Like a KingFollow

Lately I have been working like mad on a financial plan for my family which will produce many future opportunities including school funds for all 4 kids, retirement funds for my wife and I, and a comfortable way of life in between. I have never been afraid of debt because I have worked with many entrepreneurs and understand what it means to spend money to make money.

However, our wonderful plan has left things rather tight. This includes the slimming of the recreational budget and extravagant food budgets. My wife and I have always been of the school that one should eat well and enjoy what they eat, because if you live on KD and ramen that's not much of a life (after college).

Today we achieved a milestone in our plan and it seems like things are on track to achieve our goals within the next couple months. In speaking with my wife early this afternoon, we decided to "celebrate" a little without actually going out for a meal because we do have some excellent choices at home since we order a lot of our food in bulk and it gets delivered twice annually.

Our customary "celebration" meal is lobster, garlic shrimp and filet mignon with a vintage wine. Tonight we decided to stray from this a little bit since neither of us felt for the surf part of the combo.

Around 2:30pm I went out and got the charcoal bbq burning (since nothing beats the taste of a good charcoal bbq), defrosted 2 large porterhouse steaks (for those who do not know it is a T-Bone steak with a very large filet portion). I then searched the web for a good marinade or rub and came upon this recipe. Just before applying this rub to the steak, I also added a splash of liquid hickory smoke for flavour, then let the steaks sit for 30 mins as the bbq warmed up.

My next trip was to our wine cellar, where I selected a 2000 vintage "Heritage des Caves des Papes - Cotes-du-rhone" red wine to go with the meal.

As my wife prepared buttered sweet peas and cucumber as a side, I brought the 2 steaks and a few bear-paw hamburgers (for the kids) to a perfect medium-rare finish, then brought them into our dining hall and sat down for our humble celebratory meal.

The steak was better than I have ever had from any restaurant we have ever been to, and the wine was divine. Of course I could not complain about the company either as it is always a joy to share a good meal with the family.

All in all I'd say we all walked away from that meal satisfied. The most impressive part about the entire meal was that including the cost of the charcoal, the steaks (wholesale) and the wine (purchased 6 years ago), the entire meal cost about $20.

That is how today I managed to feel like a .









Edited, Sat Apr 1 18:35:26 2006 by Elderon

Fly me out, I want to be pampered!

Certainly!

The bbq was located in a small alcove from the exit of my car port into my back-yard. This allowed the smoke to rise just outside the alcove and be carried by the winds whilst keeping me, the chef, relatively secluded from the 50 degree, slightly chilling winds we are experiencing.

The light smoke formed as the flames licked the goodness from the hickory and spice of the steak to create an exquisite aroma that was a mixture of cedar, hickory, charcoal and spice. When I walked back to the main entrance of the house to get a plate for the meat, I chuckled to myself knowing that this scent was carrying for at least a block on the winds that we were having. I'm certain had you seen my face you would describe it as carrying a smug look with a hint of satisfaction because I knew that anyone walking by would be sent into an instantaneous salivating madness, much like Pavlov's dogs when they hear a bell.


Did I capture the essence enough for you BT?







Edited, Sat Apr 1 18:14:47 2006 by Elderon

Thanks for the recipe Eld.

Is that the shape or did feed your shorties bear-burgers?

I'm trying your rub as soon as the weather breaks, nothing beats a good porterhouse with a good rub.

By shoot you mean club, right?