Most of the past ten days has been pretty damned dull: long hours and lots of fast food. Last Sunday was spent at a training session for work. At least they had a catered lunch and lots of free coffee. It wasn’t great, but in the immortal words of my college roommate Cheryl, “If it’s free, it’s gotta be good!”
However, I did get to cook for Adam on the 10th. We had spaghetti carbonara, fresh tomato salad and some really great bread from the newly opened Whole Foods. Adam and our friend George waxed poetic over the wide variety of foods. Whole Foods even carries ostrich eggs. As much as George and Adam carried on, I think I better research how to cook an egg that big.
I also had time this weekend to experiment with some new foods. This week Meijer had packages of beef ribs for $.99 per pound. I had the butcher crack the two slabs into three pieces each and pulled out my secret weapon in the War on Meat:
How to Cook Meat by Chris Schlesinger and John Willoughby
I constantly refer to this book when it comes to figuring how to cook all the odd bits of meat that the local markets offload for cheap: Eye of Round Roast, Beef Ribs, huge Sirloin Tip Roasts, fresh Picnic Hams, Etc. I went out of my way to find a book that would keep me from standing in front of the meat case, scratching my head and looking stupefied.
The recipe I used was Flintstone-Style BBQ Beef Ribs with Hot, Sweet and Sour Bone Sauce on page 80 and 81. By the end of the meal, the official title was Caveman Ribs with Bonesuckin’ Sauce. (I would reproduce it here, but I think that the copyright police might have something to say about it. Rule one: always ask permission!)
Eric and George came over and helped us polish them off. You know you are among good friends when you all sit around covered in glistening fat and blood red sauce making primal grunting noises and the only thing said is “Pass a beer, will ya?”
So if you are in the market for a good book on meat, this is it! It goes for about $6 in hardback on Amazon.
I used another book to defeat the dreaded Bake Sale monster as it reared its head on Friday night, after I came staggering home from 25 hours of shear hell. I needed fast, I needed cheap, I needed good. And it had to be from ingredients I had in my pantry. Tall order. I pulled out one of my new favorites The Good Cookie: Over 250 Delicious Recipes from Simple to Sublime by Tish Boyle and located something called “Crunchy Peanut Bars”. They were rechristened “Paydaze” by my hubby. A simple crust covered in peanut flavored caramel topped with salted peanuts. The recipe only made a 9 x 13 pan, but you have to cut them small or your would overdose on salty-sweet goodness. Definately PMS material.
Long story cut short: They sold out. The girls watching the table told me some lady bought a dozen of them alone. I think I have a keeper! YEAH!
I also made a batch of chocolate chip cookies. I knew this favorite would sell out...who can resist?!
The bake sale went to benefit the Worthington Public Libraries. Their funding from the state will be cut in half next year and they are trying to make up the difference. It's sad when one of the greatest public resources has to beg for funding... I hope my cookies helped a little bit. If you live in Worthington, please support your local library and vote for the levy this November. I know that I will!
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