Lunch Menu Today: Steak and Salad

Thanks to the Reduced Value section in my Fred Meyer, I was able to buy some steak that was originally at $9.99/lb for around $6.99/lb. Bought about .92 lbs of it (I think it might be some kind of sirloin, but I threw away the packaging) and used about 2/3 of it to make Rachel and me some steak and salad. Really just a simple thing to do:

Season the steak w/ salt, pepper, chili powder, paprika, sear on both sides at medium high for 1.5 minutes, then cook at medium low for another minute on each side in order to get a nice medium-cooked steak. Let it cool and collect its juices, then slice against the grain.

To make a gravy, de-glaze the pan with some red wine (I had some leftover pinot noir), add some water, mixed cornstarch + water, salt, pepper, a few drops of lime juice, Worchestershire sauce, and some mushrooms. Drizzle on steak and top it off with some sliced chives.

Everyone knows how to make a salad, so just go with whatever. The final product (in picture form, for once!):

As an added bonus, here's a picture of Nealon:

So I am sitting outside Village Preschool next to the law campus with Nealon asleep, and I am looking at a mural of a white lioness with angel wings. Weird...

Baby Swap

It is 5:29 am and I swapped baby care with Rachel about 30 minutes ago. Why am I still up? (Answer: Because I am stupid) On another note, I have committed myself (well, not really, since I am dual-booting) to using Jolicloud as my Ubuntu flavor, but may have deleted some important backup files in the midst of creating the necessary extended partition for my install (why does ASUS insist on two primary partitions and two hidden primary partitions? Isn't there a simpler way to do this?) Oh well, it doesn't matter that much to me, since I try to back up my files religiously (at least the important ones).

For some reason, I am attracted to parentheses today.

I don't think I can handle being poor and unemployed very well. It's getting to the point where I am getting insane over our dwindling finances. Give me a job!

The level of civil discourse in America is amazing. . .

in its sheer stupidity. Ignoring any constitutional arguments as to whether this is a less-protected form of speech (as an incitement to riot or true threat) or protected under the First Amendment, are people really so outraged at the idea of Obama as president that they wave signs that call for his death, as well as the death of his family? I mean, this plus the guy with the gun strapped to his leg and the guy with the knife and the unregistered gun in his car and the guy who went all psycho on a black woman's Rosa Parks poster amid cheers followed by news reporting that ignored the fact she was provoked really are just more examples of how stupid, ignorant, and racist people in this country can be.

(I am curious as to whether there were similar death threats made against Clinton back when he was moving toward universal health care legislation back in the 90s. If anyone knows this off-hand, please let me know in the comments.)

Why does everything in the political area have to be reduced to arguments over who is Hitler and which political party is closest to Nazism or Fascism? Can't we take an intelligent look at the mechanics of the health care bill, rather than spreading stupid misinformation and lies over the concept of universal health care, government death panels, and the like?

The Return of the Chef: Peppered Buffalo Steak With Salad

No pictures today since I can't find my camera, but I'll share what I made for dinner nonetheless (serves two-three). Since I eyeball most of my cooking, I'll only have some numbers :

Greek-ish Salad

Romaine lettuce

Olive and feta mix (from olive bar)

2 slices of yellow onion, halved

6 cherry tomatoes, whole

Salt

Red wine vinegar

Just mix all of the ingredients together. . . I really don't know how else to elaborate here.

Peppered Buffalo Steak

Buffalo steak (0.57 oz)

Salt and pepper

Garlic powder

Paprika

Gravy (see below)

Lemon thyme, fresh and chopped

Season the buffalo steak and coat both sides liberally with black pepper. Turn on the pan to med-high heat, sear on both sides for 3 minutes. Cook an additional 3 minutes on either side at med, med-low heat for well-done (I was reading some online directions, thinking that buffalo would cook differently than beef, and didn't read carefully enough. Still it came out alright). Let the meat rest for 10 minutes, then slice into thin slices at an angle. Spoon gravy, garnish with fresh lemon thyme

Gravy

Drippings from peppered buffalo steak

1 Tbsp. butter

Water

Cornstarch

Tabasco sauce

Salt

Lemon thyme, fresh and chopped

Deglaze the pan used to cook the steak with some water (or wine, if you have it). Melt butter into the drippings. Mix cornstarch with a little bit of water in a separate bowl, then add to the pan. Add salt and Tabasco to taste (the vinegar should be noticeable). Chop some lemon thyme and add to gravy at the last minute. Spoon onto steak.

It was delicious, of course. Rachel gives it an 8.75 on a scale of 1 (absolutely terrible) to 10 (culinary orgasm). I guess I can always improve. Now we're just savoring the lingering taste of pepper with a 2002 pinot noir from Wetherell Vineyards.

A much better article that I could write on Google Voice:

Here

See why Rob, Tim, and I love it so. Free phone calls!

Dinner Success

Tonight, I spent two hours slaving away at the kitchen and made the family some tomato and cream pappardelle, garlic bread and, the piece de resistance, bread pudding, all made from scratch (minus the pasta, since I am holding off on it until I get a bit more money). I must say that I'm proud to have made bread pudding, which required several skills--tempering and double boiling--that a roasting guy like me doesn't usually make. I was so proud that I took some pictures (though oddly none of the other dishes, though they similarly came out well).

Partitions and me. . .

We just don't understand each other, mostly because I didn't realize there was a 4 primary partition limit on Linux, because I'm a huge n00b. Getting back into the groove of using computers can be scary sometimes.

Edit: For now, I think I will USB boot Jolicloud to make sure I don't destroy my computer accidentally.

New computer in. . .

Oh this ASUS Eee PC 1005HA is so sweet. I am busy configuring an umer of things on this right now.

Life is starting to get back in gear. . .

I think I may have started to get the hang of enjoying myself again. Rachel's taking the week off, so maybe we'll have some time to actually function as a normal family for once, now that the bar is over.

Sometimes there is nothing to do in the middle of the night.

I hate my life after the bar. . .

I feel empty without all that bullshit studying to do. I can't seem to enjoy things anymore. Law was a bad decision in retrospect. Maybe I can still pursue my dream of illustrating very obscure jokes.