The purpose of Command of the Grill week is to promote the book “Command of the Grill”, whose proceeds benefit charities that support Marines. I’m am not making any money off of this, and anything made from traffic during the month of November will be donated to Toys for Tots. You can read more here, or follow this link to purchase your own copy. This is a really easy way to support our troops. Semper Fi!

This was the first recipe I did for my Command of the Grill Week, and let me tell you, it absolutely blew me away. No kidding.

This recipe was the winner at the competition held at Marine Corps Base Camp Lejeune. Captain Eric “Disco” Dominijanni is the Devil Dog responsible for this recipe, and he should be proud.

One thing that you should love about this recipe, is that it is available for free on the winning recipes page (Scroll to the bottom of the page when you get there) at Command of the Grill.

The Recipe itself uses New York Strip Steaks, and has a sauce which starts out as a marinade, then a basting sauce, and finally a dipping sauce. You can see the dipping sauce in the photo, I poured it directly onto the steak for the photo. I didn’t regret that one bit.

The sauce has Cola, Soy Sauce, Teriyaki Sauce, some other spices, and most surprising, a Habanero pepper. If you aren’t familiar with Habaneros, they are extremely spicy, and you should use great care to touch it as little as possible.

The steaks marinade for 4 to 6 hours, and then are removed from the marinade to come to room temperature. The Marinade is then boiled for 10 seconds or so, then split in half. Half of the marinade is used to baste the steaks while they are on the grill.

The second half of the marinade gets boiled down until it is the consistency of a dipping sauce. This sauce, by itself, is worth the purchase price of the book. I’m not joking, the wife and I are planning on making large batches of it, just for the dipping sauce.

I mentioned earlier, this recipe blew me away. It wasn’t too spicy, and the first taste of it, I actually said “Oh my god that’s good!” out loud. Really, I’m not kidding.

Try this recipe.

Kellypea did a version of this recipe with top sirloin, and it sounds like it turned out terrific! Check it out.

Posted in barbecue, Books, Charity, Command of the Grill, Grilling, Semper Fi 2 Comments »

Last year I ran across “Command of the Grill: A Salute to Steak“, and couldn’t believe that I hadn’t heard of it before. Not only is it a great book about grilling steaks, but it is a great and easy way to help Marines and their families.

What is Command of the Grill

Weber hosted a series of grilling competitions at Marine Corps bases across the country. Then they  put the winning recipes into a book. All of the proceeds from the book go to various charities that help wounded Marines and their families. The book is only $10.00 (if purchased through Weber, not including shipping and handling).

There are 10 competitions featured in the book, each competition features the recipes for the winner, and the first and second runner up. Each competition also has a celebrity Marine’s recipe. That’s over 40 steak recipes. Not to spoil my posts this week, but I cooked 6 recipes so far, and I have one more to go. Only one of those recipes wasn’t worth the purchase price of the book.

Why are you doing this now?

November 10th is the birthday of the United States Marine Corps. The fine men and women of the United State Marine Corps have helped defend this country’s freedoms, rescue and save Americans, further the interests of the United States, and pretty much anything else you can think of, since 1775. They do it without complaint, with only a fraction of the resources and budget per capita as the other branches, and they do it well.

You see, Marines care about the day their beloved Corps was founded, November 10th, 1775, and celebrate it every year, and even though I haven’t been on active duty for quite awhile, I’m still a Marine, and I still celebrate the Marine Corps birthday.

So I thought it was fitting to do a week of recipes from the book, to help promote it a little. If you know someone who likes to grill, then this is the perfect gift, either now, or for Christmas which is coming up sooner then you think. Know a Marine, look no farther for a gift.

Mike, are you making money doing this?

Not a single penny. This isn’t a pay per post, and I’m not a Weber Affiliate. If on the off chance I get enough hits, then there is the possibility that I may make something. If someone clicks on a banner and buys something, then I may make something that way too.

Any money this site makes during the month of November, I will donate to Toys for Tots.

Besides buying a book, how can I help?

You could buy a copy for a friend. If you have a blog, link to me, or to one of the recipes that you think looks really good. If you think I messed one up, point it out on your blog. If you think my photography is horrible, point that out on your site too.

You can re-post this post, blatantly copy it, that’s fine by me. If you are on a social network, you can send a message out about this, or one of the recipes you see.

If you frequent a cooking or grilling site, point this out to them.

I’m a good sport, and I’m not perfect. I sure would like to see a whole lot of copies of this book get sold. I see a lot of stickers that say “Support our Troops”, here is an opportunity to actually do that.

What’s Next?

Well, for starters, here is what I have posted so far:

Day 1: Disco’s Hot and Tangy New York Strip Steaks - 6 out of 5 stars.

Day 2: Hawaiian Island Barbecue Beef – 5 out of 5 stars.

Day 3: Spud’s Grilled Steak – 5 out of 5 stars.

Day 4: New York Strip Shish Kabobs – 4 out of 5 stars.

Day 5: Combat Steaks – 5 out of 5 stars.

Day 6: Marinated Skirt Steak with Lemon Garlic Butter – 3 out of 5 stars.

Day 7: Steak Satay – 5 out of 5

For the rest of the week, I’m going to be posting a recipe a day. I won’t give out the exact recipe, but I’ll mention some of the things in it, what I thought of it, and a photo.

I’ll summarize it all at the end of the week.

What Charities will the Proceeds for this book go to?

 The Injured Marines Semper Fi Fund – Provides financial assistance to injured Marines, and other service members injured while assigned to Marine Units.

The Wounded Warrior Project – Provides programs and assistance to severely wounded service members.

The Fisher House – Provides a home away from home for the families of patients receiving medical treatment at Military and VA medical centers.

The Marine Corps – Law Enforcement Foundation – Assists the Children of Marines and Law Enforcement who were killed while serving their country.

Posted in barbecue, Books, Charity, Command of the Grill, Grilling, Semper Fi 13 Comments »

Ok, I am really changing this Meme. Phil tagged me with a Meme that I had already been tagged with, and I didn’t want to post the same thing over again. Phil decided he was going to change it from a “Our Players don’t lie” (The 10 songs on your player with the highest play count), into the songs that he is currently learning to play.

Trying to at least keep it related to music, here is my modified list.

10 Bands that I couldn’t do without

1. Led Zepplin – The classics. They span more than one genre, and I can’t say that there is one single album that I don’t like. How many bands do you know can write a song about Tolkein or Norse mythology, and it still rocks? I don’t care what the mood is, I can pick a Led Zepplin song for it.

2. Cake – Hmmm. Talk about spanning more then one genre, I love Cake. If you aren’t familiar with them, the lead “singer” speaks in tune, and the music is so varied, it isn’t even funny.

Just to give you an idea, the one time I saw them (come back Cake, please), they were with a Bluegrass band, a Rock-a-billy band, and Cheap Trick.

3. AC / DC – Talk about a library to listen to. AC/DC could re-make “The Hokey Pokey”, and it would rock. I still break into a big smile when I hear “Ain’t No Fun (Waitin’ ’round To Be A Millionaire)”.

4. Pink Floyd – This is just a group that I would hate to have to live without. Right now I’m not actively listening to anything of theirs, but I know I’ll always come back to them.

5. Green Day

6. Metallica – No, I don’t like anything since the black album. Yes, I would forgive them if they came out with another album like “Master of Puppets” or even another Garage Days Re-Visited.

7. Black Sabbath

8. Jack Johnson – Especially “In Between Dreams”. Too many memories of Hawaii to eliminate Jacks music.

9. Counting Crows

10. Audio Slave

Some bands that made the list, but then had to be cut.

The Eagles

Train

The Cult

Matchbox Twenty

Blind Melon

Cold Play

Just a little revelation

One thing that happened while I was making this list is that I started thinking of my favorite 10 bands. Somewhere along the line I thought that if I had to throw out / delete all of my music, and for the rest of my life, I could only listen to these 10 bands, who would them be.

It may not seem like that much of a distinction, but one example of a change is Blind Melon. Blind Melon has a couple of my absolute favorite songs, but they just don’t have the library to compare to AC/DC. I mean, AC/DC has like 25 albums, and they all rock. After all, I can’t listen to anything else for the rest of my life, I want to have something of a selection.

Since I already tagged some people with my last meme, I’m not going to tag anyone here. If Scott wanted to chime in though, I would be curious. Hell, if anyone wants to chime in, go ahead and consider yourself tagged.

Posted in meme 7 Comments »

Scott over at My Thermos tagged me with a dual theme Meme. The Memes were combined by Kelly, and were “Three Things I Wouldn’t Let Go“, and “Our Players Don’t Lie“. Wow, that’s a whole bunch of links for 2 sentences. Scott’s title was the best though, “Of Mice and Meme“.

It is kind of interesting that I was tagged with two meme’s simultaneously, and then the next day, Phil tagged me with the playlist Meme. I’ll come up with something new for your tag Phil.

Meme #1 – Three Things that I couldn’t get through the day without

I’m going to stay away from the obvious choices, my family, oxygen. food. Scott used a Music Theme, so I figured I should go with a theme as well. I chose three things that I use literally every single day, and on the rare occasion that I forgot them, I feel completely lost.

As a side note, after I came up with the list, and made the post, I realized that each of these were given to me by my wife. That’s got to say something about her mad gift giving skills. Thanks babe!

1. My LeatherMan – If you know me, I bet this was the first thing you thought of.

There aren’t many things that I think of which are as all around useful as a knife. I’ve had a knife on me constantly since about the age of 11, of course back then it was usually a Swiss army knife. There are just so many things that I run across on a day to day basis that need to be cut.

About 14 years ago I was issued a LeatherMan, which is what most people think of when they think of a Personal Survival Tool (PST), you unfold it for pliers, and it contains all sorts of blades for various purposes. Being a Networking guy, it became my entire tool box.

When I grew tired of blades folding in on my fingers, I bought the LeatherMan Supertool. It was a little larger, had some additional tools, and all of the blades locked. It was terrific.

About a year ago, my wife bought me my current LeatherMan, pictured above, which is basically a wonderful knife with a screwdriver bit holder. There are 2 additional bits in the handle, and a carabineer / bottle opener. I still carry my Supertool in my backpack, you never know when you might need a pair of pliers.

One Friday, I left my Leatherman on my desk, and while performing the run of the mill household chores, I had to make so many tips to the garage for tools that I almost went up to work (30 minute drive each way) just to get it.

 2. My Franklin Covey Planner – Yes, I know that “Getting Things Done” by David Allen is the trendy productivity book these days. Yes, I know that the 7 habits is sooo last decade (or was it a decade before that?). Although I am a big fan of the “7 Habits of Highly Effective People”, no matter what the system is, you need a planner. I’ve had a planner almost forever, but they used to be those vinyl day planners. I would usually wear them out in about a year. I finally broke down and bought a Franklin Covey planner, and I have had the same one for at least the last 6 or 7 years. It’s well worn, and has even taken a trip sliding down the asphalt after falling off the roof of my Cherokee, but it looks great, and is still in terrific shape.

There have been at least 2 occasions where I left my planner at home. The first time, I just sat there at a total loss about what I was planning on doing that day. I really didn’t have any idea. I never realized, until that day, how much of a bruden my planner takes off of me, freeing me to concentrate on what I’m doing.

The second time I left it at home, I just called my wife and had her read everything off the list for that day.

3. My iPod –  I’m not going to include a picture with this one, I’m sure you have all seen enough of them. My iPod Nano lets me listen to Podcasts and audio books while I’m driving back and forth to work. This single function has added so much entertainment and knowledge to that otherwise wasted time.

The benefits don’t stop there though, when I get to work, I can listen to podcasts or music. I have a whole slew of choices when it comes to what I can listen to, I’m not just limited to the small sampling that I have on my work computer. When I am in the garage working on one of the Jeeps, that another opportunity to listen to good content.

Just as important, my iPod has really taught me that I need time to think, without distractions. Even the times that I decide not to listen to my iPdod is beneficial. It lets me explore what has been on my mind lately. Having the choice makes either decision more worthwhile.

Meme #2 – Our Players don’t Lie

I don’t necessarily think that my playlist is all that telling. I did listen very often to a bunch of stuff, but I then started to try and listen to everything I had at least once. I’m still working on that one, since iTunes hasn’t been on my computer that terribly long, the numbers are of course not a lifetime average.

Anyway, here is the 10 most played songs, according to iTunes.

1. Float On - Modest Mouse

2. The World at Large - Modest Mouse

3. Fly from the Inside - Shinedown

4. Burning Bright - Shinedown

5. Slide – Goo Goo Dolls

6. Name – Goo Goo Dolls

7. Somebody To Shove - Soul Asylum

8. Just Like You – Three Days Grace

9. Better Together - Jack Johnson

10. Yellow – Coldplay

Finally, the evil part. I get to tag some people. I tag Art, Pearl, Sharon, Steven, and Evelyn.

Posted in LinkLove, meme 9 Comments »

eSATA is a External Serial ATA interface. Serial ATA is a commonly used interface for internal Hard Drives, and eSATA is an extension of that specification to be used with external devices.

If you’re using a USB or Firewire external drive, what you’re really using is a ATA or Serial ATA hard drive, and an external enclosure. The enclosure has a controller in it which translates the ATA or SATA protocol to USB or Firewire.

This translation causes some delay and there is also some overhead involved in the translations.

eSATA is already in the format that the drive is transmitting. No translation necessary means no lag.

Why Would I want to use eSATA?

Reason #1 – The transfer rate is fast. I mean really fast. Currently there is a 1.5 Gbps and a 3 Gbps Standard. This blows FireWire (IEEE 1394) and USB 2.0 out of the water.

Reason #2 - Less Lag. Since the data is already in a native format, there is no translation involved. This means data gets to the interface faster.

Reason #3 – It isn’t terribly expensive. Maybe this isn’t a reason to use it, but it isn’t much of a road block either. If your motherboard has SATA connectors laying around, you can extend them with a $3 bracket. SATA expansion cards can be found right now for under $30.

Should I replace all of my External Drives?

Sure, and I can give you an address to ship them to. Seriously though, I wouldn’t replace what you already have if it works. When you decide to buy a new drive, eSATA is worth some thought.

There are currently many drives shipping with USB and eSATA interfaces. So even if you don’t currently have eSATA capability, I would take a good long look at the drives with both interfaces, since they would allow you to upgrade later.

Read More:

Serial ATA – Serial ATA International Organization

If you like this type of Tech post, you should check out Two Guys Tech. A friend and I are working on it, and we even have a terrific podcast.

We’re always glad to answer questions, help people out, and help relate what we’ve learned. Get a new perspective on the tech topics and news that you’re interested in, come visit Two Guys Tech.com.

Posted in eSATA, Hard-Drives, Personal-Computing, SATA, Tech 163 Comments »