Maybe I'm just getting old, but more and more often lately my favorite date night with my husband is one where we stay in, open a bottle of wine with some cheese, and watch whatever we have been DVRing  Some of our favorites are Elementary, Sherlock (notice a trend there), Person of Interest, and Game of Thrones.

I know, it's August, but it must be cooling off somewhere.  I'm starting to think about back to school, which always includes sweaters and football, even though I never watch it anymore, and soon the holidays will be here.  Oh and rain.  I miss rain.  So in that crazy, maybe it will cool off soon hopefulness that I'm full of right now, here's how I make clam chowder.  I have to admit that I'm the worst with creating recipes for things I just do.  This probably started off with me using a recipe when I started making it years ago.  Now I just put in what I feel.  Sometimes I use carrots, sometimes I don't.  This time I went a little heavy on the vegetables, and the family kind of revolted.  They like for it to be mostly white with little glimpses of green celery.  They felt this was way too heavy on carrots.

So first, I chop all the vegetables.

Once those are chopped, I brown in butter starting with the onions then adding the celery and carrots.  I let them brown for about 5 minutes.  When those are in the pot (notice how battle scarred my pot is), I add the seasoning.  The only spice I've been using lately is thyme with sea salt and freshly ground pepper.




I know that looks like a lot of salt, but I'm going to be adding a lot of potatoes.

After I add the potatoes, I let them cook for about 5 minutes then add the stock.  Now lately I've been using clam juice.  Some people think that's gross and just use water or even chicken stock.  Since I use canned clams, I think that the clam juice helps with the flavor.  In an attempt to have at least one measurement, I poured them into a measuring cup, and it's official.  Four jars of clam juice is four cups of liquid.

For the roux, melt the butter and add the flour whisking constantly.  It will bubble up and turn light golden brown.  I turn the soup back up to a boil while I'm making the roux.


Once you combine the roux into the soup, it should start to seize up and thicken immediately.


It will thin out as soon as you add the cream.  Most of the time I use whole milk, but sometimes I'll splurge for some half and half.  I don't measure how much I put it but look at how far down the level is in the pot above and then where it is in the pot below.  I add as much as it takes to actually thin the chowder back down quite a bit because as the milk warms it's going to continue to thicken.


I personally don't think there were too many carrots, but since you can see them, some people think there were too many.

Have I mentioned that I'm at the beginning of a 14-day weight loss challenge.  I'm at the end of day 3, and starting to think about all of the things I want to eat.  The first two days were pretty easy, but now, I'm starting to miss things


Most weeks, the husband and I escape er, em, get away for a few hours alone together midweek and go  somewhere for Happy Hour or a quick bite.  We tend to love snacks, and being able to sit with a glass of wine and discuss the day is something that's really special to us.

One of our favorite places to hang out is Vertical Wine Bistro in Old Town.  I think they have the best cheese service in town, and that's a big draw for me.


I'm really missing our mini date this week.  11 days and counting.

Do you eat oysters in months with no R?  Or is it don't eat them in months with an R?  I think I was taught not to eat them during warm summer months, but that seems like the best time to sit down with a chilled platter and a cold glass of white wine.  I know some people don't like wine with oysters, but I love the combination of the salty oyster spiced up with horseradish followed by the cool, sweet wine.  Great...maybe it's not too late to change our dinner reservation.