Hot chowder on a cold day: The ultimate comfort food. Seriously. Imagine taking a long walk — like 10,000 steps — on one of these cold days. Like Angie McLellan, Julie Hepburn Roberts, Sarah Morley, Lisa Orne Hallinan and the 53 other people who are on a quest to lose a lot of weight over the next couple months are doing — some taking more steps than others...

Those 57 individuals, who all apparently think they're fat, each threw in 100 bucks and most will spend the next couple months getting those thousands of steps in daily and going home to a meal of water and celery or some other boring non-fattening foods. Except Julie, who says she'll have a drink and a whoopie pie whenever she pleases — much to Angie's delight. Those two have it in for each other. Their Facebook pages are plastered with insults and boasts about their personal daily achievements.

I wrote a story about The Big Money Weight Loss Challenge recently. One of the 57 will win a lump sum of $5,700 when it's over.

Anyway I was talking about chowder.

What is better than taking a long walk on a cold day and coming home to a big bowlful of hot chowder? Not much. Unless of course it's cocktail hour and I can have a manhattan — THEN a bowl of chowder.

Last week I had mussels at Damariscotta River Grill. Owner/Chef Rick Hirsch prepares them in a broth of white wine, garlic and butter. I pigged out on the quart sized bowlful, but I purposely left around 10 of them and had them packed up, along with the leftover broth, to take home. The next day I made a haddock chowder and added the broth and mussels.

Chowders are the perfect winter meal. (Really the perfect winter meal is whatever I'm eating at the time. I love good food. Take the BLTs from Baker's Way. Ever had one of them? Every time I have one for lunch at work I tell Sarah Morley it's the best one I've ever had. Oddly, whenever she has one she says the same thing. It's weird. They just keep getting better and better. Ask Sarah if you don't believe me.)

OMG there I go again. Blah blah blah.

Chowders and stews. What's the difference? I tried Googling that one. I'm more confused now than I was before. Suffice it to say that a chowder is usually made with seafood, and is milk or cream-based and usually contains potatoes, where a stew is made with meat and veggies, with a gravy or tomato base. But then there's lobster stew. And corn chowder. Whatever.

Either way I love a good bowl of hot chowder. Haddock is my favorite, and it's also yummy with corn. I don't think I have to tell anyone how to make a pot of haddock and corn chowder but I'm going to anyway, just in case.

I’ll make it short and succinct. If you’re so lame you can’t figure out how to do it email me. Ready? Chop up some sweet onion and cook slowly in some butter till translucent. Throw in some potato. And don’t tell me you don’t know how to cut up a potato or how much you need. That's entirely up to you. Now pour in enough chicken stock or broth to cover. Do not use water. Boring. When the potatoes are almost done throw in some corn. If you were too lazy to freeze some last summer get a can of Niblets, or some frozen.

Keep that stuff simmering, then throw on a filet or two of haddock, or some other white fish. Let it cook till the fish is cooked through. Then s-l-o-w-l-y pour in whole milk or half-and-half, stirring all the while. And there you have it.

FYI, I dictated this week’s column to my iPhone while walking down Cross Point Road in Edgecomb. 10,734 steps and one food column. Check. Two birds — one stone.

Now, unlike all my friends who are vying to win $5,700 in the competition, I can sit on the couch and have a big bowl of chowder. And two ginger cookies. Maybe three.

Oh! I almost forgot. A friend brought me two lobsters the day after I made the chowder with the leftover mussels. I added some of that. He brought some roses along with the lobsters. One for the memoirs.

See ya next week.

By the way, I’m not a chef. I lay no claim to being an authority on food or cooking. I’m a good cook, and a lover of good food. And I know how to spell and put a sentence together. This column is simply meant to be fun, and hopefully inspiring. So to anyone reading this whose hackles are raised because you know more about the subject of food than I, relax. I believe you.