Best Corn Chowder in the history of the world

This is the best soup ever. Seriously. I don't know why corn chowder gets no respect. It's healthy, hearty, and so, so good when made properly. Use fresh veggies and herbs. You could add chicken if you'd like, but you really don't need it here. I'm not giving you amounts when it comes to veggies. Experiment a little, leave out the celery, add some other veggies, make it your own. The only part that might be scary to new cooks is the roux, but it's not as hard as everyone thinks.

Ingredients:

Veggie Aisle:
Celery
Onions
Garlic
Red/Green/Yellow peppers
Carrots
Fresh Thyme
Potatoes, diced about 1 inch (I'd use Red Bliss, but use whatever you'd like)

Middle Aisles:
1/2 cup All-purpose Flour
4 cups Chicken Broth. (Homemade's great, but Swanson's will do. Low sodium if you can find it, since I'm going to add salt to taste later)
Paprika
Chili powder

Frozen
Bag o' corn.

In a large pot, bring the chicken broth, the bag of corn, and the diced potatoes to a boil. Boil until potatoes are slightly soft, and remove from heat.

Dice up veggies (besides the corn and potatoes, obviously) and saute in a stick and a half of butter over medium heat in a large pan. Yes, it's a lot of butter, but it's a lot of veggies. It all balances out, like washing down multivitamins with beer.

Add a bunch of fresh thyme leaves. If you've never used fresh thyme before, just strip the little leaves off by running your fingers from the top of the stem to the bottom. Add a bunch, it's going to take a lot to overdo it. Add a little salt and pepper, and a little paprika and chili powder. You can overdo these, so keep tasting it. Stir and cook for about 2-3 minutes. You don't want them limp and soggy, just lightly cooked.

This next part is a little tricky, if you've never made a roux. A roux is simply a 50/50 mixture of flour and a fat, in this case butter. It will give the chowder a nice thick texture.
Turn the heat down to Medium-Low. Add the flour to the mixture, and stir and stir. Keep stirring until it starts to turn slightly brown, but don't let it get dark.

Slowly add the corn mixture to the roux. Keep stirring over a medium low heat until it's blended together, then dump it all back in the big pot. Slowly stir in cream until you achieve desired creaminess, usually somewhere between 1 and 2 cups. Salt and pepper to taste.