Shortribs and Soap Box

I believe that thrift is essential to well-ordered living.

-John D. Rockefeller

Shortribs: I made those beef shortribs. That $2 package of beef shortribs from Monday. Um, wow. New favorite winter recipe for sure. It was better than a $12 roast. Served over steamed rice, that tender meat and sauce was just as good as anything you'd find in a great restaurant. I followed the recipe exactly until it came to the allspice (couldn't find any around the house) and parsnips (couldn't find any at the store). So I left out the allspice completely and substituted carrots for the parsnips. The whole lot cooked itself in about 3 hours in a (largely unattended) stove. My kind of cooking. Still... wow. I'll be making this anytime I can afford the beef.

Don't you love it when you find a new "keeper" recipe? Especially one that will feed several mouths for, say, five bucks?

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Soapbox: Special thanks going out this morning for the overwhelming show of support I received for the little Tuesday Treasure bit. I've had an awfully hard time juggling bills these past few months, and a failure to pay the property taxes on Freeman House soon means I could later lose the place at public auction. I'm not looking for fun money here. It's an awful lot to juggle as a single girl. I'm passed the point of worrying myself sick (with pneumonia) over it... I'm to the point of trusting God to meet my needs while using every available resource at my disposal to generate bits of income. At least until I find a job.

Yesterday some of you called our new Tuesday Treasure venture "tacky" or looked down your noses at my decision to start that feature. I'm aghast. Despite some of that criticism, however, I won't make apologies for my decision. Longtime readers here know we've supported and championed several causes (Shoes for Orphan Souls, Brides Against Breast Cancer, Best Friends Animal Shelter, Compassion International, Friends With Flowers, The North Texas Foodbank, and the ASPCA), to name a few. I also try to mention and support other bloggers, their projects, their books and their shops. And out of appreciation for how wonderful you guys are to me and this old, crooked house project, we've done giveaway after giveaway, etc.

This blog is four years old. That's a lot of material... a lot of time... devoted to sharing things with you all. And over time, this blog and its readers have become a community of compassionate, caring folks who try to give of ourselves, our time and our resources when we can. I'm incredibly blessed by that, and pray we'll continue to come together to help and give when and where our hearts lead us.

And if we add a Tuesday Treasure feature to keep it all going, so be it. I'm excited about the mutual support this opportunity provides. I'm excited to "meet" new people, their work, and learn what drives and motivates them to create or learn.

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Guess that's about all I wanted to say. Thanks for hanging in. Off now to make beef stock using those shortrib bones. Think a big pot of that simmering away will be medicine to the lungs... and the soul. Enjoy your Thursday! -Brin