Tuesday, July 14, 2009

Warms the heart

It's been an interesting day, a combination of disappointing news from some friends and happy surprise messages from others.  It's gotten me thinking about how easy it is to sway my mood these days in either direction.  A bit of bad news and I feel so down, a bit of good news and I feel my heart warmed.  I need to make more of a conscious effort to stay connected to the grounded part of me which is unwaivering.  In the spirit of warmed hearts I give you the following recipe which is, admittedly, completely inappropriate for the season though has amazing restorative, mood-enhancing properties.  At least I feel pretty great after preparing it and eating it :)

Braised Beef Short ribs
2 pounds beef short ribs (trim if you like)
2 cups beef broth (I use those little trader joe's packets)
1 cup red wine (tonight I used a cup of the Frontega Shiraz)
2 tablespoons tomato paste
2 tablespoon balsamic vinegar
2 cups (combined) chopped carrots and celery
7 garlic cloves
1 onion, cut into rough chunks or 10 pearl onions, skinned
1 rosemary sprig (if you like)
S&P

Preheat oven to 300
Salt and Pepper short ribs.  Brown short ribs on all sides in a greased pan.
Meanwhile, put carrot & celery, garlic, onion, and rosemary in a 9X13 baking dish.
Combine liquid ingredients.  Put shortribs (bone side up) into baking dish.  Top with liquid.  Cover with foil and bake for 3.5 hours.  DELICIOUSNESS AWAITS YOU!!!

We eat this with whole grain buckwheat Kasha, green salad, and red wine...  I can't wait to hear how you enjoy it!


3 comments:

  1. I just discovered your blog Arielle, and it's so great! It's nice hearing about how you are doing out there. I can't wait until Sept when you start coming back to the city! Miss you!!!
    Rachele

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  2. I just found this, and am so enjoying your writing, recipes, and introspection! Just completing a 'desperate housediva' year myself, I have recently done A LOT of thinking about the complex demands of moving somewhere (remote and alone) FOR another person; it is no joke and I love to kvetch and kvell about it whenever you feel the need!

    It is totally true how living away from your social world makes it so easy for your mood to be swayed by any little piece of good news or bad. The process of integrating your daily life there with your 'remote' life in NYC is gradual and hard. One thing that helped me was making friends here with some sort of NYC connections (of which there are bound to be some in a college town) - the shared history and knowledge of the city just makes them feel more like real friends, more permanent, like you're part of the same world. Looking forward to reading more!

    xo - Christine

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