In November…

Hope you had a fantastic weekend!

I went hiking Saturday morning, worked on some crafts for a Christmas party in the afternoon, and then had a steak for dinner. Now that’s a great and productive day!

Hiking

On Sunday I went to church and then took a nap. One bit of advice, try to stay away from Costco during the weekend. I shop frequently, and when I’m there I’m like a mad woman buying purses and shoes on Black Friday, but the weekend is totally not worth it. OMG… hoards of people lining up for Cheesecake samples or drivers staring you down because they crossed the intersection on a red light. Just wave and smile and then note to self, don’t go again on the weekends. Does this happen to you too? How do you handle it?!?

Here’s what’s been going on during the month of November according to my iPhone.

November-Collage

1 // I got these flowers when I was wedding coordinating for a friend. If you ever need a day-of coordinator, give me a holla! In all seriousness, I love organizing and scheduling, so it’s fun for me. Kalam & Alan, thanks for giving me a chance and possibly opening doors. I appreciate it with all my heart.

2// MG and I have look at at least 15 stores for Monopoly Deal, including Walmart, Target, Toys-R-Us, and Kmart (what, these are still around? yes). I’ve also asked my sister and mom to look in Texas for this game. Then I found out it was discontinued – sad face. I randomly decided to take a stroll around Kohl’s recently and jaw-droppingly happened to come across the game!!! MG and I bought 5 packs. Who knows when they might come in handy?

BTW have you seen this Joe Boxer Christmas ad by Kmart – hilarious! Disturbing or awesome? You tell me!

3 & 4// My little Chubs has been super cuddly because it’s getting cold out. He falls asleep in my arms at night, how sweet is that? The other night he was sitting like a diva on the couch. Look at that little chicken leg!

5 & 6// Okay this is kinda crazy, and yet epic at the same time. 85 Degrees Bakery just opened in Newark recently. This place is extremely popular in Taiwan and Irvine, CA. On opening day, people stood in line for 3 hours to get bread… BREAD! I didn’t go during opening day, but I’ve already been to the bakery 3 times since the opening 2 weeks ago. Each time I’ve waited about 10-20 minutes in line, and it’s totally worth it. The anticipation you have while waiting motivates you to fill your tray with bread, which is what I do every time. Among MG and I, we buy 10-15 breads. Fatties at heart, forreal. The bread is worth it, promise. Go check it out if you’re in the area.

7 & 8// This past weekend my friends and I bought a bunch of Christmas decor for our church Christmas party. We also worked on some crafts at home for the party. Obviously glitter for the holidays is a MUST. Am I right?

What did you do this past weekend? Who’s excited for a short week?
Jay

The Legendary Steak

Who doesn’t love a nice piece of meat?

Steak with butter

If you’ve ever been to our house, you might have been lucky enough to have MG’s fricken awesome steak. After having this for dinner, I honestly don’t care to go to steakhouses. We’ve been to a few restaurants for steak since, but I still compare it to the one we eat at home.

I’m finally willing to share the recipe with you! If you follow these steps, your steak will turn out amazing every time.

First off, get a nice piece of meat. I love bone-in ribeye – it has a good texture and enough fat for a flavorful steak. If you’re willing to splurge, get the Prime cut at Costco. If you’re really willing to put some money down, find a butcher for a dry-aged piece of meat. Whole Foods sells their dry-age ribeye for ~$22/lb. Five Dot Ranch has mind-blowing cuts of meat, you can find them at the Oxbow market in Napa Valley, ~$25/lb for dry-aged, but totally worth the cost.

Whole Foods - Steak^^^ This is at Whole Foods

Let’s get started! Preheat the oven to 500° F.

As you’re pre-heating the oven, sprinkle McCormick’s Grill Mates Montreal Steak seasoning onto the steak, not too much because you want to still taste the meat flavor. I also love Gibson’s Seasoning Salt (a steakhouse located in Chicago), but for this recipe, we’ll stick to McCormick’s.

Favorite Seasonings
^^^ My two favorite seasonings

Sprinkle

Once the oven hits 450° F, heat up your cast iron skillet on high. Get it as hot as you can (if this is a used skillet, the previous oil residue will start to steam, which is a good indicator that it’s hot).

Once the skillet is hot, hot, hot, add a slice of butter onto the pan. When the butter is melted, place the steak onto the skillet. Sear each side for only 30 seconds. Searing helps to keep all the juices in.

Melt the Butter

Sear the Steak

Other Side

The oven should be at 500° F at this point. Place the entire skillet into the oven. Bake the steak 2 minutes on each side (this is for 1 inch steaks only). If the steak is thicker than 1 inch, place the steak in the oven for 3 minutes on each side.

Baking

Last step, after taking the steak out of the oven, let it rest for 5 minutes. Basically this lets the steak soak up all the juice. And yes, a juicy steak is where it’s at! This is the hardest step since your house probably is filled with mouth-watering smells of steak.

SteakLook at that char!

Now savor every bite of steak because it’s probably amazing, and juicy, and flavorful, and all kinds of goodness. As I’m typing this, I feel like I can smell the deliciousness.

Delicious Steak

Dinner is served!

Dinner is served

Few tips:

  • A cast iron skillet is best because it allows you to sear the steak with some char, which adds some crispiness to the texture.
  • This is a little trick I learned from an outdoors man that I used to work with. Poke at your thumb nugget to gauge how well done the meat is.

Doneness of Steak

  • Wine? Pshhh… I love eating steak with milk. The milk is so sweet, and steak is the perfect match. Anyone else like to do this?
  • To clean your cast iron skillet, soak up the oil with a paper towel. Simply use hot/warm water and scrub off residue. Add some salt and scrub to get stubborn food remains. Do NOT use soap. You want your cast iron to become “well-seasoned” to prevent rust.

Washing the cast iron

What do you think? Is this something you will try?

Are you hungry now? Cause I am!
Jay
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I have the Le Creuset Cast Iron Skillet in Caribbean from Macy’s