2000-10-26

feeling kinda

sorry i went AWOL the other day... stayed home with a headache, and was a slug for most of the day.

fortunately, i roused myself in time to make dinner, and it came out really well. sweetie came over around 7, and i had dessert and both side dishes done. the sirloin i left for him to cook, as i have no idea what i'm doing with meat or chicken. the price you pay for being vegetarian for many years... and i'm always worried that the meat will be undercooked and i'll kill off my guests, or at the least, give them a wicked case of food poisoning. since i don't have a grill, as the recipe directs, the option was to broil the fillets. sounds easy, right? not so much, my friend. i grew up with an electric stove, and the drawer under the oven was the equivalent of the junk drawer - the place where you stored pots and pans, dish towels, and pot holders. it certainly wasn't anywhere you put food. since i've been on my own, tho, i've had gas stoves. it's become one of the 'must haves' when i look for a place. gas heat is much more responsive, and far easier to control. it's fabulous for simmering, or boiling a kettle quickly, and it's great to be able to just shut off the burner and not need to move the pan when the recipe says 'remove from heat'. the broiler, tho, that's another story. gas broilers are underneath the oven, right where the junk drawer would be on an electric stove. so there's the aesthetics of it. and crawling around on the floor to make your dinner just doesn't seem right. besides, what if one of the cats walked by to check out the tempting aroma, and happened to flick their tail past the slightly ajar door? kitty flamb�! eek! no, no, kittens - stay *away* from there! not for you!

fine, fine; so i worry too much. it just seemed easier to ask my honey to be meat meister. rather unfortunate name, i suppose; it might have been a subconscious reference to the Heat Meister from the Kris Kringle Christmas special years ago. remember him - the icy wizard who melted off all the nastiness when he found he could love, then had to rediscover his powers? amazing how all that stuff sticks from childhood.

anyway, the fillets were very tasty. here's the recipe, courtesy of Cooking.com.

Asian Beef Fillets

For Beef Fillets:
Four 10-ounce portions of beef fillets
2 tablespoons lemon zest
2 tablespoons crushed black peppercorns

For Marinade:
1 1/3 cups water
1 1/3 cups regular or low-sodium soy sauce
1 cup fresh lemon juice
1/2 cup sugar
1 tablespoon wasabi paste, Japanese horseradish, or 2 tablespoon prepared white horseradish
1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1/8 teaspoon grated nutmeg

Make a few incisions into both sides of the fillets and press in the lemon zest and peppercorns. Combine the marinade ingredients in a container large enough to hold the liquid and the meat. Place the fillets in the marinade for several hours - ideally overnight in the refrigerator.

Grill the fillets until you reach the point of doneness you desire. Serve sliced across the grain with heated marinade spooned on top.

i skipped the lemon zest and peppercorns (hate black pepper), ran out of soy sauce and supplemented with a little teryaki sauce, and used powdered wasabi. meat meister started them in my toaster oven, then decided the electric element just wasn't gonna cut it, and popped them into the gas broiler. of course the cats tried to help, because clearly we were cooking a special dinner treat just for them. i did peek into the broiler - lemme tell you, that BigAss Flame scared me a little. also made me wonder just how well done it was going to be. 8)

we took a little break between dinner and dessert, and i started installing my new computer! yay! yipee! my sweetie (always thinking) brought over a second disk drive, so i could just drag everything from the old machine over there, then move it on an as-need basis to the new machine. i got everything cabled up, with support and flattering comments from the peanut gallery, and it booted up like a charm. but when i went to install OS9 - oh, the humanity! it's a piggy little OS, and demanded much more RAM. feh. well, until i can afford new RAM, i'll set it up with OS8. it's still leaps and bounds faster than the old machine. with any luck, i'll have it squared away tonight, and set up the essential products (First Class is one, and yes, Solitaire Til Dawn is the other).

in other very exciting news - my friend george has been working for Ray Ozzie for 3 years, and he hasn't been able to say a word about what they've been doing, as the new product development was 'jamming in stealth mode' (i swear, it said that on their web site!). they've finally gone public with the product, and it's really cool. sort of Notes and Napster and open development all in one. check it out, as my description does it no justice. congratulations, george! you're nearly a free man! hopefully, there's some vacation coming your way. god knows you've all earned it.

weekend plans are shaping up, as well as a few articles and essays. stay tuned...

yesterday tomorrow