jeffjudge.com

I saw this on a site recently:

“To request our services:
Please do not rely on email for this purpose. We strongly encourage a phone/email combo, with a follow-up phone/email combo.”

This from the design company that did pitchfork.com. Get over yourself.

I saw a post tonight on food tips, and it reminded me to publish my take on how to cook a good steak. I’m not going to get incredibly detailed here, just the highlights.

A great steak only needs three things: high heat, garlic salt and black pepper. Heat is critical. Heat makes or breaks steak. If you want to make someone cry, give them a great piece of meat that hasn’t been cooked with the right heat. It’s seriously night and day. Heat=good steak.

Here’s the play by play:
(1) Buy some damn good meat. I’m talking New York strips from Costco, Whole Foods or your local butcher. You get what you pay for, so don’t be a cheap ass.
(2) Preheat the oven to 425° F.
(3) Heavily season both sides of the steak with garlic salt and some pepper. Remember, salt is good. Garlic is good. Garlic salt on a steak…you know where I’m going. Pepper for taste.
(4) Grab a grill pan (these are usually square and have ridges) or cast iron skillet, set on the stove and turn the burner just shy of high.
(5) Once the pan is hot enough (run your fingers under the kitchen sink and flick water on the pan to test…it should sizzle away), throw your steaks on and man up. After a 3 mins, flip and cook for 2 mins on the other side. You want to get a nice sear on both sides. Don’t screw around here…stick to schedule!
(6) Throw the pan (w/steak) in to the oven and cook for another 4 minutes or so. The best way to tell if a steak is done is to press on it with your finger. There is some trick about how to test for how done it is by doing the same with your finger and your palm, but that’s just overthinking it. Medium rare (dark pink in the middle) is the way to cook a steak: the meat should be soft, but not spongy. If the meat is firm, game over. It might take you a few times before you get this down, but you will.
(7) Pull the pan out, let the steak rest for 4-5 minutes while you prep up the rest of the meal and enjoy. Don’t get too excited here, you *need* to let the steak rest so the juices will distribute and the meat will finish cooking.

Remember, the key here is to seal the meat to retain the juice. That’s where the heat is critical - the sear will lock it in. Seriously, this works every time.

Pair this with a nice bottle of red wine (cab, zin, pinot) and a quick salad of heirloom tomato, buffalo mozarrella, fresh basil, olive oil and cracked pepper.

Finally, I’m available for consultation on a paid steak basis :)

I’ve got a totally free morning to do whatever I want - surprisingly, this doesn’t happen all that often. I could pretty much care less about the superbowl today, but we’re heading to a couple parties later today. Anyway, I’ve had lots of time to work on stuff this morning and that makes me happy.

I just found the site playedlastnight.com which i found to be pretty interesting. The idea is bands upload a high bitrate version of their shows to the site, and then sell them for 10-12 bucks or so per show. So far the only band is Iron and Wine…but I can see some legs with this idea.

I also think that the whole internet distribution model has legs. I know your thinking, “fucking duh!”, but I’m really excited to see where this goes in 2008. I wonder what benefit the record companies will provide those bands who tour and sell their music at shows and online. Sure sure…lots of people still love buying CDs, buts lots of people no longer care to buy CDs (this guy). If I wasn’t working on mobile stuff, this is definitely what I’d be working on.

Ahhhh…time and money, you’re so elusive.