Beef Bourguinon & firsts

Yesterday was a day of "firsts" for me:

#1 I attempted to buy frozen pearl onions (for the first time) at several places and apparently they don't exist in Texas (a store manager said they stopped carrying them 3 years ago -what??@!$?!)

#2 I purchased Cognac

#3 I purchased Cognac from a drive thru liquor store (who knew these existed?!!)

#4 I made beef bourguinon

#5 I "flamed" the bourguinon per the instructions (lit it on fire), apparently this burns out the alcohol of the cognac but keeps the flavor. (I was holding my breath and praying I wouldn't set my house on fire!)

Last night we fed B early and then had some friends over for a nice dinner. I wanted to try something new, something super tasty, and something a little fancier than I normally make. Ina Garten's Beef Bourguinon was the answer! I'm not gonna lie, it was delish! Here are my 2 cents: I cooked it for 2+ hours rather than an hour and 15 minutes, it made the meat more tender and I noticed on the comments of the recipe that several others did this too so I thought I'd try it. My pearl onions weren't frozen but I still think they could have cooked for another 10-15 min as they were still a little too intense after just 15 minutes. I left out the tomato paste b/c when I opened mine up, it was old and gross (it only calls for 1 tablespoon so I doubt it changes the flavor too much). All in all I'd say it was a success, and I didn't burn the house down, bonus! xo