Beef stew

The beef stew was off the hook awesome last night, definitely the best I've ever made. I riffed on this recipe from epicurious, subbing a large leek and pearl onions for the regular onion, NOT disposing of all the good, super-flavorful solids at the end (like the awesome carrots), and making roast potatoes for the side. Perfectly roasted asparagus rounded everything out.

Neat find in nature

The boys are really enjoying their playhouse but have decided that the mailbox be used as a repository for left-behind cicada skins rather than mail to each other. We went on a walk this afternoon to find more and found a real trove across the street. On the way home, we found the coolest thing: a cicada had just finished molting and was still hanging onto his former exoskeleton. Check this out!

Coconut macaroons, beef stew

Tom's parents hadn't seen the boys in a few weeks so invited them over for the afternoon. Everyone was excited, and I've gotten a lot of cooking done including a double batch of scones and a dozen and a half cherry-almond-coconut macaroons to put in the freezer.  Presently, the most incredible smelling beef stew is bubbling away in my Staub. God, it smells to the nines in here. As you might have surmised from my post this morning, I've been in an autumnal kinda mood all day and finally decided to just go with it even though by any definition, it is still decidedly summer here. Whatever! The stew will be marvelous tonight. I hate fruit flies. They are a scourge, as are mosquitoes.