*Ribs

One of mom's best recipes is pork spare ribs. I changed it a bit so here it is. We bought some pork spare ribs from the Giant - I picked the shortest ones. Mom usually gets really short ones - about 3 inches from the Chinese grocery store but I didn't have the luxury.

Sweat 2 cloves of garlic and ginger in a braising pot. Sear the spare ribs. Pour in 3/4 cup of soy sauce, 3/4 cup of rice wine, 3/4 cup of water. Mom puts in rock candy but I used Agave nectar. I also threw in about 10 whole peppercorns. Braise for 1 hour. It is so good with fresh chopped scallions and served over rice or somen noodles.

Not that it paired particularly well but I made a tomato cucumber salad because the tomatoes were on the verge of spoiling. It's our favorite side dish from the best crabcake restaurant - Calvert House. Dice tomatoes, cucumbers and red onion. Dress with red wine vinegar, olive oil, salt, fresh cracked pepper and oregano.