Sheldon replied:

>> it doesn't look like *either* of you browned the meat thoroughly enough,
>> though I recognize that food photographs can often fall short of
>> depicting that kind of thing.
>
> There's a photo of my meat browned in the pot, it's browned more than
> enough... I don't want carborized.

So the photo was accurate? Then you did *not* brown the meat enough to get
the best flavor. When I was first learning to cook, I made the same rookie
mistake that you made here, and it's not the end of the world, it just means
that your stew could have been better. At any rate *you* liked it well
enough, and since you're the one who has to eat it and it meets your low
standards, that's what matters.


>> I found myself wondering, "Isn't that a dog dish?"
>>
> That's better than your Chicken of the Sea dinnerware I'm sure. That's a
> chili bowl from Williams Sonoma, I think they still sell them in sets of
> six, excellent for keeping food hot... mine are the larger 28 oz size. I
> guess one can use them to feed their dog, why not... actually that's a
> great idea, they are better than dog bowls from pet stores and cost
> less... they're extremely heavy, even a large dog can't push them around.
> Of course my cats eat from much nicer than most people, hand made one of a
> kind originals, museum quality, thrown by a renowned potter in New Mexico,
> each has their name fired on.
>
> http://tinyurl.com/c9gsgt

We seem to be in agreement that the Williams-Sonoma chili bowls look like
dog dishes. I didn't know that there *was* such a thing as Chicken of the
Sea dinnerware. Google turned up this:
http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3077/...e6ae5b26ac.jpg. I don't have
any of those plates, but if I were cooking seafood, I think it would be kind
of nifty to serve it on something like that. Most of my dinnerware is plain
white bistroware, though we do have a set of "harvest" dinnerware for the
holidays. I'm idly considering picking up some Fiestaware this summer, just
to add some extra color to the table.

Bob