The capacity for happiness is equal only to the capacity for sorrow

One snowy Christmas, a young orphan boy received a jack-in-the-box. Never before having see a toy the boy asked what he was to do with the box. His headmaster told him he was to wind the crank, but would tell him know more for he wanted to keep the surprise alive. The boy looked quizzically at the box and set it aside while his headmaster returned to his work. You see, the boy had never been given much of anything but a hard time in life and he was slow to trust and even slower to jump into things he had not already done. So the boy could simply not understand what the point was to cranking the box. Did it supply food? He remembered seeing a coffee grinder similar to this that belonged to a doctor he visited. No, it was nothing useful he determined. If it was, his headmaster would have told him and he could certainly not find anywhere to put the coffee beans anyway. It continued to perplex him why anyone would want a box that you simply cranked on. Was this someone's idea of a cruel joke? Then suddenly a younger boy came up to him, wide-eyed and utterly fixated on the box. He had never seen anything like this before. The small boy asked what it was and the older responded that it was a box you cranked. The small friend asked if he might have a better look at it and grabbed it delightedly when the other nodded his head. He began feverishly spinning the crank. Within moments the top flew back and the small joker popped up on his wiggly spring, an endless grin painted on his face. The young lad was completely delighted and rolled on the floor in laughter. After a good go at it the small boy returned the box to his older friend and complimented him on the splendor of the toy. Yet the boy just stood there, his mouth agape, holding onto what he once thought a useless box. He dropped it to the floor and began crying. His smaller companion stared at him for a moment, shrugged his shoulders and went about pretending to be a jack-in-the-box for the rest of the day. All the while, the other boy just sat against a wall, wondering at the injustice of it all. If only the headmaster had told me he said to himself. All would have been well and I would have enjoyed the toy so much.

Penzey's Spices

I recently had the good fortune to find myself in a Penzey's Spice store. My first impression was the delightful smell that met my nose when I walked in. My second was surprise the the entire section dedicated to Saffron.

Really if you are looking for a good collection of spices, dried herbs, and various mixes I say that Penzey's is the place to be. Here are some things that you might want to know before you enter your local Penzey's though:

1. Everything is alphabetical, even the mixes. You will need to browse the store to find all that is available.
2. Try out the glass "smell" jars. Each spice, herb or mixture is bottled up in a glass jar (at least the one I found had this). You can pop the top off that jar and get a hint at what you're buying. Good news - no more guessing at what you're getting.
3. Everything is very informative. They actually described the difference between types of peppercorns - black peppercorns that is. I didn't know there was a difference! I guess they are like a fine wine though, location and harvesting are critical to the taste of the pepper. There goes my pepper vine in the back yard!
4. Pick up the store recipes. Different mixes have recipes that Penzey's chefs (I'm assuming) have put together. I'm looking forward particularly to the taco mix and taco salad recipe we got.
5. They are not about the salt. Although Penzey's has started to move into the gourmet salt market, they emphasis saltless mixes. It seems like their take on it is that food can taste good without a sodium base. I tend to agree and here is a story about that...

I picked up the Chicago steak seasoning and tried it on a ribeye. Apart from letting the meat overcook on the grill (still getting back into the swing of things), the taste was wonderful. I bought the mix based on its smoky smell (reminded me of Swiss Landjaegers). I took a very simple approach to the meat so I could really tell the taste of the mix. Here is what I did:

1. Preheat a grill to high.
2. In the meantime apply 1-2tsp. of mix per lb of meat. Spread mix on both sides of meat and rub in. Cover and set aside to come to room temperature (or as close as possible).
   
3. Oil your grill - so important, but often missed!
4. Place the meat on the grill over the fire (direct grilling).
5. Cook till done (I use, or should have used :), the poke test. This takes some time, but eventually you can feel the difference between rare, medium rare, medium and well done - more on this later).

This made a delicious steak. The only thing better would be to season it a little ahead of time. This would taste great on lamb or chicken too. So for any dry rub marinated piece of meat, I whole-heartedly recommend Chicago Steak Seasoning by Penzey's Spices.

Menu Options

1. Ribeyes with Chicago Steak Seasoning (steaks about 1" thick)
2. Sweet Potato Fries
3. Roasted Corn on the Cob with Herb Butter
4. Paired with Marechal Foch from WineHaven.