It was on Saturday afternoon that I began to crave Beef Stew.

It was raining… slushing, really, here in Rhode Island.

It was cold.  Chills cold.  And a rare Halloween weekend snowstorm was in the forecast for Saturday night into Sunday morning.

Of course I craved Beef Stew!

I grew up with meat.  I came home from school on Fall and Winter days to the aromas of Beef Stew, Chili, Stuffed Peppers and the like simmering in my Mom’s pressure cooker.  My Mom cooked just about everything in that big old pressure cooker of hers… the one with the little glass thing on top that circled, waited, stopped, circled again and let that beautiful steam sneak through with a tantalizing hiss.

You just can’t take those olfactory and auditory memories from this girl.  So don’t even try.

As I got older, I ate meat less frequently… but never gave it up.

And on chilly days, a good pot of Beef Stew wafts me back 5 decades.  Food is wonderful like that.  There’s really nothing quite like the memories in aromas.

So today, I headed to my local Stop & Shop and grabbed myself some Beef Stew ingredients (and a few other fun things)…

I got all of my stew beef, carrots and potatoes for under $16.00.  (I will be feeding a small army with this $16.00 worth of Beef Stew, by the way.  Thanks, Stop & Shop!)

And I set about my work…

A few secret ingredients later…

Well, maybe not that old pressure cooker hissing its little song, but one heckuva stock pot of Beef Stew…

My house smells just like like Rita’s Kitchen, circa 1960 or so.

I’m gonna let that Beef Stew simmer just a bit more and then deliver a great big helping or two to my Mom on this chilly Halloween day.

The rest is up for grabs!

Thanks, Mom, for the beautiful memories.  This Beef Stew craving is one I’ll always cherish…