Sunday, July 10, 2011

Baby's First Steak

Okay so if any of you have talked with me about what the best meat I've had since I started back to meat-eating, you would have heard about this steak I got at Gasparro's butcher shop on Bloor. The butcher that helped me was super awesome and told me exactly how to cook so I'm gonna pass this delicious knowledge on to you. He told me if I followed his instructions we would have steaks that would sell for $60 in a restaurant and they would melt in your mouth. He was right.

Choose your meat
First, you gotta get a good steak, obviously. We had Angus NY Strip and it was bonkers good.

Season it up
Then, you gotta have a good seasoning. Gasparro's sold me on the Barbarian steak spice and I'm glad they did. So coat the steak in a healthy amount of steak spice on all sides, and you're ready to grill.

Grill time
Step one:
Turn your BBQ to the hottest it can get. Oil the grill a little bit and pop your steaks on, and grill for ONE MINUTE each side. This is just to sear the meat and keep the juices in.

Step two:
If you have two burners, turn the heat down to medium on one side and turn the heat off altogether on the other side. Then move your steaks to the side that's off so you're cooking with indirect heat. Make sure that you TURN the steaks 90 degrees so that you get the nice criss-cross grill marks on them. Close the lid. For medium steak, cook for 5 minutes each side -- no more.

Voila, perfect steak!

What the heck, let's keep going

It's been about 6 weeks since we've been back in Canada and life here is great. We turned things upside down a little to leave for a few months and I'm happy to report that things are settling back into place, even better than they were before. I'm trying to look at the city with fresh eyes and I'm seeing there are pretty things here too.

For me, big changes being home:

1. Time! I have time to do things that aren't work. Before I left I was working way too much and now, I've got the time to enjoy life (like going to Toronto Island).


2. Meat! I didn't eat meat before I left so it's like discovering a whole new city to eat and cook in. And eat Dave's homemade braised beef short ribs (with red cabbage and apple slaw) in.



3. Freelance! Before I left I had a job and was freelancing a lot, but now I'm back to focusing on solely freelance. I decided I wanted to work on things that make me happier and get me excited, and so far, the universe is truly working in my favour. Pinch me. Here's a window painting thing I did for Miss Cora's Kitchen in Kensington (much more to come on this project).


4. Movin' in! Dave and I are living together for realz and it's awesome.

I think going to Europe was the perfect kickstart to a new chapter.