use real butter

Feels like fall and I welcome it! Evenings down near freezing and daytime highs around 60-70. I like making large pots of soup or stews that last for several days. Today I finally made myself cook up a batch of beef stew. What I love about beef stew is that you use the cheap cuts of meat and slow cook them until they are falling apart. Cheap cuts like chuck or rump are tough, but have the best flavor and are ideal for slow cooking. The tender cuts like tenderloin or ribeye are far better for dry heat – great texture, but not the best in flavor per se.

**Jump for more butter**

I used that baseball bat of a zucchini to make zucchini bread. We took a loaf over to our neighbors, Tom and Kellie. They gave us info on a new ISP which we’ll probably try.

And for Kell. We had turkey burgers for dinner tonight and I almost went to buy a package of bacon just so I could drop two (okay – THREE!) slices on my burger. But… I didna. I topped it with swiss and some heirloom tomato slices from my girlfriend’s garden. Yes, Jaime grew her first garden this year and managed to produce some beautiful heirloom tomatoes. Love that. Especially since her tomatoes are free, and the ones from Whole Foods are $7 a pound.

I am going nuts. I think my pattern is that I can work on my thesis steadily for 4 days straight and maintain a good level of productivity, but after that things go downhill unless I take a break – as in goto work at my real job. I may discuss with my boss and prez the possibility of working part-time in August as well. And I guess this is important enough that if it’s not okay, I’ll just quit. Wow, what a great feeling that would be.

Good lord, I need to work out.

Decompression activity last night was to roast a chicken. It’s easy to do and muy rewarding. Takes no more than 15 minutes of prep and then you roast for an hour and voilà!