Paprika Buttered Beef Skirt
Tonight we went to Wholefoods and discovered beef skirt. I’m proud of this dish. My first time cooking meat for the family. Next time I’ll cook the meat for less time and put less butter in the sauce. Other than that it was delicious. Peep how to make it below.
Ingredients
6 tablespoons unsalted butter
6 garlic cloves, thinly sliced
1 1/2 teaspoons smoked hot paprika
2 tablespoons fresh lemon juice
Salt
5 pounds skirt steaks
Vegetable oil, for rubbing
Freshly ground pepper
Sunchoke-Kale Hash with Farro (I actually didn’t have this and it still turned out good)
Directions
Step 1
Light a grill or heat a grill pan. In a small saucepan, melt the butter. Add the garlic and cook over low heat, stirring, until golden, about 3 minutes. Add the paprika and cook until fragrant, about 30 seconds. Remove from the heat, stir in the lemon juice and season with salt; keep warm.
Step 2
Rub the skirt steaks with oil and season with salt and pepper. Grill over high heat until nicely charred and medium-rare, about 3 minutes per side. Transfer the steaks to a cutting board and let rest for 5 minutes. Thinly slice the steaks across the grain. Spoon the Sunchoke-Kale Hash with Farro onto a large platter and top with the steak. Spoon the paprika butter over the steak and serve right away.
Make Ahead
The paprika butter can stand at room temperature for up to 4 hours; reheat the butter gently.
Along the Coast...
“In every walk with nature one receives far more than he seeks.”
Along the coast is my refuge. Along the coast is where I go when nothing makes sense. Along the coast is where I go when I’m hungry and payday is a week away. Along the coast is where I go when I am tired, sleepy and traffic is moving at a snails pace. Along the coast is where I go to get away from people, and to be around people. The views along the coast are something that cannot be captured on film, though I try daily. Painters come every morning to try and replicate it’s beauty. But it still cannot be done. The feeling of sand in your shoes, warm morning breeze, and the smell of salty ocean air is something I wish everyone could experience in their lifetime.
The sky tells a different story every sunrise and sunset. Colors collide and collapse into each other. The Bible says that God’s voice moves across the waters. That has to be true because the serenity along the coast is unmatched and indescribable. The energy there is always calm. When I come for answers, I leave at peace whether I get my answers or end up with more questions than what I came with.
Before my daughter was born, we could not for the life of us think of a good name. It’s true that you do not realize how many people you do not care for until you try to name your child! We googled names left and right. We went to the library and checked out books. Still could not put our finger on a name that felt suitable. Then one afternoon, you guessed it, while driving along the coast we stopped at the beach. My husband and I climbed the rocks and made it to a cliff area that looked out over the water. We sat down and started pondering through names. I liked the name Avvie that we saw in a library book, but it just did not land how I wanted it to. We moved closer to the water just to gaze out over the horizon. I leaned over to my husband and said, “What about Ava?”
He said, “Yeah, I like that. I’m cool with that name.” And after 6 months of searching for the proper name for our daughter, we finally found one. Two weeks later, I was cramping awfully bad at home. I told myself I should go for a walk since my whole pregnancy I didn’t get to do much exercising. I decided the whole family including my mother should go, just to get some fresh air. We drove back to the same beach where we decided on Ava. The longer my husband and I walked along the water the stronger my cramps got. Since this was my first pregnancy, I had no idea I was in labor. Ava was born 3 days later at a hospital nearby that same area along the coast.
Ship to Sale
Outside my window is a tree. This tree transforms into a home for owls at midnight. This tree serves as a shade at midday. But more importantly it is the backdrop to the shapes on my wall at night. Contributing to my most fictional dreams. More recently my dream of a young couple searching for a new space. They do not know if they want this space to serve as a home or for a business. One of the issues is that the business has not yet been thought of but the wife feels confident the idea will come. The realtor they select brings them to an available space. Before they go in the realtor tells them that this space is shown everyday of the year. Potential buyers are enamored with it but the space never receives an official offer. As they let themselves inside the couple immediately feels the charm of the building. The space is right across from the beach and has a big oak tree that runs through the center (the shape looks just like the tar outside of my window in reality). They continue to walk through it, taken back by the lighting and the open floor plan with genuine hardwood floors. (Let’s call the couple Jack & Jill) The relator leaves the pair to explore through the house uninfluenced. Jack and Jill walk to the back of the space which has floor to ceiling windows. Though the windows they see what looks like a tool shop out side with a poster on it that says “Ship to Sale”. Jill believes it must have been some sort of mailing business that was there years ago. It inspires her to hurry up and start her own business but she hasn’t thought of what it entails yet. Jack really likes the building too but reminds the Jill they cannot afford it unless she has a practical business to start.
They continue to venture upstairs where they found a hotel style room, typical queen bed by a window and a bathroom. The bathroom door is cracked and the light is on and it turns out to be some sort of portal. Jack and Jill sit on the bed to discuss how much they love the place and it’s charm.
They notice however every time the bathroom door opens and closes, different people come out or they see dramatic events play out inside the bathroom. Then the door is becomes uncontrollable and as Jack and Jill desperately try to keep it closed. The current scene in the tub is two children drowning that they can’t help. The next scene is a random couple abusing each other. Then a king size bed appears that the couple rest on outside of the bathroom. The door swings open again and the husband gets pulled in and the door slams behind him. The wife gets it open but there’s two small children with odd faces and crooked smiles that claim she is their mother. She runs out of the building and into the realtor who has the same two children in a double size baby stroller. The realtor tries to force give the children to the wife. The wife runs back in the building to the bathroom opens and closes the door and the husband reappears and they try to escape from that weird building for good.
Then I awake to see two small children climbing the tree outside my window.
My Favorite Childhood Vacation
My favorite childhood vacation was hands down Cleo Russell’s home. She was my grandmother, not by blood or marriage but because she took us in. Us being my mother and I. She and her husband Joe were amazing to us. They lived in Bryant Arkansas on 5 acres of land. Cleo and Joe had two outside Labradors, Lucky and Ginger, and two indoor poodles, Nicki and Bear. I loved those animals and how they remembered me every time I would come to visit after being away. Mom would drive us up to Arkansas to visit from Memphis Tennessee about once per month and more frequently when school was out during the summer. On Friday afternoons as soon as school was out I would jump for joy when I saw luggage in the trunk of our car. This indicated that we were going to visit Cleo and Joe.
Once at my grandparents house, I would get outside to play with the dogs. I was so little that the dogs would be up to my head when they stood on two feet. Joe would come out and give me bones to throw out at the dogs. Lucky and Ginger would jump high into the air to grab the food. There was also a basketball goal where I would work on my jump shot. In the backyard was a barn with a few old hens. One of them still laid eggs that Joe would go out and get in the morning. The rest of the yard was landscaped to include flower beds enclosed in brick squares and bird baths that had been taken over by the cats. The one cat I remember was white and always had the most sunburned ears.
Across the way from Cleo lived her daughter Marion. We would sometimes walk over there because she had an in ground pool. The way Joe taught me to swim is not the way I would teach my daughter. Although it makes me laugh when I think about it. When he lead me to the deep in by hand he would then let go while yelling at me to swim. That approach worked but not right away unfortunately.
Another staple of visiting Cleo was the biscuits she would cook every morning. My goodness those were still the best biscuits I have ever tasted. Eating breakfast there was the only time my mom allowed me to eat how I wanted. Cleo knew I loved those delicious biscuits and would tell my mom to make sure they were buttered. I can still smell them in my head.
My interest in guitar began at their house too. Joe had an electric and acoustic guitar. He would take them out and strum a bit every time I visited, and would let me play with them even though I was very young. Mom and I would typically visit on a weekend, Friday night and come home Sunday morning. On Saturdays Joe would drive us to town to sight see. On Sundays we rested and just played around the house. When it was time to leave Joe would stick $100 bill in my pocket and tell me not to mention it to mom until we got in the car. I miss Cleo and Joe dearly. They were good people.
The Nostalgia Machine
My first writing assignment tonight was to visit the website The Nostalgia Machine.
It is a pretty cool website where you enter any year and it pulls up all the popular songs for that year. For tonight’s assignment, I chose the year I was 13 years old, 2001. The first popular song I recognized from that year was Falling by Alicia Keys. As I listen to Alicia sing about loving someone more than she ever has and banging out every matching note to her voice on the piano at 3:11 am, it takes me back to my tiny apartment 18 years ago.
Where did you live?
Oak Creek Apartments In Memphis, TN on the border of the hood, right in front of the train tracks on Southern Avenue.
What year you were in school?
It was the summer before 7th grade and we were about to move to Bartlett which was the nicer part of Memphis. I cannot remember if I was crushing on anyone at the time, but knowing me I probably had several crushes. Anyways I used to see this music video, Falling, almost every afternoon once I got home from band camp. I used to search all over the place for someone that could do my hair exactly like Alicia Keys in that video, I still remember! Her voice was so magical. She was so popular at the time and still is. Once I started 7th grade I would walk in the girls bathroom during lunch and there would always be someone trying to belt out an Alicia Keys song.
The most significant thing happening during the time was just the move to Bartlett. It was important to us because it was a come up. We were no longer in the hood, or near it. The new apartment was bigger, nicer and had washer and dryer hookups. We lived there, I think the street was Arbor View Court for the remainder of my school years. Which was longer than I have lived anywhere to this day.
Who were your friends?
I believe my only friend at the time was Chew Shannon, whom I met at band camp. We were the only two trombone players. I was the only girl. We were real close until 10th grade we he had to transfer to Central High because of stricter school district rules.
What was happening in the news?
This was the year of the trade tower tragedies in New York City. As it was happening multiple classes were combined into one room at school to watch the events play out on the news. I remember watching the planes, no one really knew what was happening until the buildings were collapsing. We were all in shock. I will never forget the faces of the people running to escape the smoke that came after. Or the feeling when the news accidentally broadcasted the people jumping out of the windows of the skyscrapers to escape the fire/collapse of the towers. I think the networks were in just as much shock as the rest of the nation.
What were your secrets that year?
I did not have any secrets that year. As usual I was just busy trying to figure out who I was and what I liked. I was extremely shy and was trying to figure out a way out of that. And how to get more friends and dates which didn't happen until 11th grade when I became a rebel. But thats a story for another time. This is the story of my 13th year :)