Missing New England, Missing Vacation

I don't do recipes, I really don't, except when there's leavening involved, and I always follow the oven temp and baking times. Outside of that, whenever I try to follow a recipe (and I really do try) somewhere my version takes flight and becomes its own version. I truly first realized this several years ago when my daughter asked me for my recipe for jambalaya, and I admitted that I didn't have a recipe.Long ago, I had read someone else's recipe, but I started making jambalaya and I kept making it without measuring anything. So, I told Sasha that I could tell her how I make it, and if she could remember watching me make it, she could do it, too. I'll have to ask her how that worked out for her....

Tonight I've been back from Maine for ten days now, and have been longing for lobster chowder, so I made some except I had no lobster. ps it was all yummy good
I started with 2 tablespoons of olive oil and 2 tablespoons of butter, heated and melted, to which I added 2 small onions, chopped (or 1 large) and 3-4 stalks of celery over medium heat. Turned the heat down to low while I diced 2 medium potatoes and let them cook, stirring constantly as the potatoes could make the whole thing stick-and-burn. After 5 minutes I added about 4 ladles of (homemade) chicken stock that just happened to have been on the back burner, and let it simmer a little while. Next, I sliced the kernels off an ear of corn, and when the mixture was boiling again, added more stock, enough to almost cover the ingredients. I ground in fresh pepper, covered the pot and left it alone for about ten minutes. The last ingredient was one half pound of surimi, crab-flavored fish. (I'd wanted to use lobster, but oh well) I stirred it, covered it and left it alone for another ten minutes. It had thickened, was quite hot and delicious. I forced myself to eat seconds, sadly enough. 

Now, if I'd had lobster to use, and had added 1/2 cup cream, the character of the chowder would have been very different. Or, if I'd added 4 strips of bacon and two more ears of corn, along with the cream, but subtract the surimi, I'd have had corn chowder - another favorite.
Please pass the crackers.