The Days and Nights of Tiny Montgomery: Beefy beef - Short ribs

Thursday, March 3, 2011

Beefy beef - Short ribs

As much as I know it's wrong, I love beef. I was a strict vegetarian for 12 years but suddenly, during a grocery store trip with my mom, I was staring at the sirloin longingly. She had never been a fan of the vegetarian lifestyle, so Mom encouraged me heartily to buy it. And I did. When the Boy (who was only vegetarian at home) arrived home that evening, I did a little jig with the steak. I expected to have some digestive issues that night, but nothing untoward happened and I was back on the junk permanently.

So, beef. Love it. I don't like the expensive, fancy stuff so much; I don't think a filet has much flavor and the big porterhouses and t-bones just don't seem worth the money most of the time. I love sirloin, but I can enjoy even the toughest of cuts. What I've been loving lately are these little boneless short ribs I can sometimes find. I don't like to pay full price (do I ever?), but I can occasionally find them at my store on sale (okay, on clearance). So for $3 or so, I get nearly a pound of really tasty beef. I've braised them and just grilled them and they are delicious either way, and rather tender.

Today I grilled them with lots of garlic and pepper, and served with steamed brocolli and corn with green peppers.

As an aside, may I say how much I love my Pasta Boat? I love it for cooking pasta and it steams vegetables like nobody's business. Totally worth $10, and I didn't even get an extra boat or a chopper with mine!

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What I'm Reading

Complicity by Iain Banks - Continuing my exploration of Banks and Scottish literature I delved into my third Banks novel, this one yet again completely different. The story of drug and drink addicted journo who gets inadvertently involved in a serial killer's revenge murders.
How to Be Good by Nick Hornby - It had its moments, but I got rather bored with it about 2/3 through. I'm not sure ole Nick ought to make his main characters female.
Sunshine by Robin McKinley - This book was recommended by the librarian who goes on NPR all the time and talks about summer books, etc. As it was about vampires, I had to try it anyway. And I kind of loved it. A completely new twist on vampires in a sort of alternate universe now. Unfortunately, the sex, while teased, wasn't what I hoped for. I thought I'd try some of her other titles, but the covers alone had me running away, screaming. Very florid, fantasy-type illustrations. Think I'll just stick with this one and the hoped-for sequel.
The Braindead Megaphone Essays by George Saunders - I'm only a few pages in but I've already belly laughed -- out loud while alone and at work! -- something I don't ususally do. I appreciate, very much, written humor, but it seldom makes me actually laugh out loud. George Saunders is so brilliant and so completely right on and so fucking funny. I love his surreal, absurdist fiction, but this book is so completely perfect.
The Business by Iain Banks - Completely unlike the Wasp Factory, but compelling nonetheless. The female main character doesn't always ring true, but the story turns out to be wotth it, despite my initial reservations.
The Secret History by Donna Tartt - Since she wrote a book I really loved, The Little Friend, I thought I should give this a try. I'm only a chapter or so in, so I'm withholding judgement for now.
The Wasp Factory by Iain Banks -- Whoa. This debut novel is like nothing I've read before. I have been known to physically throw books that feature animal abuse across the room in disgust, but this book uses it to further the story in a very effective way. I couldn't put it down.
You Don't Love Me Yet by Jonathan Lethem. Since I originally said I was reading this, I've read it at least three more times. (What? You listen to a record you like more than once, don't you?). I still can't really articulate why I love this book so much. There is just something that really speaks to me. Lethem is to be commended for writing a female character so perfectly.