I don't normally post recipes on here.  It may be because I'm too busy writing about other random stuff, or because I eat strange and uninteresting things, or because I don't pay enough attention while I'm cooking to document the process.

But tonight, I made beef stew, and it was so delicious I feel like I must share.  The recipe I used can be found here, but I made some adjustments to the original, so I'll detail it below. 

Deliciously Delicious Beef Stew

1.5lb stew beef
1/2-1 tbsp butter
1 tbsp olive oil
2 cups water
1 tbsp worcestershire sauce
1 tsp salt
1 tsp sugar
1/2 tsp paprika
1/4 tsp black pepper
1/4 tsp white pepper
2 bay leaves
2-3 cloves garlic, peeled
Dash of ground cloves
3 carrots, sliced
3 celery stalks, chopped
2 potatoes, diced
2 tbsp cornstarch

In pot, heat oil and butter.  Brown outside of meat in hot oil.  Add water, worcestershire, bay leaves, garlic, sugar, salt, paprika, pepper, and cloves (and one onion, sliced if you want.  I was out).  Bring to a simmer, cover, and cook for 1 1/2 hr.  Remove garlic and bay leaves, and add carrots, celery, and potato.  Cook an additional 30 minutes.  Throughout cooking process, add water as necessary to ensure enough cooking liquid (keep it about where it was at start of meat cooking process).  To thicken gravy, stir cornstarch with 1/4 cup water.  Stir until smooth.  Ladle some cooking liquid into cornstarch and stir.  Add to pot, stir, and cook until thickened and bubbly.  Enjoy!

I imagine you could also use some red wine as cooking liquid in addition to water... but it's delicious as is!