oh and last night rather late (long story) wound up making a milk chocolate-colored roux for a beef soup for tonight. nervous as usual--the worst kitchen injury i ever gave myself was a huge boil-turned-blister burn that took up the entire palm of my hand one summer at my folks' making peanut butter roux. shudder. the hot seething smell of flour cooking in fat always makes me bristle now to this day. but i did it. and it smells great cooking away in the crock pot now. the kitchen smelled of it all day; i forget what a strong lingering power it has.