Chillin-N-Grillin

It's not often I have an unplanned Saturday to do pretty much what I want. What I didn't want was to start the day not having any hot water. Boo on having to deal with the "man" stuff especially before noon. Anyone that knows me, knows that I'm not a huge fan of mornings but I don't like to waste them either. Apparently the family gene has carried on because I saw daggers shooting out of Jennifer's eyes this morning too. I started the day by taking her to teach some U11 girls the ABC's of soccer. She was nervous but she did a phenomenal job. The afternoon rounded out by some time at Prairie Days (a small, but local fair). We were also moral support for Keahna at 2 basketball games. A thought consumed me at the end of the afternoon that I seem to not only have suffered the loss of my marriage, but some friends too. Relationships have changed weather people admit it or not. I'm told that's the natural evolution of friendships since we all seem to socialize with people that are like us. Although it wasn't my choice, I'm not like them  anymore. Boo, that hurts. What better way to soothe the soul than to set something on fire  start up the grill.

I look in the freezer. The marinating skirt steak calls my name. Right now while I have the freezer space I buy meat at Costco, individually wrap it in "press and seal", then I put all the portions in a gallon freezer bag and identify it by cut and date. Anything I am motivated to make a marinade for gets zip locked in it's "bath of yumminess" so all I have to do is pop it out of the freezer and let it thaw in the fridge overnight and bam, it's ready to cook.This marinade wasn't my favorite marinade but it was acceptable. AND as if you don't have enough of an imagination to figure out what that looks like, I took a picture since I have not mastered the timing of cooking with being able to determine what I "need" a picture of for my blog...and since I took it an uploaded it, you get to suffer through obnoxious amounts of stupid photos. (Hence the picture of burning coals too).

A year ago I wouldn't have even considered fajitas without the tortilla (blasphemy I'd say!) but I haven't even entertained the idea of making gf ones so tonight I go commando on the wrapping. If and when I find the motivation to try and make some, I'm sure you'll hear about it. I won't bore the snot entertain you with the picture of the ridonkulous amounts of onions and peppers I sauteed to go hand in hand with chunk of love I call fajita meat. First I must say that although I never minded grilling, it wasn't usually my job, so as much as I enjoy it, I'm by no means proficient at it. A lot of the times when I cook, grill or bake I just cook it till it feels right. So now, in fear honor of people asking me questions like "soooo, how long did you grill it" I looked up the appropriate amount of grilling time. Epicurious said 1 to 2 min on each side if you like it medium rare. I kept in mind that my slab of meat wasn't completely thawed and I kicked up the time. I let it set when I took it off the grill and I gave it a slice. The first bite was like a fiesta in my mouth...the second bite was way to raw for my liking so back onto the grill it went. THEN I grilled it till it felt right, let it set (to seal in the juices) and sliced that baby up. . It was done to perfection. Here's the result.

Again, I kinda failed on my idea of excellent presentation but oh well. My belly won't care. I couldn't help but to top it off with salsa and a side of sour cream. I guess if I was a real party girl I would have taken the time to make some kinda of pretty mixed drink but tonight, milk sounds great. It was also a precursor for dessert. My old standby and author of my last 10 pounds, the gf chocolate chip cookie.

One day I'll do a "feature" article on my love affair with them. But for now, we are on the down low...yeah, right. Well, the budda is full, the dishes are done, my girl is home and Netflix is callin my name. I'm outta here. Cheer-eee-oh!