Saturday, July 25, 2009

A new cut of meat (for us)



I have always heard of flank steak and how tender it is,,,, as long as you cook it and marinade it. So I went to the internet to find a couple of recipes... one to marinade and one for a chimchurri sauce. Thank you Bobby Flay (chimchurri sauce) and Alton Brown (flank steak marinade). I thought this came out beautifully tender and flavorful. I have read in many places that flank steak is better when it is medium rare. Any more cooked and it will be chewy. I cooked the steak of medium high heat for about 4-5 minutes per side, then I let it rest for about 10 minutes. The chimchurri sauce added a nice fresh flavor for the beef. I think the sauce would also go well with fish.


Skirt Steak
Recipe courtesy Alton Brown

Ingredients
1/2 cup olive oil
1/3 cup soy sauce
4 scallions, washed and cut in 1/2
2 large cloves garlic
1/4 cup lime juice
1/2 teaspoon red pepper flakes
1/2 teaspoon ground cumin
3 tablespoons dark brown sugar or Mexican brown sugar

Directions

In a blender, put in oil, soy sauce, scallions, garlic, lime juice, red pepper, cumin, and sugar and puree. In a large heavy duty, zip top bag, put pieces of skirt steak and pour in marinade. Seal bag, removing as much air as possible. Allow steak to marinate for 1 hour in refrigerator.
Remove steak from bag and pat dry with paper towels. When finished cooking, place meat in double thickness of aluminum foil, wrap, and allow to sit for 15 minutes.

Remove meat from foil, reserving foil and juices. Slice thinly across the grain of the meat. Return to foil pouch and toss with juice. Serve with grilled peppers and onions, if desired.





Chimichurri Sauce:
1 cup cilantro leaves
1 cup flat-leaf parsley leaves
1/2 cup mint leaves
4 cloves garlic, roughly chopped
3/4 to 1 cup olive oil
1/4 to 1/3 cup red wine vinegar
Kosher salt and freshly ground black pepper

Sauce:
Pulse the herbs and garlic in a food processor until coarsely chopped. Add 3/4 cup oil, 1/4 cup vinegar and salt and pepper, to taste, and pulse to make a soupy vinaigrette — it will look a bit creamy until it settles. Add more oil and/or vinegar if too thick. Set aside.

Tuesday, July 21, 2009

Matt's Birthday BBQ


Last weekend we went over to Matt and Dawns to celebrate Matt's Birthday. It was a nice mellow night so we were able to enjoy ourselves and talk and hang out with our friends. Matt smoked up some awesome ribs, that we totally enjoyed, as well as cooked up some hamburgers. Yum, yum, yum!! We also tried some Jamaican rum and rum creme... very good. Dawn and Matt had just returned from a trip to Jamaica for her sisters wedding.
Happy Birthday Matt!



In their kitchen, Dawn, Lindsay, Anthony and Andrea.


Jim loving those ribs


Playing croquet in the backyard. I opted to hang back and talk while they played. I haven't played it before, but it seemed like fun




This is Maddox, Sarah and Orly's little boy. I tried so damn hard to get this kid to like me. He is a rock, and hasn't deemed me worthy of his friendship.... Yet.

Maddox and Sue


Dawn showing some lovin to the Pin the Boobs on the Babe pinup

Dawn, me, Lindsay and Andrea


The sassy version

Me and my new "set"

Matts turn at the Pin the Boobies on the babe

Dawns turn


Jimmy's turn


Andrea's turn. You can see that we had quite a few different versions of boobies to choose from.

Keith's turn

Lindsay's turn


My lovely husband.... with boobies


My turn


But wait....what is that... fur?.... hair?... why is there hair on the pin up babe? Matt slipped in front of the poster for my turn. I had no idea, and didn't hear him sneak in there. Sneaky little birthday boy :o) But I did put the boobies in the right place!

Ryans turn

Dawn



Random photos



I was looking for some photos on my Photobucket account, when I came across some cold looking photos and I got all sad because it is so hot right now. So I thought I would share with you guys, so you can be jealous of the times when it wasn't so hot! I also came across come cute Taylor and Chewie photos and a couple of family photos.



Taylor in the back yard



Chewie and I during the freeze.... I think it was back in 2007


Frozen water coming out of our gutter


Walking the dogs was fun and a little scary due to the icy conditions. Taylor and Chewie didn't like walking in the grass because it was crunchy from the ice. But they were both pretty hyper during the walk
They are seriously spoiled. Look at how comfortable they are!


This was during a different storm in 2007... the water was WAY out of the banks during this storm. Probably about 30 feet if I had to guess. I am horrible with distances, so I could be way off, BUT the creek is normally on the other side of the bamboo (top right of the photo)

Sticking with a weather theme.... one foggy morning at Town Lake.
I love taking pictures in the fog, it is so peaceful.


This was the at our friends super bowl party in 2008. They live out in Georgetown, so they get to have mini bonfires. Lee was out to visit that time (in backwards hat) so he got to enjoy the festivities.


Me and Mom!!! This is probably back in 1976??? ish?? This has nothing to do with my pictures above, but I liked it so I added. It's my blog and I can do what I want. :)

A few years later, we took this photo :o) Pop pop, Jim, Mom and I. We look like we should be the Brady Bunch

Chewie flying through the air

The squirrel is tormenting Chewie. He just sat there and stared at him, wishing that he could jump through the window to get at him


Taylor and Jim playing on the floor

The last shot of this random blog post is of Austin on South Congress late one night



Sunday, July 19, 2009






Austin Fashion Week





Austin decided to get in all of the fun of fashion week, and determined that smack dab in the middle of the hottest month of the year. Yelp.com hosted their own fashion show that had local boutiques, hair and make up stylists, yelp models, burlesque show and acrobat shows. And of course there was free food and free Lone Star beer and Makers Mark.





Our night started off in a very fucking hot line. I kid you not... my back sweat was kicking and I was doing everything I could to stay cool. It was horrible waiting in line. I have no idea what took so damn long but it put all of us in a crappy mood. Good thing that free beer and free food put us in a better mood. :o)


The line at the Mohawk









A very good crab cake from Eddie V's. I ate a few of these.... quite tasty! We haven't been to Eddie V's before, but we might have to check them out



Orly, Sarah, Lindsay, Jim and Chris




This was a vegetarian sandwich on gluten free bread. I honestly didn't think it was vegetarian free,,, I thought it had some type of salami in it. Guess not...and I had no idea it was gluten free bread. The other food we had (no pictures) was dynamite shrimp and egg rolls from Mama Fu's. Quite acceptable finger food!

I have to admit, I'm not a huge fan of Lone Star. For those of you reading that doesn't live in Texas, Lone Star reminds me of Key Stone beer.... cheep but not super terrible (in my opinion not as bad as Pabst beer)


Chris and Lindsay


Jim and I

Matt, Orly, Nory and Keith


Orly and Sarah



Kevin, the guy who puts on these fantastic Yelp parties


Our MC of the night was Vanessa... the Drag Queen from San Antonio. He/She was one large she-male!



Lindsay-- a friend of ours that was one of the models. Unfortunately my camera didn't focus in time.


In between the models, there were dancers and acrobats. This chick and 2 others were spinning around on the hula hoop looking device while going from pose to pose. Now, these ladies weren't exactly afraid of showing skin. As you might notice her chi-chi is showing in the picture, but she has a pastie on nipple.... ya know so it wasn't so stripper like :o)



Another acrobat


Double team on the hula hoop


Fashion show resumes....


Dawn in the crowd of models




Go Go dancer during another fashion show intermission... she could shake it!




Another dancer....


Lindsay, Chris, Jim and I





Dawn strutting her hot self down the cat walk!


The dancers moved from the hula hoop to the poll... the stripper poll


These ladies were talented, but not exactly,, um,,,, attractive. Instead of a bathing suit this year, I am going to do the classy thing, and use electrical tape... Hawt

Lindsay

These are the non-professional pictures with the stuffed bear... Chris and Jim


Lindsay and I.... total hams
Hot mamas!
Chris showing us his chest hair