The Adventure Begins

I have unpacked the slow cooker, washed, rinsed, and dried the ceramic insert, assembled the cooker and the ingredients - chicken, sausage, okra, onion, tomatoes, spices - and set it to cook on Low for five hours. (I have no idea whether that is an appropriate time-length, but part of the point of slow-cooking is that an error is less damaging than in regular cookery.)

About an hour and a half has elapsed. In another couple of hours, I'll begin working on the homemade apple pie which, along with the stew and a tossed salad, will constitute this year's Thanksgiving-week feast. Good smells are already emanating from the kitchen.

:rubs hands:

On the First Day

Five hours proved to be a reasonable cook time. I won't say that the stew was delicious, but it was quite good, and I expect it to be better in the days to come.

Unfortunately, I didn't make pie. I forgot that I would need shortening and didn't buy any; the shortening I had in the fridge was two years past its best-if-used-by date. I'll pick some up tomorrow.

So, no pie a la mode; but the a la mode part was still possible. There's a small bowl of vanilla ice cream at my elbow as I type these words.

:rubs belly: