Get out the Grilling Books

The ECHO 8th Annual Empty Bowls event on Thursday, April 20, was a huge success. Ticket holders were invited to taste soups and enjoy selections of freshly baked breads and cookies. They were also able to choose a handmade bowl from an array of beautiful bowls donated by local artists and friends of ECHO.

I served Potato Leek soup, while next to me, Atascadero City Manager Rachelle Rickard served a Tomato Basil soup. Next to Rachelle, Mayor Heather Moreno was serving Shrimp Gumbo. Down the line, they served Tortilla Vegetable, Potato, and other delicious varieties. All of the soups were prepared and donated by restaurants and chefs here in the north county.

It was nice to be able to once again enjoy the event “in person” after a couple of years of doing a drive-up event. Congratulations to all of the ECHO organizers for putting on that popular event. It was a great success.

The weather right now is perfect for grilling — not too cool and not too hot. Don’t you love it? Get out that grill book and get busy producing some tasty dishes like the ribs in this week’s recipes.

Savory Short Ribs of Beef

Ingredients:

Red Wine and Soy Marinade

1/2 cup dry red wine

1/4 cup soy sauce

• 3 tablespoons vegetable oil

• 2 cloves garlic, pressed

• 1/2 teaspoon freshly ground pepper

• 1/4 teaspoon dried thyme

4 pounds short ribs

Directions:

Combine marinade ingredients in a 1-gallon zipperedtop plastic bag. add short ribs, submerging them in the marinade, seal and let marinate in refrigerator for 2 to 3 hours. Preheat grill with all burners on high for 10 minutes with lid down. Once grill is hot, turn off center burner and turn other burners to medium. Position short ribs over center burner, close lid, and cook for 1 1/4 to 1 1/2 hours, turning ribs every 10 to 15 minutes. Serve hot off the grill. Serves 4 to 6 This next recipe is for those of you who want something different for beef ribs, so popular in this area. Turn the extra fat off the ribs, since you don’t need it and it can reduce the chance of flare-ups. Crush the fennel seeds in a mortar or coffee grinder to release the flavor of the seeds. Add more garlic if you like.

Underground Beef (Best Of)

lee pitts COLUMNIST

Instead of just saying evil things about beef, I wish the government would just go ahead and outlaw it so we could all make some money.

The surgeon general put his warning on cigarettes, and sales of the cancer sticks skyrocketed. Marijuana was outlawed, and the “grass” farmers are the only kind feeling good about things. They have the only cash crop. It’s human nature tell somebody they can’t have something and they will pay dearly for it. People want what they can’t have. Tell them the speed limit is 55, and they’ll drive 65. If it’s 65, they’ll drive 75.

The best thing that could happen to cattlemen is for the government to say that beef could be raised for medicinal purposes only. Then the doctors and drug companies would be on our side because they could charge $600 for a hamburger prescription. The patient would drive down to Burger King, plop down his prescription and get a Whopper. You think there are lines at McDonald’s now, just wait until beef is illegal. The lawyers would really love us because they would be busy suing the doctors for pre-medicated murder.

The movie stars would get off our backs because they would all have $1,000 a day habits and would be stuffing T-bones up their noses. The scientists would be on our side because they would have Beef Anonymous treatment centers where beef addicts could spend $15,000 for beef abuse aversion therapy, where the patient would be fed 75 Big Macs every day until they were sick of them.

Cowboys would be driving big fancy Cadillacs and rancher’s would be the king pins dining on burgers in the back room. Of course it would change the way we ran our ranches. We’d have to sell on the black market and open bank accounts in the Cayman Islands. Auction men would be on the ten most wanted list. Ranches way back in the sticks would skyrocket in value. The USDA would fly planes overhead to spot the illegal cattle but smart ranchers would go underground or hide their cattle under trellises of marijuana. The feds don’t seem to be able to spot that. Feedlots may have a problem, though, convincing the beef narcs that the 100,000 cattle in their feedlots are for home consumption only. But then the USDA would try to count the animals, and we all know they can’t do that.

When the burger patrol brought their beef sniffing dogs to the ranch and raided Grandma and Grandpa’s illegal operation, they would haul

Be a Champion of Love

duties and ultimately regains his confidence to fulfill his dharma.

Wet Garlic Rub

Ingredients:

2 to 3 cloves of garlic, to your taste, minced

1 tablespoon olive oil

1 1/2 teaspoons freshly ground black pepper

• 1 1/2 teaspoons dry mustard

• 1 1/2 teaspoons fennel seeds, crushed

1 teaspoon kosher salt

1/2 teaspoon ground cloves

4 pounds beef ribs

Directions:

Combine rub ingredients in a small bowl and mix well. Spread rub on both sides of beef ribs (easiest to use your hands to rub). Wrap ribs tightly in plastic wrap and let marinate in the refrigerator for 2 to 4 hours. Preheat grill with all burners on high for 10 minutes with the lid down. When grill is hot, leave back burner on high and turn other burners to medium-low. Place ribs over the medium-low burners and close lid. Cook for a total of about 40 minutes, turning every 10 minutes or so. Serve hot off the grill. Serves

4 to 6

Enjoy those ribs. Cheers!

Barbie Butz is an independent columnist for The Atascadero News and Paso Robles Press; you can email her at bbutz1@outlook.com

Grandpa away in a cruiser as he covered his face to the camera. Grandpa would swear in court that the cattle were not his, that they weren’t wearing his brand, and they had just drifted on to his place from the Sierra Club refuge for endangered species. Grandpa’s fancy lawyer would get him off on a minor income tax evasion charge.

The beef business would get so good it would start attracting undesirable types like the Mafia and futures traders from Chicago. The poultry pluckers would be trying to get chicken outlawed. The state governments would see the profit potential in beef like they did in gambling. They would probably all start beef lotteries. Yeah, I wish the feds would quit messing around and outlaw beef so we could all get rich.

Lee Pitts is an independent columnist for The Atascadero News and Paso Robles Press; you can email them at leepitts@ leepittsbooks.com

In the Bhagavad Gita, Arjuna is depicted as a skilled hero and a devoted follower of Lord Krishna. However, at the beginning of the Gita, Arjuna is shown as being emotionally vulnerable and confused about his duties as a hero. In addition, he is faced with the dilemma of fighting against his own relatives and teachers in a battle for the throne of Hastinapura.

Arjuna’s vulnerability is in his mental and emotional state. He struggles with doubts, fear, and confusion, making him question his path.

Through Lord Krishna’s teachings, Arjuna gains clarity and understanding of his

So, while Arjuna may have been vulnerable in terms of his emotional state at the beginning of the Bhagavad Gita, he is not portrayed as being physically weak or vulnerable.

Imagine yourself as a champion of love in this epic adventure that is your life. As you continue along your path of self-realization, living out your purpose and becoming more of who you are and who you came here to be, you face obstacles.

I recently started a new workout program called XGT fitness, and the routines are very challenging. Twelve people are in each class, and each person must wear a heart monitor. During the workout, one can look at the big tv screen mounted on the wall to monitor their activity. One can also see the stats of others. At first, it seemed very competi- tive to have this data visible. However, the great realization was the opportunity presented for personal improvement. If I go outside of my comfort zone, my performance improves. If I push a little more, my performance improves.

Isn’t that also true for our lives? We can become so comfortable in the structures we build up to protect our hearts, creating comfort for ourselves and our lives. But what if we pushed ourselves a tiny little bit? What if we made ourselves slightly uncomfortable, exerting our boundaries and becoming more of who we came here to be? Just do it!

After you work out, your body repairs or replaces damaged muscle fibers through cellular processes, fusing them together to form new muscle protein strands or myofibrils. These repaired myofibrils increase in thickness and number to create muscle hypertrophy (growth).

The muscle fibers are damaged when met with resistance. As a result, some discomfort occurs when moving from the 5-pound weights up to the 10-pound weights, for example.

To be a champion of love, one must build up the fibers of heavenly fervor, meaning bring love to every situation, experience, condition, and circumstance in your life, even when you don’t want to. Being a champion of love is a skill that requires vulnerability, commitment, practice, and persistence. Are you up for the challenge? Like Arjuna, you can jump through the portal of emotional vulnerability to shine your radiant magnificence to all. You can do it. The world needs your love. And so it is.

Rev Elizabeth