Domestication, in progress

Three items of interest to home-bodies:

1. Tonight I made a favorite recipe of mine, Black bean and Beef Stew. This time, instead of using two pounds of ground beef, I used a little more than a pound of cut-up steak which I floured and browned, and made up the difference in meat bulk with thinly-sliced andouille sausage. And, to go with it, I made a loaf of beer bread, from the recipe in Emeril Lagasse's newest cookbook. (Yeah, I love Emeril. Deal with it. BAM!)

2. John Scalzi links the perfect recipe for roasted chicken. I'd try it, but I'm lazy: when I get a hankering for roasted chicken, I buy one for $4.99 at The Store. (But they're not organic. Oh well. Shoot my food up with chemicals, says I.) But there is a whole chicken in my freezer, so maybe I'll give this a shot.

3. I don't usually think of Snopes.com as a resource for home-ec type stuff, but this tip is right on: removing the layer of lint from the dryer's lint-trap isn't enough. You actually need to wash the thing.

OK, enough for now. I need to go hammer up some drywall or something.