Lazy Sunday

It really has been a lazy Sunday here today. I didn't get out of bed until 9.30am! I didn't even hear or feel Wayne get up this morning. I usually wake as soon as he gets out of bed, but not today. The busyness of the last few weeks has finally caught up with me and I am tired.

So, instead of doing the laundry and ironing and some baking for the week I've spent most of today on the lounge, working on the website and my new book and getting some other articles ready for an upcoming project. I didn't even get lunch, Wayne brought it to me on a plate and I ate right here, where I am now.

It's still cool outside, not cold like it was yesterday, but cool and damp and a little windy. Every time the sun breaks through the clouds I think I'd like to get up and go and check the garden then it clouds over and looks miserable so I stay here.

Yesterday was so cold we lit the fire again and it's been going ever since. We are so blessed to have the fire. It does a great job of heating the whole house, but I use it to dry the washing (Hannah did a load of laundry) and keeps a pot of water almost on the boil all day, just perfect for a quick cuppa, washing the dishes or adding to the bath for a soak.

There won't be a roast for tea tonight, I forgot to take it out of the freezer yesterday. Instead I have ribs on the stove, bubbling away. I love ribs, the smoky bbq flavour of the sauce is one of my favourite things but no-one else is all that keen on them so they don't appear regularly.  We only have them now because they a cut that was included with the last side of beef we bought. This particular recipe is a "cheat" for bbq ribs and only takes two hours from start to servings. I'm going to make some seasoned rice to have with them, a lazy side dish option for a lazy Sunday. I wanted to get a photo of the ribs plated up but the hungry hoards couldn't wait so hopefully next time.

Cheats BBQ Ribs
Ingredients:
2.5kg beef short ribs
250g tomato paste
1/4 cup water
2 tbsp brown sugar
1 tbsp balsamic vinegar
1 tbsp dried onion flakes
1 tbsp Worcestershire sauce

Method:
Put the ribs into a large, heavy saucepan and cover with cold water. Cover and bring to the boil. Turn heat down and cook for 1 hour. To make the sauce place the remaining ingredients in a small saucepan, stir to combine and bring to the boil, stirring until sugar dissolves. Turn heat down and simmer for 15 minutes. When the ribs are cooked drain and pour sauce over, turning to coat each rib. Heat a grill (bbq or heavy fry pan) and grill the ribs, turning frequently and basting with sauce for 15 minutes. Serve with seasoned rice.

I'll put this recipe in the Recipe File too, so you'll be able to find it when you want to try it because it really is delicious.

While I've been sitting doing nothing all day, I caught up on a whole lot of paperwork that's been sitting on my desk for days, and even managed to do some filing. For a world that claims to be moving towards being "paperless" I seem to get more and more paper every day, even without junk mail. I used to joke that our electricity bill would be a lot cheaper if they'd leave the junk out of the envelope and just send the bill, now I'm not so sure I'm joking.  We've moved to getting as many bills and newsletters as we can via email and still there is so much useless paper flooding our home day after day. Whether it's recycled or not, the environmental cost of all this useless paper is huge. If you know a way to control it let me know because I'm stumped.