I’ve not been blogging much. I know, this makes Mike a bad blogger. Instead, I’ve been doing thing like working.

Last weekend, Reggie and I had some friends over. Beth and Paul brought Buddy and Brutus to play with Reggie, and Sam brought Jeff, Murphy, and Duke. Our friends Dave and Rita came Pugless. We had a really great time with copious amounts of beverage and some awesome food. I have to say that I’m really proud of the food. I did marinated steak tips, and we roasted some carrots and potatoes on the grill. I’ll post more about the steak tips later. I marinated them, and Beth cooked them off. We make one hell of a team.

This coming weekend, Reggie and I are off to see my parents. Monday is the big labor day parade in the little town where I grew up, and I’ll be driving my dad’s car in the parade. He owns a 1978 Silver Anniversary Edition Corvette. Now, I’m hardly a car buff, but my dad needs somebody to drive it, and that’s my excuse to go home for a weekend.

I’ve booked my flights to go home for Christmas. I got a really good deal on JetBlue. The sticker shock came when I called to make the pet reservation. That fee has doubled since the last time Reggie flew with me. My mom is really upset about this. She thinks that for $200, he should have his own seat.

Tomorrow, I’m sneaking out of work early. I have to run home, take Reggie out, and then head into Boston for a former coworker’s going away party.

I’m watching the Democrat convention with some awe. The whole world is watching what Senator Clinton is going to do tonight. I don’t like her much, and I don’t think Obama is ready to lead this country. Personally, I think Senator Clinton got screwed. Joe Biden as the VP candidate? What was Obama thinking?  At the same time, I’m relieved. Senator Clinton should have been Obama’s running mate. I think that pair could have easily beaten Senator McCain. Now I really want to see who McCain picks as his running mate. If he were asking my advice, and he’s not, I would suggest he pick Carly Fiorina, the former CEO of Hewlett-Packard. She knows business and the economy, and that would be a brilliant pair. Again, Senator McCain doesn’t ask for my advice. Perhaps he should.

I’m really looking forward to my trip to Oregon in October. In retrospect, I should have made that trip a bit longer.

I’ve been sick for almost two weeks now. Normally, when I get sick, I’m sick and then it passes. This has lingered for way too long.

Last Wednesday, I called my doctor’s office, and he called in a prescription for some cough syrup with codine. That helped a little, but I’m still not feeling quite right. I’m still congested and coughing like mad. This is August for crying out loud! So today, I called back, and the nurse wanted me to see a doctor. She got me in to see a different doctor (since mine is scheduled through Thursday) who said my lungs sound clear and that I almost sound like I have athsma. I don’t think so.  She gave me a prescription for some antibiotics and Claratin.

I’ll give it a few days before I call my doctor’s office again. This cold/flu/cough thing has cost me a hundred bucks so far. I just want it to be over.

Oh, and there was all kinds of drama in the waiting room. But that’s another story for another day.

Yesterday, I went to the Hilltop Steak House Butcher Shop in Saugus to get some meat. I picked up a four pound bag of steak tips. About half of that went into the freezer. The other half got split between four plastic bags where they awaited their marinade.

Tomato Basil
A whole tomato
a glug of balsamic vinegar (tne inexpensive stuff)
three cloves of garlic
a bunch of basil leaves
a glug of olive oil (the inexpensive stuff)
One green onion

This all went into my magic bullet for a brief whirl.

Tex Mex
A glug of canola oi
A glug of tequila
zest of one lime
juice of three limes
one jalapeno pepper

Again, this went into the magic bullet for a brief whirl.

Asian
A glug of soy sauce
About a tablespoon of grated ginger (fresh)
a glug of canola oil (I should have used rice wine vinegar)
about a tablespoon of wasabi paste
One green onion

Once again, a brief pulse in the magic bullet combined all of this.

American – This is the one I “iron cheffed” because I had no idea what I was going to do
A glug of whiskey
A drizzle of honey
Some green onion
A bit of worcester sauce

All of the bags got sealed with their meat and marinade in them, and then they spent the night marinating in the refrigerator. Tonight, I cooked up the Tex Mex and Italian. The Tex Mex were okay, and I mean okay. The Italian, on the other hand, were amazing. This is a recipe I need to cultivate because it could very easily be used to feed a crowd. I cooked up some pepper with my steak tips.

What you see in the picture above is the Italian tips cooking with the peppers. The Tex Mex had just come off the grill and the peppers had just gone on.

This is obviously more than just one meal. Well, I ate the entire portion of peppers, but half of the steak tips will be for lunch tomorrow with some steamed asparagus.

Dear Martha,

Every time I walk through the kitchen section of Macy’s, I’m amazed at all of the items from your collection that Macy’s sells. And every time I walk through, there is some item that I never knew I needed. Or if I knew I needed it, I thought I’d need some high-end name brand that was really expensive. You’ve shown me the light.

A few weeks ago, I found your cast iron dutch oven that works just as well as the LeCreucet dutch ovens, and yours cost a fraction of what theirs would. And you sell it in red, to boot! Yesterday, they had your cast iron griddles marked way down. On top of that, it was sitting on the 40% off table. That’s right, I paid $14 for your cast iron griddle. I love how it’s reversible, allowing me to have a flat griddle or a surface that will do grill marks. It will be broken in tonight when I cook my steak tips that are marinating in the refrigerator.

If you ever want a gay guy to come cook on your show, I would be happy to volunteer.

Love,

Mike

Several weeks ago, I was walking Reggie when we bumped into a woman walking a Maltese named Max. The woman’s name was Jenny, and she told me that she owned the restaurant called “In a Pigs Eye” on Derby Street. I’d eaten there a few times and never had a bad meal. As we got talking, she told me that for Sunday brunch, they make a really good sirloin hash. I promised I’d stop in some day and try this hash.

The next weekend, I grabbed my neighbor Jason and headed there for brunch about 10:00. The problem is that they don’t open until 11:00 on Sundays. We missed out on brunch that day.

Today, I was up and hungry at the right time to head to In a Pigs Eye for brunch. I went in and ordered the french toast with a side of the sirloin hash and a bloody mary.

The iPhone picture does my meal very little justice. The french toast was made with a Challah-like bread that had cinnamon swirls through it. True to Jenny’s word, the sirloin hash was exceptional. It had bits of potato and sirloin. Wow. The bloody mary was spicy and perfect.

I eat dinner there a couple times a month because it’s convenient and the food is good. I think that I’ll be going there for Sunday brunch a bit more frequently.

I was having lunch yesterday with my coworkers (a Friday thing) at the Bugaboo Creek Cafe in Burlington. They were telling me about the “moose juice” they have, which is a pineapple infused vodka that’s supposed to be really good.

I wasn’t impressed by the concept as they seemed to be. After all, it’s just an infusion using vodka and fresh fruit, which should be easy to make. I took on the challenge and said I’d make some to prove this. While at it, I decided to do some with lime peal as well to do a lime vodka. That should be perfect for making cosmos.

When I moved into my condo, I bought a loveseat that matched the one I already had. In addition, I bought a few slipcovers that go with the loveseats. The problem is that Ikea doesn’t offer them in many colors that suit my needs. So I had a few in a natural color. My goal had been to dye them something that would go with my room. My goal was to dye them dark green.

Considering that I was shooting for dark green, I can’t exactly call this a success. The good news here is that these can be dyed again and again until I get the color I want. Better yet, I still have two covers that haven’t been colored yet, and I have a white one that’s still in the plastic.

Is it weird or strange to cry over the death of someone you’ve never met? I mentioned on Reggie’s blog that Jayson Kilroy was killed by a driver under the influence. Worse yet, Jayson was on a bicycle. This really hit me in a weird way. He was fun to chat with online, yet I never met the guy. Reading the story about his death had me very angry because the woman who hit him shouldn’t have been driving in the first place. Maybe it just brings me a little closer with my own mortality when someone I know, even in the virtual sense, dies.

My MS has been kicking my ass again lately. It’s the heat. I go through this every summer. I’m chronically fatigued, and it sucks. On top of that, I’m having a few sensory issues, mostly in my fingers. Those will pass eventually.  Just to make matters more fun, I’ve had a cold the past week. Wednesday, I took a sick day, thinking it was my MS. That was the day I started coughing. I haven’t stopped since. Hopefully it will pass soon enough.

Back in May, I bought a cast iron dutch oven from the Martha Stewart collection at Macy’s. I’ve used it exactly once. When I bought it, I didn’t realize that it wasn’t porcelain glazed on the inside, which is what I really wanted. This thing certainly won’t go to waste. It’s perfect to be used over a campfire, so it will probably land in my parents’ camper before too long. It might go with me next weekend, too. Anyway, yesterday, I was at Macy’s, and they had the one I should have bought originally, and it was marked down to $59.99. On top of that, the guy gave me the 15% off coupon that was in the paper, meaning I got the thing half off. Oh, and it’s red because I like red things in my kitchen.

Reggie is having a rough time right now. He had a cut/bite on his jowls from the puppy upstairs. At least that’s what we think happened. He’s moping around the house, wearing a cone to prevent him from scratching at the wound anymore. You can read the whole thing on his blog.

Next weekend is the annual BBQ/camping trip I’ve taken part of for the past six years. This will be the third year it’s being held in the forest. The first year it was in the forest, I spent one night sleeping in a tent. Reggie nor I did very well. Last year, I just drove out for one day. This year, I think I’m camping. I need to find a place to set up a tent, though. Reggie is going to be staying with his cousins. I took Friday as a vacation day and will be leaving about noon. At least that’s my plan right now. Who knows what will happen in the next five days.