I wish I had some plain white plates for presentation, but no matter what the plates look like, the food still taste great.

So, my not so "on the cheap" dinner turned out spectacularly. I am going to make those green beans again next week. They are fabulous.

Because I am so nice, I am including the recipes for the short ribs and the green beans. Enjoy!!!!

Beer-Braised Beef Short Ribs

5 lbs. beef short ribs (they cut them fresh for me at the butcher- I think that's the best way to go.)
1-14-ounce can beef broth
1-12-ounce bottle of dark beer (I used Deschutes Brewery's Obsidian Stout)
1 medium onion, cut into thin wedges
1/4 c. molasses
2 TB. balsamic vinegar
1 tsp. dried thyme, crushed
1 tsp. bottled hot pepper sauce
1/2 tsp. salt

1. Place ribs in a 5 to 6 quart slow cooker. Add broth, beer, onion, molasses, vinegar, thyme, pepper sauce and salt.
2. Cover and cook on low-heat setting for 11-12 hours or on high-heat setting for 5 1/2-6 hours. (I cooked mine on high for three hours and then turned it to low for four more hours.
3. Transfer ribs to platter with slotted spoon, cover to keep warm. Skim fat off the liquid and serve it as a dipping au jus.

Oriental Green Beans

1 TB. soy sauce
1 TB honey
1 TB unsalted butter
2 TB extra-virgin olive oil
12 oz. fresh green beans
Kosher salt
1 TB minced garlic (I used the kind in the jar)

Combine soy sauce, honey and 1 TB water in a small dish. Heat butter and oil on medium-high heat and add green beans. Toss with 1/2 tsp. of salt. Cook until they begin to brown and shrivel slightly. (If you cook them too long they get soft- I like them to stay a little crunchy). Reduce heat to low and add garlic, cook until brown and then add soy sauce mixture. Turn the heat up slightly and cook until the liquid reduces. ( This will give you a thick dark sauce that coats the beans well)

For the mashed potatoes I quartered and cut up about 8 red potatoes until soft and then mashed them with butter, salt and a little milk. In hindsight, I should have used a little chicken stock too, for flavor, but they were nice and creamy.

I can tell I am in need of a vacation after today's trip to the grocery store. To begin with, there were no fresh green beans in the produce aisle. ( I miss growing my own. ) Apparently, they had been out for a few days. This drove me to spend $4.99 a bag on "organic" green beans.

Then to make it worse, the checker tried to tell me I couldn't buy a single bottle of beer. Don't worry, I haven't been driven to drink just yet, but I needed beer to braise my short ribs. After much back and forth and a call to the manager, I finally got my single bottle of beer from the $7.99 six-pack for $2.49. So, if you aren't a drinker the store charges you almost twice as much per bottle.

I got home and realized I had just spent $10.00 on green beans and $30 on other ingredients for what my cookbook claims is a meal for under $1.99 a serving. I don't know where these people are shopping, but by my calculations this is costing me a little over $5.00 per person.

Makes you want to forget about the cooking and order pizza for your whole family for $20.
My beer-braised short ribs with oriental green beans and red mashed potatoes better taste like a million bucks or someone is getting a very terse letter in the future- after I finish all the other crap I have to do like cleaning up after making the meal.

The Vandal Marching Band performs Thriller by Michael Jackson during half-time.

We've been pretty busy these past few weeks and finally have a quiet weekend to ourselves. Football started here at the University of Idaho and our Vandals have decided to surprise everyone by winning some games. We are now 3-1.

Maggie and Moira went to the first home game with us. It was a lot of fun with the exception of the man who walked into the women's restroom to pee in a stall with the door open while Maggie was in line. I am going to assume he was intoxicated, otherwise it really lowers my already dubious attitude toward certain students of the Greek variety.

Speaking of drunk, universities around the U.S. have decided to hold tournaments for beer pong. That's right folks, beer pong. Just recently they held one at Washington State University— just over the state line. I myself am still a little unsure of what the point and rules of the game are, but I think I would rather stay in the dark. Wal-Mart, however, must have got wind of the idea because they are now catering to drunken college students and their beer pong sport by placing the ping-pong balls strategically next to the red beer cups.

Enough about that. We also went to the fair. The fair here is free, it really only takes up about half of a city block, but it is still fun. I mean, there were elephant ears, so how could it not be fun? I went on a ride with the kids and felt the need to vomit pretty much the whole time we were there. The kids loved the rides, but my favorite part are the animals. This year, we found a bouffant-haired chicken. She looked like a prize winner to me.

I took all these photos with my new iPhone. While the picture quality isn't that great, I love that I can take pictures everywhere I go and post them there for your enjoyment. Any requests?