The guests at the party hit the charcuterie hard, but the crudites not so much. When we sorted the debris after the folks had departed, we had a big bag of celery sticks too good to throw out. Annette went into research mode and came up with recipe for celery stew. I have great confidence in her culinary judgment, but celery stew? I shouldn't have worried.

Braised celery is a venerable dish, and essentially that’s what this was. Warm, soft, and flavorful, the celery was no longer a workout for the jaw and was actually closer to comfort food.

Slowly cooked with onion and tomato It made a delicious supper. The recipe Annette found on the web called for pancetta, but being out of that, she substituted bacon. She garnished it with a fried egg, the yolk of which ran down into the mixture like a sauce.

This method is a good use of a bunch of celery that is showing its age. What does it matter if you have a bunch of stalks that are a little limp? They’re only going to get limper when you slow cook them. You get a nice meal and clean out the vegetable drawer.

Now we’re on to the carrots.