Episode Description
How about a nice hot bowl of stew?
Stew means a lot to me, and I'll bet most of you like a good bowl of beef stew, or chili, or goulash. Or maybe some ratatouille? How about some good Belgian waterzooi, or a Polish bigos, or a plate of Thai curry?
A bowl of grits and étouffée at the Elk Creek Café set this episode off, which is why I interviewed Elk Creek chef Jon Forshey about what stew is, and some tips on making better stew, and an added bonus, his memories of his grandmother, "the patron saint of Poverty Hollow." That's where Jon learned to cook, and we'll talk about that, too.
I'll tell you about my own stew journey, how learning to make a good stew really taught me how to cook, and fired me up to learn more. One of the things I learned about was bay leaves, and I'll use my first podcast sidebar to tell you about them. Bay leaves are more interesting and versatile than I realized, used in cooking from Baltimore to Baton Rouge, Germany, Delhi, Manila, and back to the Bay Area!
Then I'll walk you through making my own birthday dinner, a nice pot of Carbonnade Flamande, a Belgian beef stew made with onions and beer, and about the State College pub crawl Cathy and I did while it was simmering at home.
What I'm Drinking Today is one of the beers I used in the Carbonnade, Ommegang Abbey Dubbel, a rich, spicy old friend from back in the early days of craft beer.
The Smack Dab In The Centre segment is about the new 2026 Happy Valley Inspiration Guide, tons of great things to do in Centre County.
Next episode might be about Kane, PA, if I can get the interview scheduled in time; the person I'm interviewing has a very busy schedule, but they're the right person for the job. If not, there are other STAG irons in the fire!
See you in two weeks!
Until then?
TELL YOUR FRIENDS ABOUT THE PODCAST!
Seen Through A Glass is sponsored by the Happy Valley Adventure Bureau. Come visit Centre County!
This episode uses these sounds under the following license:
Creative Commons CC BY 4.0 https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/
"Champ de tournesol" by Komiku at https://www.chosic.com/free-music/all/
"Snare Roll" FX by freesound_community on Pixabay (https://pixabay.com/users/freesound_community-46691455/)
arrow-impact-87260 Sound Effect found on Pixabay (https://pixabay.com)
All sounds sourced by STAG Music Librarian Nora Bryson, with our thanks.