Slow cooking some ribs - a short post

 

Ribs!  Yum!

The other day, I saw a rack of vacuum packed ribs selling for a reasonable price.  So, I figured that I might have some fun with the slow cooker and have some "fall off the bone" good stuff for dinner tonight.  Since RQS was coming up, I didn't want to waste much time preparing the ribs and dealing with my oven.  (The less I use my oven when the weather is warm, the more comfortable my apartment will be.)  So, I took my crock pot off the shelf, cleaned it up, and started to prepare the ribs.

Slow cooker ribs are reasonably easy to prepare.  I do them in a simple way:

1. Take a full rack of ribs and cut them up into portions of 3-4 ribs each.
2. Pour a full bottle of BBQ sauce (whatever type I like and have in hand) and pour it in the pot.
3. Place the ribs in the pot, making sure all are covered by the sauce.
4. Turn the crock pot on high, and let it cook the ribs for 5 hours.
   Note: One may want to adjust the ribs occasionally to keep them all submerged.
   

If I want to further caramelize the ribs, I may place the ribs on a ridged stove-top grill and cook them a little more on the stove.  But I usually don't bother doing this, as I like the results fresh out of the pot.

Is there a better way to celebrate the unofficial start of summer with Ribs?   If there is, I'll enjoy it later on.... 

I hate hot weather....

 

For me, the only good thing I can think about summer these days is the time I can spend cooking steaks on the grill.  Unfortunately, my co-op now prohibits gas and charcoal grills on our decks.  So I am stuck getting BBQ at restaurants instead of doing it myself....

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Why do I start off writing about grilling and BBQ you may ask?

To me BBQ symbolizes the best that summer has to offer.  And when RQS arrived for the weekend, I figured that we'd go to Holy Smoke BBQ in Mahopac.  It's been a long while since I've been there, and I can only wonder what would have happened if I stumbled into FCP there.  But not to worry - she was off doing her things while I was doing mine.

RQS enjoyed the food at this BBQ much more than the last BBQ joint we ate at - neither of us suffered from the over salted aftertaste we often taste when food is cooked with too much salt.  This doesn't mean that the food wasn't salty.  My pastrami sandwich has way too much salt for one meal, and I decided to save half of it for another day.

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I keep being amazed by how comfortable RQS has gotten with me when presenting as Marian.  Neither of us give it much thought anymore that I will meet her at the train station in female presentation, and I'm very happy about that.  I'm still the person paying for dinner.  But to others at the restaurants, we are two women having a nice Friday evening out.  If they only knew....

I hate heatwaves, but love dresses during heatwaves

As I write this, we're entering this summer's second heat wave.  I'm not a fan of hot weather, and I'm grateful that the air conditioner in my car "sorta works" after a few minutes on the road. (Yes, it's something I want to check out with my local mechanic, but I need to spend money on other things right now.)  But I'm not going to feel bad about how the temperature affects me in this weather, as there are many people who have to work outside in this weather, with no way to stay comfortable while working.

I don't care how much electricity I have to use in this weather.  But I'm lucky to be able to afford the electricity I need to make my apartment comfortable during the summer.  When I eventually have to move from here, I will need to choose an affordable place which will be less expensive to keep cool during the summer.  As you might guess, there is no way that I'll move South as I get older.

Yet, there are a few good things about summer.  Being TG, I have the option of wearing a dress when presenting as a female.  No one looks at me strangely if I choose something comfortable to wear in this weather, and I take advantage of the options available to me.  It's too bad that men do not have this option in our culture.  But discussion of that issue will be reserved for another time when I have more time to write about it....