I’m Stew. It’s been four hours since my last experiment.

Hello! I’m Stew. Welcome to my new  blog.

I’m an an experimenter. It’s in my nature. I am almost NEVER bored.  I love to cook. I love to learn things hands on. I get big ideas and try to bring them to fruition with the things I’ve got around the house.

Some examples:

• I have several things hanging on my walls that I made myself, some of which include a discarded farmhouse window and the results of last fall’s photography spree.
• I get the “stink eye” from my husband and children frequently during deer season when I try to do something “different” with the venison.
• I got accolades for the best green beans EVER  – an experiment that went so right people questioned whether or not I’d made a deal with a culinary demon in trade for my soul.
• People give me “junk” because they think I might be able to do something with it.  In fact, if you continue to read this blog you’ll witness the results, for better or worse, of me turning an old transom stained-glass window into something artsy for my stairwell. My sister insists that if it turns out well I should give her the window back as a Christmas present. How subtle. “here’s my junk. If you make it worth something and it’s pretty I want it back as a gift.” 🙂 hhmmm…we’ll see about that.
• This past summer I spent more hours unraveling my bird’s nest in the bait caster than I spent casting the bait caster.
• I’ve written no less than 25 versions of a query letter for my second novel (all failed experiments) and been rejected over 60 times. My newest version will be the winner.  I swear!
• I even experiment with novels. http://trishkevin.wordpress.com is my collaborative blog novel with Kevin Craig.

This blog is about all of that and probably more. Life is an experiment, or rather a series of them. These are mine.

It’s been 4 hours since my last experiment. Happily, it was a success. Though, if you ask my children, who are still trying to eat it, they might disagree.

My mother has a fantastic recipe for potato cheese soup. I used the recipe for a dinner party a bazillion years ago and it was a success and I always intended on making it again. I just never did.

So today, I felt the pull to the kitchen. “Cook something!”  My mind wanders to the cheese soup. I don’t go for the recipe book, I go for the ground beef. (I know, right?)

In a matter of minutes I had butter, onion, carrots, and celery going in a separate pot from the ground beef I had browning in the skillet.  I added chicken broth and flour to the veggies, then made the phone call.

“Honey, while you’re in town can you get me some more chicken broth and some Velveeta?”

“What are you doing?”

The suspicion in his voice nearly offended me, but so certain  my experiment was a winner, I told him as confidently as I could, “I’m making something to eat” (in times past, whether or not the kitchen experiment was edible was in question).

I peeled and diced some potatoes, tossed them in the broth. I added cheese. Lots. o’. cheese. Then the ground beef.

The experiment went right on the first try! I’ve had two bowls. Mr. Stew has had two bowls. I have to make this again. I have to pray I remember how. The kids…well.  Not so much a winner for them. It’s been one of those “Finish your dinner; if you’re hungry later, I’m putting this bowl back in front of you” nights.

Maybe I used too much onion.

I assumed that on this blog that I would be able to categorize these things as “Winz” and “Failz”.  Apparently some things are subjective. Categorize cheeseburger soup in that category.

Stay tuned. More experiments on the way. It’s such a beautiful night, I may attempt the baitcaster again.