Stew success

I'm not that experience with cooking, but the more I do it, the better at it I get.  This past weekend, I decided to aim high and cook a beef stew.  It seemed easy enough - cut everything up, do a few things to the meat and veggies, and throw it all in a pot. 

Stew is by far the most complicated thing I've tried to make so far, and I actually succeeded!  I did almost everything right and it all came together very nicely.  I'd even go so far as to call it easy to make.  I spent the entire afternoon making it, watching videos and reading while it simmered away in the oven. 

Here's what it looked like after it was done.  It only got thicker after cooling: