This week’s favorites in no particular order:

• Everyone needs kitten love and snuggling now and then.
• Pumpkin spice bagels, might have to grace my Thanksgiving breakfast table. 
• I always try to do a variation on the the traditional pumpkin pie for our Thanksgiving meals,  I’ve done pumpkin cheesecake in the past, but Bourbon Pumpkin Cheesecake might just be the “pumpkin pie” of the ’08 Thanksgiving.
• Cloth napkins are one of the first projects I learned to make when my grandmother taught me to sew.  I think my grandmother would have loved the idea of repurposing bed sheets into cloth napkins.
• A compost bin made from old tires, genius, pure genius.

A new favorite recipe to share with you in honor of Friday Favorites:

I first used this with some beef short ribs and cooked a pot roast in it yesterday.  It’s super yummy and compliments beef extremely well – I think it would work with other meats just as beautifully.

Spicy Tomato Braising Liquid

• 4 Cups Tomato Sauce
• 3 Tablespoons Lemon Juice
• 4 teaspoons Worcestershire Sauce
• 2 Tablespoons dried Parsley
• 1 teaspoon dried Thyme
• 2 Bay Leaves
• 2 Tablespoons Brown Sugar
• 2 teaspoons salt
• 1 teaspoon Red Pepper Flakes

Whisk together in a crock pot or sauce pan.  Add your short ribs or pot roast and cook until tender.  I did a pot roast in the crock pot in this liquid for 9 hours on low.  The short ribs I did on the stove top over medium-low heat for 3 hours.

PS: I updated my links on the sidebar to your right, just in case you’re interested…