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Perhaps it’s just the area that I live in, but there are actually only a handful of restaurants in the Southern New Mexico and South East Texas that know how to cook a steak. Oh don’t get me wrong, plenty of restaurants have some very tasty steaks, but there are only two that I can name off the top of my head that know how to cook a mouth watering, succulent, juicy steak. Maybe it’s a regional thing? Perhaps if I went to Some Dallas, Chicago, New York, Denver, Houston, New Orleans, or even some San Diego restaurants I’d find some high quality steaks. Not here though, that’s for sure. So for the most part if I want a truly well prepared steak I have to cook it myself.

I found an excellent recipe online at www.reluctantgourmet.com that I think other steak lovers will like:

What You’ll Need:

4 medium sized New York Strip Steaks (Learn more about buying steaks here)
2 tablespoons shallots
2 oz. Butter (1/2 stick)
1 pound assorted wild mushrooms, (portabello,morel,shitake, cremini…whatever is available)
1/2 cup Red Wine
3 oz Demi-Glace Gold*
1 cup Hot Water
Salt and Pepper to taste

*If you can’t find Demi-Glace Gold, you can substitute 1 cup of homemade demi-glace or 2 cups of veal stock reduced by half and forget about the cup of hot water.

Preparations
Get your grill really hot. While that is happening, finely chop your shallots and slice your mushrooms. Have your red wine and demi glace or substitute ready to go

Prepare Steaks:

Preheat your grill until it’s really hot. Season the steaks with a little salt and pepper. The meat should be cooked approximately 3-4 minutes per side depending how you like your steaks. When done, slice the steaks into 1/4 inch strips, fan out on a warm plate and add your wild mushroom sauce.

Prepare Wild Mushroom Sauce:

Demi-Glace Gold comes with easy instructions, but here’s how I make it. Melt butter in a sauce pan and sauté shallots until transparent, approximately 2-3 minutes. Add red wine, preferably something you may be sipping while you are preparing this meal. Don’t use plain old cooking wine, big mistake.

Add mushrooms and cook until tender and wine has reduced to an essence. Add Demi-Glace Gold and stir (with a whisk if you have one) until dissolved. Add hot water and simmer until the sauce has thickened, approximately 8-10 minutes.

Salt and pepper to taste and serve over the steaks (and mashed potatoes).

Do you have any steak preparation tips or even some tasty recipes as well? Please share!

There are some undeniably beautiful creations that were gifted to Americans, made for Americans, or made by Americans. The Statue of Liberty, the boat Adela made for George Lindemann, these are things of beauty that come to mind.

But when people say that the results of 9/11 or even the recent killing spree at Virginia Tech are the creation of Americans, a byproduct that is the result of some personal flaw ingrained in us all, I have to wonder where people get these ideas. Even if there is some horrible and dismal flaw that is inherent in all Americans does that mean that we are any less human? Does that mean that senseless violence and hatred is warranted? I think not! So for the people who like to attribute every single bad act that occurs as a flaw that is a part of all members of a society I ask you to step back a moment and take a look at yourselves in the mirror first.

There’s something there that you don’t like and it’s apparent you’re trying to put others beneath you to raise your own self-worth.

So the average United States citizen claims to be an individual. They say they are not at all alike to other people and they stand out from the crowd. They rebel against becoming conformists and strive for independence.

But do they ever stop to think that they’re still conforming none the less? The reality is that they probably don’t. Those who seek to stand out and go against the grind, those known as ‘goths’ and ‘freaks’ all look pretty uniform to me. Now don’t get me wrong, I like a lot of the things that make up the ‘goth look’ but what is the point of adopting a certain style or look in order to show your rebellion when you’re still so very uniform anyway? Am I the only one who doesn’t comprehend this thought process?

Hey I’m not saying we should all just look like carbon copies here. I’m just saying that if you want to dress a certain way do it because you like the style not because it’s a rebellion.  Tattoos are cool if they’re gotten for the right reason because then they are body art and are reflective and indicative of the wearer’s personality. But getting them done, receiving multiple piercings, or adopting a new style for sake of “rebelling”, well there is a term for people like that.

Rebel Without a Cause

The dawning of the age of information and technology has brought us many innovations. None seem to be as wide spread or fast growing as the blog and the blogger. Blogging has become one of the, if not fastest, methods used to disseminate information across the globe and now bloggers can take it one step further.

They can turn their blogs into revenue generating machines.

But in order to generate more revenue they have to be able to create and maintain a loyal readership (see fanbase) and this is certainly not an easy thing to accomplish. In fact many blogs struggle, wither and die while attempting to surmount this hurdle. So how does one generate revenue from their blog and how does one generate and maintain a readership? This is a twofold question so we’re going to step back and answer it bit by bit.

First, generating a feasible and workable income from your blog is easy to do with companies like Sponsored Reviews. This blog, for example, is enrolled with SR.com as well as my other two blogs. You can view my public profile for Scuttlebutt Pipeline here.

Now before you think you can just build a successful blog I think you really need to read SR’s 27+1 Tips for Building and Maintaining a Blog Audience. This article should become mandatory reading for all bloggers no matter their experiance level. I am sure just about everyone will find something that they didn’t know or understand explained here. I found the following particularly useful for me:

1. Consistency is Key
Once you begin your blog, you’ll need to find a schedule and then stick to it. If you don’t think you’ll be able to blog every day, try to set aside at least one day a week that can be devoted to your blog. Keep in mind however that blogs that are updated frequently are usually more highly trafficked. Consistency will help your audience rely on you for information, since they know it will always be published at a set time. While you may not be able to stick to your schedule all the time, make an effort to publish as frequently as you can.

5. Offer Digg This and Other Social Bookmarking Options
Give your readers the opportunity to share your blog with others by incorporating a Digg This button, or other social bookmarking links. Most blogging platforms now have plugins to easily add these buttons to each of your posts, or you can always add them manually. Just don’t overdue it, pick a few of the biggest and stick with those.

6. Digg Yourself – But Do it Wisely
If no one is digging your posts, you can always Digg them on your own, but remember this important caveat: Interesting posts = Digg Success. Boring or spam posts = bad Digg experience. If you’re in doubt on whether your post is worth Digging, err on the side of caution. Do not make the mistake of submitting every one of your posts to Digg. If you submit every article you will get to be known as a spammer, and fewer people will Digg you.

If people haven’t really responded to a post I made I have a tendency to refrain posting more entries for a bit to give people a chance to view and comment on it, thinking that people haven’t had a chance yet. But thinking back on that, it’s not a very smart methodology. It just means people weren’t really interested or didn’t have much to say. So by altering my blogging schedule not only do I have uninteresting posts as the latest posts but then the blog looks like it’s not updated frequently to boot.

I’ve only recently forayed into the realm of Diggs and the first blog entry I’ve had digged I dugg myself because I wanted it seen. I didn’t feel right digging it myself though but understanding the importance of using social bookmarks helped me to understand the significance and importance of using and offering these features. You can expect to see social bookmarks used on this blog sometime in the very near future.

In short, while this entry did mention and rehash several things I already knew it also stressed and explained some of the finer concepts I did not understand or take into consideration. I would highly recommend that all bloggers give this article a look over. Perhaps even print or bookmark it for future reference?

We’re supposed to be able to look up to our lawmakers and representatives as the role models for this generation and future generations to come. Their behavior is supposed to be beyond reproach. I guess Governor John S. Corzinne didn’t get the memo, or else he chose to ignore this fact when he decided to go for a joy ride in his SUV while doing 91 in a 65mph zone.

Good thing the guy didn’t seem to have heard about all the Lamborghinis for sale and other cars perfect for racing.

The funny thing is people are actually sending in get well cards to him and calling this a sad accident, and in some cases, a tragedy.

I somehow doubt these same people would feel that way about a 17 year old boy going for a joy ride in his parent’s Jag and crashing it. So what’s the difference here?