Well work has been interesting. We are moving pretty fast with our testing… breakneck speed I’d say. If the technical team would stop shutting down our environment and pegging out the primary CPU to 100% in the middle of our test, that would be fantastic.

I made a pretty damn good steak this past weekend. I think my grilling knowledge is improving substantially. Most of my “customers” agree I’ve nailed boneless chicken breast. Steak took a while to get down. And while my Dad would probably kill me for marinating a good steak, here is my way of doing strip:

The marinade should cover the bottom of a walled dish (I use a glass baking dish). You need enough marinade to not quite submerge all the meat. I like the marinade to come about 75% up the sides and I crowd and press the strip together pretty tightly when I do this.

Marinade:
  • Olive Oil (4 Parts)
  • Balsamic Vinegar (1 Part)
  • Worcestershire Sauce (1 Part)
  • Kosher Salt (liberal)
  • Onion Flakes (liberal)
  • Garlic Powder
  • Marjoram
  • Thyme
  • Black Pepper

I marinate 4-6 hours in the refrigerator with the dish saran wrapped closed. Flip the meat in the marinade once.

After marinating and about 1 hour before grill time, I take the steak out, take them for a quick rinse and pat them dry. It’s important to get them to room temperature before grilling.

Give the steak a quick salt cure (no this doesn’t make the steak overly salty). Lay out all your meat flat, and cover liberally with kosher salt (make sure the steak is dry when you do this). Cover one side completely. If you want you can cover the bottoms too, though I usually don’t find it necessary. Let them sit like this for 30-60 minutes. Then rinse with water and pat dry. Your steaks are now ready for the grill.

Hope you enjoyed our little grilling informational here. I’m back to work.

Over and out.

Current Mood: Intense

Listening To: Crystal Ball - Keane

We have a door here at the office that has been broken since early last week. The only thing wrong with it is that the pressure hinge is cut so it slams closed… loudly. We, day one there was a small post it note sign informing us to not us the door. And sure enough throughout the day I heard nothing but bang, bang, BANG! (I sit next to the door) Well as the week went on the sign went from a small note, to a bigger note, to a full sheet of paper with high lettering.
   So I come in the office today to find no less than three sheets of paper informing us the door is broken. I anticipate this will still not be enough and will surely find the entire door covered in paper by tomorrow.

It got a little colder here today. I stepped outside and it was freezing! I thought we were done with that? Happy belated Easter to you and yours, I hope you enjoyed the weekend.

I finally nailed a Pot Roast last night after some three or four failed tries. As I suspected, previous failures resulted from not budgeting in enough cook time (my 3 pound rump roast took about 4 hours stove top by the way). I also have a meat thermometer now (a simple poke and read affair) which has aided greatly in the cooking of succulent meat. I recommend a good horseradish and worcestershire rub for the roast itself. Braising liquid is much a personal choice - I may try a cheap red wine next time.

On the gaming front, we had an excellent little Halo run last night. This was following a horrid big team affair over the weekend however. I’ve also decided to update my stat algorithms for the Halo Stat Tracking. This is for several reasons, such as placement in team games isn’t a good indicator of performance and I was using it as a keystone in a lot of calculations. Not sure when the changes will be up but I’ll send out FTA notes with more info.

It’s confirmed Rainbow Six Vegas 2 doesn’t have 4 person co-op. When you remove this feature, which you already had implemented, even if poorly, I think you have made a poor design decision. Users always get upset when you take functionality away. Other than that I here it is a Vegas 1 clone with a run button and new maps. Probably won’t be dropping the $60 on this one.

Lost Odyssey is still cool, but you probably knew this. I’m about 38 hours in and on disc four. I still love all the characters. My only major gripe has been the English voiced songs are for the most part not so good. I of course have been spoiled with good game music from Playstation hits like Metal Gear Solid and Xenogears. Compared to those, the full voiced songs in Lost Odyssey are cheap and empty. Of course the in-game music is very good. And that’s my only complaint so it is still my vote for best RPG on the 360.

I just found out you can share Pandora stations with friends. I totally am going to have to do this. Of course I’m presently on a Techno kick as its extremely easy to code to.

I’ve got my one year performance appraisal coming up now. Wish me luck!

Current Mood: Pondering

Listening To: As the Rush Comes - Motorcycle