This first one was sooooo good and tasty. Came from epicurious.com, incorporating modifications suggested by readers in the comments, and skipping the whole cut into small pieces on skewers thing, because we don’t have any skewers, or a barbecue grill. But we do have some lovely steak knives that we received as a wedding gift.
Cumin-Marinated Sirloin Steaks
1/4 cup lemon juice
1/4 cup white basalmic vinegar
1/4 cup tamari or soy sauce
2 cloves minced garlic (I use that smusher thing)
2 tablespoons olive oil
1 tablespoon ground cumin
pinch of white pepper
1-1/2 pounds lean beef (I used sirloin tips)
Mix the marinade in a bowl, stick the steaks in it, cover, and refrigerate for at least four hours, or overnight if you think that far ahead (I never do).
Preheat broiler. Broil steaks for four minutes on each side for medium-rare. Good hot or cold. Serve with whatever you like.
I had a major french fries craving last night as I was driving home from swim class (I had done the marinade earlier and I knew Scott would be handling the broiling duties while I was at the Y), so I stopped at the philly cheese steak place near our house for a large order, extra crispy. I ate the steamed broccoli he’d thoughtfully made also, because I know our child needs me to.
Recipe #2:
How to get rid of ants, if you have patience and don’t like toxic chemicals, but are not Buddhist or otherwise against killing.
I got this recipe from the internet, via www.idealbite.com.
In a small jar, mix 1/4 cup of sugar, 3/4 cup of water, and 1 tablespoon of borax. Stir and let it sit until dissolved. Soak a piece of bread crust in the liquid until saturated. Place the dripping bread crust in the path of the ants.
On the website, the woman who recommended this is a little overconfident about how the ants will swarm the bread, and be gone in a day.
We find that our ants are not quite so quick to bite, but that they do eventually eat the stuff, and, after repeated placings of soggy bread, they do go away. For a a long time. Even a whole year or more.
If you could see how massive our ant infestations are, and if you knew how unsuccessful all of our efforts have been in the past, and how much I despise toxic chemicals, you’d understand why I so wholeheartedly embrace this recipe.