In an effort to quickly slap together a post, it seems I completely forgot how to spell. In the previous post, I described my recent experience with roasted “chi chi” beans, which do not exist.
Ceci beans, however, do.
It’s a thing I crave so badly once the seasons change, I suspect my body is deficient in it during the warmer months. I’m talking about beef short ribs.
Short ribs beg to be braised, and you should take heed. Make a day out of it: Open a couple of bottles of wine and spend the day indoors, getting a little buzzed, watching silly movies, and smelling beef as it conquers the kitchen. If company allows, take off the pants and snuggle under a fuzzy blanket while the meat renders slowly in the oven.
This is what you’ll get, if you take the time:
And the rewards are paramount.
Well, perhaps not ultimate. And not solely a foodie movie, either. Sure, food makes an appearance, but there’s so much more. Yet, at the same time, not much more. But it is terrific. Just watch the trailer and I’ll stop rambling.
Lately, it seems that dinner is more pauper than princess. Bread and water are the chief components of my hasty late-night meals, and, to add a touch of class, I consume them while in my underwear. The bread is taking over, and I’m a slave to its expansion.
Camping with my dad and little bro’ involves a certain element of “roughin’ it”, with a touch of class. We shower outside, behind a trailer. There is a private porter potty just up the road and it’s a feat to reach in the middle of the night with a weak flashlight. We drive ATVs all day on mountain trails that run through what once was a colliery, and cover ourselves in dirt and coal dust. We build a roaring fire and play classic rock and drink beers and tell stories. We encapsulate ourselves in sleeping bags inside of a pop-up camper.
We cook over an open fire. We use an old Le Creuset pot, which my dad stumbled upon in my great-grandmother’s old collection of “junk”. Though considered a high-end piece of kitchen equipment, it is sturdy enough to have survived not only decades of kitchen abuse, but campfire destruction.
There’s something about camping that transforms the simplest foods into a four-star meal. And the open fire seems to take hold of even the most culinary adverse, turning them into seasoned cooks. My brother, who rarely cooks and seems emotionally drained after enduring a multi-course meal with my parents and myself, made chicken wings which were beautifully charred on the outside with a juicy interior.
And there’s nothing quite like a complete pancake breakfast in the chilly morning hours of a summer day. Good old Aunt Jemima: just add water.
eating in your underwear 