Lazy Morning

That's how my day started yesterday.  Got up around 8:30 (which really beats the 5:45 AM dawn patrol of the previous day), took my cappuccino and the dog with me to the backyard, greeted the sand hill cranes who had just arrived for breakfast, and gave a respectful nod to the alligator trolling the lake behind my house.  When I described this on Facebook, a friend replied that it reminded him of the Gordon Lightfoot song, "Lazy Morning," thus the title of this blog post.  As the day went on, I could really relate to these particular lyrics of the song, "Coffee's in the kitchen, woman on the run."

I'd invited my mom over for dinner and really wanted to pull out all the stops and give her a great meal.  I feel that I've been ignoring her a bit because we are so caught up with my mother-in-law who is rapidly losing her battle with ALS.  It's a bit of a juggling act around here these days.  But I digress...

Because I wanted to give my mom (and all of us, really) some comfort food, my first thought was to cook a pot roast.  Then I remembered that I had beef short ribs in the freezer and went with that.  Success!!  I browned them and then added all the classic braising ingredients - onion, carrot, celery, garlic, an entire bottle of red wine, fresh thyme, peppercorns, etc. Into the oven they went for hours.  I also decided to do a butternut squash puree to accompany the short ribs so I peeled and diced one and tossed it with a olive oil, brown sugar, salt & pepper, then put it on a baking sheet to roast in the oven with the ribs.  Once they were tender and carmelized I put them in the food processer with about 2 tablespoons of butter, a 1/2 teaspoon of nutmeg, a 1/4 cup of brown sugar, a pinch of salt & pepper, and a splash of apple cider then zapped it into silky submission.  Delicious!  Another side dish was thinly sliced brussel sprouts sauteed in brown butter.  It was a culinary ode to Autumn even though it was still 90 degrees here in Florida!  The best moment of  the night was when my 76-year-old mother was trying to delicately remove the beef that was barely clinging to the bone of the short-rib (much like Tom Hanks holding onto his homemade raft in "Castaway") and said, "To hell with it," and picked the thing up with her hands and went to town!  Awesome!  We finished the meal with a Gingered-Pear Tarte Tatin and my mom and I enjoying the breeze and watching the sun go down from my back porch.  Much like how I started my day, only better.  Love you, Mom!

Cheers!