Winter is coming.

[Outdated]

The days are getting shorter and daylight savings has ended for the year. I’m not a big fan of cold weather but winter brings something else that I love - winter vegetables.

I was never a fan of salads, and if anyone pours anything over it that contains vinegar then the smell is going to turn me away without even tasting it, but I love my vegetables.

One of my favourite and easiest meals is just a simple beef stew but it needs the proper winter vegetables, including turnip and parsnip. That’s easy this time of year, all the supermarkets sell Soup Starter Packs. The idea of these packs is that you’d use these vegetables to make stock and use that stock in all your soups and stews throughout the winter, but I just buy the packs for making stew.

I’m fussy about the meat I buy too, even if it’s one of the cheaper cuts it has to be nice quality grass fed beef. Today I bought 500 grams of rump, and a vegie pack. Throw in a few slices of buttered bread to go with it and I’ve got 4 or 5 days worth of really tasty food for less than $20.

That’s our tiny little Australian dollars too, not big shiny American dollars. Probably about US$14.

 

[Fino]

I thought winter was closer to December!

 

[jsilver256]

I had to remember you were in Australia...

 

[Outdated]

I thought winter was closer to December!

For you, yes. Not for everyone.

We also don't have Fall, it's called Autumn here. None of our trees are deciduous.

 

[Xinyta]

Damn you Game of Thrones! (Not that I've actually watched the series. Just know the 'winter is coming' thing from memes.)

But seriously. It's rather interesting how different it is with seasons in different hemispheres. It's just one of the many wonders of being on this ball of water and dirt.

But I do have to agree. Winter vegetables are great for soups, stews, and what not during the cold season.

I've definitely not seen them packed like that though. Maybe the discount grocery stores near me may have it and I didn't pay attention. Though it's a bunch if one vegetable wrapped together alot of the time. Though the whole supply chain thing is weird so IDK.

 

[Sherlock77]

For you, yes. Not for everyone.

We also don't have Fall, it's called Autumn here. None of our trees are deciduous.

The words Fall and Autumn are both used here, I've heard of Autumn at least

 

[Outdated]

Damn you Game of Thrones! (Not that I've actually watched the series. Just know the 'winter is coming' thing from memes.)

I couldn't watch it because I'd already read the books. The TV show strayed quite a long way from the books, not as badly as Lord of the Rings or The Hobbit but enough that it made it unwatchable for me.

The trouble is that when they started talking about a screenplay he stopped writing the books. Now he's too old and the books will never be finished. A good story completely ruined for me by Hollywood.

 

[jsilver256]

I couldn't watch it because I'd already read the books. The TV show strayed quite a long way from the books, not as badly as Lord of the Rings or The Hobbit but enough that it made it unwatchable for me.

The trouble is that when they started talking about a screenplay he stopped writing the books. Now he's too old and the books will never be finished. A good story completely ruined for me by Hollywood.

I think "A Song of Ice & Fire" series title points to the direction he wanted to take the books in. All about Danys & Jon in the end. How, is up to your imagination.

 

[Au Naturel]

The words Fall and Autumn are both used here, I've heard of Autumn at least

I am waiting for some popular influencer to start calling Spring, "Vernum." I'd go for it.

 

[Thinx]

Yes we love a nice beef stew in winter. But spring is literally dawning here, rather windy and rainy, but definitely rolling in. I'm raising seeds for courgettes, pumpkins, cucamelons and cucumbers, plus varied flowers. Been on the allotment a few times pulling out big thistles etc!

I'm a tad low on energy, got an iron deficiency due to the stomach op last year, but they're infusing me with iron on Friday, so hopefully I will be weeding and planting energetically very soon!

I hope you enjoy your stew, we get veg packs just like that. We grew some good turnips and onions last year, too, and my partners just put in potatoes and onions. We're not good at carrots though! I love winter veg.

 

[marc_101]

@Outdated

I was also born on the other side of seasons, although in my native country there is not much difference between winter and summer.

Stews are yummy.

 

[Mary Terry]

Beef stew sounds delicious. Winter vegetables are my favorites except we can't get decent tomatoes here during winter. Fall and autumn are used interchangeably in the US. I've seen similar vegetable combo packs at US grocery stores, often with the vegetables already chopped up for the consumer's convenience.

I often buy cheaper, tough cuts of meat and usually braise/stew them for a long time to soften them. There are exceptions to the braising technique, though. Last Sunday I made what we call a "Sunday roast" because the cooking was done on Sunday morning while people went to church, and the roast is perfectly cooked then they got home, just in time for the midday meal.

I used a 3 pound eye of round beef roast, patted dry, salted and peppered, and covered with a paste I made of powdered mustard, horseradish, onion powder, parsley, oregano, thyme, garlic, and just enough oil to make it a paste consistency. Preheat oven to 500 degrees F, put the roast FAT SIDE UP in a big cast iron skillet and put it in the oven. Let it cook at 500 degrees for 5 minutes per pound of meat, and then turn off the oven and DO NOT OPEN the oven door for 2 hours. I cooked my 3 pound roast for 15 minutes at 500 degrees before I turned off the oven. After the two hour rest in the oven, I removed the roast to a cutting board and used the juices and drippings in the cast iron skillet to make gravy with beef stock.

We don't eat much meat so a 3 pound roast lasts us forever. Or it feels like forever.

 

[Outdated]

Stews are yummy.

The trick to a good stew is to make stock in the pan first. That means frying everything, the half burnt bits that stick to the pan are your stock. Put some oil in a big saucepan and put it on a really high heat. Start the meat frying first because it takes the longest, and add your herbs and spices once all the moisture is gone from the meat and it's frying properly to bring out all of their flavour.

Then I start adding diced vegetables and they get fried a bit too, once again starting with the hardiest like carrots and turnip. When it starts looking like bits are going to start burning is when I add the water. Cut the heat back to low, put a lid on and let it go for a couple of hours.

 

[Fino]

Well, I just moved from California to Texas. I don't know if that changes anything as far as seasons are concerned. So far, it seems that every day, sometimes every few hours, is a different season. Yesterday, it was hailing and pouring rain. Today, it's hot as heck. What is going on, y'all? (I'm required to say y'all now that I'm a texan.)

 

[Au Naturel]

Well, I just moved from California to Texas. I don't know if that changes anything as far as seasons are concerned. So far, it seems that every day, sometimes every few hours, is a different season. Yesterday, it was hailing and pouring rain. Today, it's hot as heck. What is going on, y'all? (I'm required to say y'all now that I'm a texan.)

You probably have a climate similar to California. Today and yesterday was in the mid-upper 80s F. This weekend is forecast in the mid 50s and rain. Two weeks ago we had snow at 3000 ft. elevation.

 

[Outdated]

So far, it seems that every day, sometimes every few hours, is a different season.

One of our cities has a reputation for that. An old man told me "If you don't like Melbourne's weather, wait for half a day.". I think it was 1987, we had high temperatures in the 40s for a few days, then overnight the temperature started plummeting, the next morning it snowed across the northern suburbs. It was the first time in my life I'd ever seen snow.

 

[Forest Cat]

One of our cities has a reputation for that. An old man told me "If you don't like Melbourne's weather, wait for half a day.

That's the same thing we say about Iceland. If you don't like the weather, wait half an hour.

 

[Princess Viola]

I'm pretty sure the joke about 'if you don't like the weather in x, wait 5 minutes' is something done for every place in every country lol.

 

[Forest Cat]

I'm pretty sure the joke about 'if you don't like the weather in x, wait 5 minutes' is something done for every place in every country lol.

Not sure it would work here, the weather doesn't shift so fast. But in Iceland it works.

 

[Outdated]

I spent 20 years living in a seriously stable weather region, in the tropics. It's hot every day all year around. Some people that have never been to the tropics like to try and tell me the Darwin still has a cool season if not actual winter. In a way they're right but the bit that shocks them is that during that cooler season it still gets up to 32 every day, the only thing that's different is the humidity.

After living up there for 20 years I think I prefer weather that changes from time to time. Nothing too extreme, I'm not keen to see snow ever again. Adelaide suits me fine.