Wine Lover's Destination

That's what our little Main Street downtown (two blocks from me) is called by some people.  Yes, Wine Lover's Destination with over two dozen family-owned and operated boutique wine tasting rooms within three short blocks.  And, now we have another new wine tasting room, Broll Mountain vineyards .  Fresh and High End.

I am not opposed to new development and "progress" but I dislike seeing the interesting history/buildings of this Historic Gold Mining Town fade into the darkness.

This location of the Historic Ice Cream Shop, The Peppermint Stick has been replaced by the new wine tasting room !  So sad to replace an open and in business 1893 establishment with a 2018 wine tasting room that is skirted with wine tasting rooms on each side !

It is not long ago that Main Street was filled with fun and interesting boutiques, art galleries, little quaint restaurants, a few wine tasting rooms, and antique shops along with a few real life businesses like hair salons, florists, clothing stores, yarn shop and hardware store.

The walls were covered with memorabilia of photos, chachkies and lots of Mickey Mouse bric-a-brac. Old stuff, but fun !

I continue to love living in this little town.  And, I am so lucky that I have lived here long enough to remember "the good ol' days" before it became so commercialized and a tourist attraction .  And, for me, living in the Country certainly supersedes living in the Big City.  However, I have always cherished my life experiences of living in the Big City in the January of my life !  The seasons of my life are rolling right along !

How true ! As Heraclitus, the Greek philosopher said "Change is the only constant in life".

Until next time.

Mary

Fresh Spices And Beef Short Ribs

I have been checking my pantry products to clean out anything that has become outdated and there have been many. Many more than I expected. But then, when I consider how little cooking I have done in the last two years I guess it should not be a surprise. But, I really do not like wasting money. So, I plan to carefully replace items on an as-needed basis and if I see a good sale price.

There were some beef short ribs in the freezer that I did not want to freeze any longer. Everything in my freezer has been checked for freshness and I want to keep it that way. I had saved a recipe that I saw recently and wanted to use. As I looked at it I could see that I did not have all of the stated ingredients but it looked like I could substitute for them.

My recipe is very simple with ribs, vegetable oil, salt and pepper, yellow onion, garlic clove, beer, wine or broth and rosemary or thyme. As you can see above, I changed out a few things. I have never cooked with Beck's wine in the past. So I thought that was a little iffy. Red onion instead of yellow. Chopped garlic from a jar. No big deal. And then, Oregano for the herbs. After the stove-top preparation it was placed in the oven for two hours. I am delighted to tell you that the Ribs Were Very Tender And Fantastic! The onions were so nicely caramelized in the beer.  And, the oregano worked great.

Instead of making a meal with all of the sides I chose to remove the fat that provided great flavor and then shred the beef and use it for sliders/sandwiches. Wow, I liked it!

When cleaning my spice cupboard I had to toss out eleven different spice containers. Some had expire dates back to 2012! When there no longer is any fragrance you know its all over. I kept a couple that were out of date (just a little) but still had a nice fresh strong fragrance.

We have a fantastic Spice Shop at the end of my street at Main Street downtown and I may check their prices and smaller quantities can be purchased. I have bought from them in the past with good results. It's pretty special because they carry any spice you can imagine and if they do not, they will order it for you.

The Spice Tin as it is called is so cute and very well managed. I don't know why I don't think of it more often when I need spices. After all it is so close! This night time picture was taken one year at the downtown Christmas Open House.

The Spice Tin has a nice and informative website with recipes and more. Be sure to check it out. I was a little surprised. These folks "really know what they are doing!"

Well, that is just a little more about the joy of where I am blessed to live. It is a very sunny day and that makes me very very happy. It's about time. For about the last two weeks I have really had "The Slows" quite badly.

Happiness to All.

Mary