaw is in the center of the state and we're just starting to get a little rain, coming from the Northeast.  It's  a fine, steady rain with wind gusting to 20 mph.  Not bad at all.  The wind is supposed to pick up tonight with gusts to 50 or 60 mph.  Obviously as I'm posting to the intertubes, I've still got electricity.  And air conditioning, and all the comforts of home.

In another hour I'll be eating beef stew and watching the weather deteriorate.  Who knows, I might even decide to cocktail?