My Goodness My Guinness

Peteys Powderhorn ran a What Beer are You? quiz yesterday. I have to go to Chicago tomorrow to speak at some shindig. Chicago. I think I'll need a Guinness or two tonight, just to get used to that idea. On the plus side I only have to be up there a couple of days.
"Okay, we all know Guinness is the best possible score on any "What Kind Of Beer Are You" test, so you can just go on and pat yourself on the back now. Like the world's most famous brew, you're genuine, you've got good taste, and you're sophisticated. What else can I say, except congratulations? If your friends didn't score the same way, get ready for them to say: Guinness is too heavy; it's an acquired taste; it's too serious--and they probably think those things about you at times. But just brush 'em off. Everybody knows Guinness is the best. Cheers"

But even if you don't agree with the test review, or the brew, I'd bet you'd agree to a Chocolate Stout Cupcake, a little offering to my coworkers who will hold down the fort til I get back.

New Jovian Thunderbolt talked about using a police qualification target for lack of anything else at the range. I agree, they're sometimes sort of hard to put up against a smaller backdrop, but they're SO much fun.

40 feet and a box of .45 acp, with just the sights the weapon came off the line with.

It's going to be a couple days before I'm off duty and get to have some days off at home, hopefully there will be some targets left by then.

Dieters - Avert your eyes.

I agree with one of my friends, there is nothing better than just a good plain steak. No fancy sauce, no special rubs. Some salt and pepper and grill it just til it stops mooing and dive in.

But what to do when you don't have a lot of steak to serve and and a very welcome but unexpected couple of friends drop by? Or you are just hankering for something different, AND you want it from start to table in less than 30 minutes?

Home on the Range Smothered Steak.

Thick seared steak cooked in a totally foolproof bachelor version of horseradish laced, red wine gravy with mushrooms. Seriously, you can make this dish in less than 10 minutes plus bake time. The ingredients are ones many of you have on hand. Served with potatoes or some "from the box" wild rice pilaf to soak up the sauce and stretch the servings; two decent sized steaks will serve three to four people and you won't have any complaints.