Saturday’s Story

I slept lousy Friday night, in spite of the window being open. I was wide awake at 2:00 a.m. and didn’t fall sleep again until after 4:00. So, it was no surprise my inner alarm clock didn’t wake me up on time. As a result, I had to hustle to make it to my 8:30 massage session. From there, I went and got my haircut.

Next was Kroger’s for some staples. Now, I already knew they didn’t have any bone-in rib eye or porterhouse steaks on sale, so I adjusted my grilling plans accordingly: I thawed out some brats and a rope of onion sausage. But… but… they had top sirloin steaks on sale.

Thus ensured a BIG debate. Now you can call me a foodie snob, but a top sirloin just doesn’t have the marbling (fat) of, say, a rib eye. And the fat is what makes it juicy. In fact, forget filet mignon, I think a bone-in rib eye is the greatest steak ever! All you need is some coarse salt and fresh ground pepper patted on each side, then grill it, broil it or even fry it. A pat of butter on top while it rests and you have steak HEAVEN!!!

But, I finally decided that with a marinade, I might be able to grill a top sirloin into something good. So, I grabbed one.

Sidebar: I knew I had a lot of trips to go, so I brought the big cooler and some ice packs. That way I knew my meats, milk and eggs wouldn’t go bad.

The next stop was Westborn for veggies. From there I went to the Post Office. I left there and headed east to Telegraph Road. I headed south on Telegraph and made the Michigan turn just after Cherry Hill Road to get to Anderson Music. They had called and my violin was done.

Let me back up about 10 years or so. It was lunchtime and B__ and I were rambling around. We came across a yard sale and decided to stop and check it out. I spotted an old beat up violin in a case. They only wanted forty bucks for it so I bought it. I had no idea what I was gonna do with it, it just sounded cool (my Father played violin).

Sidebar to Jake: Oddly enough, despite it being off the beaten path, Joyce Allison just happened to be there that day. Go figure. We exchanged smiles…

Anyway, I later asked Gary (the manager of the programmers, who I knew was in a band) where I could get it fixed. He gave me the name, but I never did anything about it. It was in a canvas case (the perfect cat hair magnet) and sat in my office and then in my closet.

Until this year, when I saw it (covered with cat hair and thought, “WTF?”) So, I called Gary back up, admitted I forgot the company he told me and asked him to repeat it. He said they went out of business, but Anderson Music could probably help me out. So, I dropped it off two or three weeks ago. They checked it out (it’s funny how they do that, BTW. They knock on it with their knuckles all over. Apparently, if the sound is different, there’s stress crack that may not even be visible.) But mine was okay. All it needed was a bridge and strings.

Anyway, today, I picked it up. It cost me $95.00. I asked about a hard case, but that was another $75.00. Since I have NO idea what I’m going to do with it that seemed stupid.

Sidebar: I decided I might donate it to some school kid who’s renting a violin. But then I realized, this was a full-sized adult violin, not the student-sized one.

Can I paint some frets on the damn thing???

Sidebar: While the guy was getting my violin, I saw a “tobacco” colored mandolin for sale for $175.00 and immediately fell in love. Do I know how to play a mandolin? NO! Do I know how to play a violin? NO! WTF is wrong with me??? I think I should restring the six-string and go back to D, A and G.

But that was a sweet mandolin…

Since I was headed back home, it was after noon, and I was hungry (no breakfast), I stopped at Popeye’s on Telegraph and got a three piece chicken dinner (spicy and with a side of red beans and rice).

So, when I got home, I left the windows cracked and the truck outside. I went inside with my lunch, treated Caley and ate a fantastic lunch. The chicken and biscuit were excellent, but I could have used more red beans and rice, LOL.

Note to self: Next time, order an extra side of red beans and rice.

Then I went back outside and unloaded the truck. I put everything away and pulled the truck inside.

Then I went online to find a marinade for the “top sirloin” steak. I found one and proceeded to make it. I used 1/3 cup of soy sauce, 1/2 cup of olive oil, 1/3 cup fresh lemon juice, 1/4 cup of Worcestershire sauce, 1 1/2 tablespoons of garlic powder, three tablespoons of dried basil, 1 1/2 tablespoons of dried parsley flakes and one teaspoon of ground white pepper. I also added a splash of Franks Red hot sauce and a teaspoon of minced garlic (optional).

The recipe calls for using a blender to mix it up, but I put it in a jar with a lid and shook the sh*t out of it (being too lazy to clean the bender). I put the steak in a baggie and then dumped in the marinade.

I walked over to grab a bowl out of the hutch to put the baggie in and, just then, the baggie (which I had not closed) tipped over and spilled onto the floor!

Do you have any idea how hard it is to clean up marinade with olive oil and herbs off the cupboard and floor? I ended up taking the fatigue mat outside, washing it with Pine-Sol and hosing it off. I set it on a chair in the sun to dry.

Thankfully, there was still plenty of marinade left, so I sealed the bag and put it in the bowl. I set that in the fridge to marinade overnight. Then I trimmed the sweet corn, stuck it in the stock pot and covered it with water.

It was already 2:00 p.m., so I decided to take a nap and I did.

When I woke up, I got out the extension cord and the hedge trimmer (or the “Carla Eater” as we call it here). The two bushes out front were getting a little wild-looking. So, I trimmed them back. I used the leaf rake to gather up the cut off branches and put them on the brush pile. Then I walked around the yard, checking on things.

Back inside, I was getting hungry, so I had the rest of the Genoa sausage and some cheddar cheese I got this morning at Westborn. I started watching the second Stanley Cup final hockey game, never believing it would go into double overtime and not ending until about midnight!