Steak and Life - The problem with asking someone you trust to hold you accountable to a goal is that they actually might. I told my friend Skinner (check out his blog, great thoughts - www.skinnerlayne.com) that I wanted to blog once a week for the rest of the year. I told him that I felt like putting my thoughts down in this format forced me to actually slow my thoughts down enough to communicate what I am actually thinking. A good exercise in knowing what I know. Well, I blogged the next day and then went on with my week. A week later I got a text message from him reminding me of my lack of blogging for the week. Then a couple of days later another message reminding me that I still hadn't posted. So here it is, the blog that I am writing to fulfill a commitment to Skinner to blog more often.
But as long as I am blogging and putting some thoughts out here in the blogosphere (which just sounds silly if you ask me) I might as well make it worth you time to continue reading.
Have you ever order a steak at a back woods country restaurant? It costs about $14 and the steak is approximately two inches larger than the platter it is served on. It is covered in seasoning and has great grizzly bits of greasy goodness hanging off the side and tastes incredible dipped in the mountain of gravy cover mashed potatoes served on a separate plate. There is a place like this close to College Station where I used to go about once a semester with a group of my friends. The people there look like they eat there at least once, maybe twice, each day. But they sure are nice folks and you feel good after meeting them. There are not enough places like this.
Have you ever order a steak at a trendy upscale downtown restaurant? It costs about $41 and the steak is approximately two square inches total. It is not covered with anything because each bite is meant to be savored for at least eight minutes so that it takes you 25 minutes to finish this delectable morsel of perfected beef. Or at least that is what the often very cocky and too confident chef thinks of his choice of meat. The people that you see in the restaurant themselves are much like the food, not really there and a challenge to enjoy for very long. There are far too many places like this.
But I will give one recommendation that my delicate palette for steak signed off on in such a way my girlfriend Annie was amazed. When we were in New York City this summer we were celebrating our three year anniversary. I got recommendations from the concierge at the W New York on Lexington, which by the way was a great hotel. He recommended a Japanese restaurant in the fashion district off of 42nd and 5th. Koi was incredible. We had a great time and I definitely recommend it. We started off with Sushi and Annie discovered that she actually liked it. (Side note: If you have never tried sushi because it is 'icky' to eat raw fish, you really should try it and order a California Roll which isn't, then you can experiment and find kinds that you like) The huge selling point for Koi was the steak that I had. I had the expectation that when I ordered, I would be presented with a steak smaller than the cucumber slice in my water. I was pleasantly surprised to find that not only was the steak a good size, it was the most amazing piece of meat I had ever put in my mouth. I actually did savor each bit and I didn't add salt or pepper to any part of the meal, which if you ask Annie is quite a compliment to the chef.
Thought for the day as far as relating life to steak: "Time to face the music, no more metaphors, Time to decide your fate will you be cooked or go raw? Will you be rare and bloody with your soul exposed? Or well done-a charcoal surface with your insides froze?" Snowflakes - by Just Jack