Majestic Elegance Punta Cana

A Palapa is a wonderful thing! You lay on a lounge chair under it, and read, drink, eat, or just stare at the waves. We just got back from 8 nights at the Majestic Elegance resort in Punta Cana and really don't want to be back in Jersey. We did our homework and Tripadvisor ranked this resort #3 out of the 96 resorts in P.C.  Our room was perfect and the 3 pools, 7 restaurants, 9 bars, were just what we needed in February. Our good friends, The Rooneys, joined us, which made it even better. We had been to the Dominican Republic 3 previous times, but this was our first to Punta Cana. We had no desire to do any excursions, and never left the property.  It may have been the ideal winter break. The best new cocktail I had, was the Dirty Monkey. Kind of like an alcoholic Yoo-Hoo. It was a nice diversion from the Presidente beer and the vodka and sodas.

The staff at this place were the friendliest most helpful people anywhere, and if there weren't so many other places I'd like to visit, I would return there in a heartbeat. I already miss the swim-up bar for my 3 P.M. monkeys.



The Best Short Rib Recipe Ever

 

This is a great winter dish, and the smell of the braising ribs is guaranteed to make you drool. The key is getting meaty ribs. Do not use flanken cut ribs, which are cut across several bones. The ribs from the butcher should look something like this:

 

This recipe has been in my family for over 40 years,...thanks Mom.  Allow 2 ribs per person, and I always double the sauce so there is plenty to cover the meat and the buttered noodles.

Ingredients:

8 Meaty short ribs
1 large onion sliced
2- 3 tbsp.s olive oil for browning
Sauce Ingredients (for single sauce, but you should double it.)
1 cup Heinz chile sauce
1/4 cup red wine
1/2 cup chopped scallions
2 cloves chopped garlic
3 tbsp.s honey
1 tbsp. mustard
1 tbsp. worcestire
1 teaspoon liquid smoke
1/2 teaspoon chile powder
1/8 teaspoon celery seed (crushed)
pinch of thyme and cayenne
 Instructions:
Combine all of the sauce ingredients and simmer for 15  minutes.
Season the ribs with salt and pepper and brown in oil in a dutch oven in batches. Brown the onions in the same pan then deglaze with the red wine. Add the ribs and onions and the sauce and cover the dutch oven and bake for 3 hours at 350. Check out hour intervals to ensure meat is covered in sauce, or turn the ribs if they aren't covered. Remove the ribs to a platter when done and skim the sauce of excess oil/fat. You can thicken the sauce if desired with a little corn starch, but usually it is not required. Drizzle sauce over ribs and buttered wide egg noddles, or over gnocchi, or over polenta. The sauce is truly amazing and would make anything taste better.