cashless society, and other unrelated topics

The G8/G20 summits didn't cost a billion plus dollars after all. They only cost 857 million. I feel so much better. But I wonder what they did with the extra couple hundred million that they thought they spent . . . because if they really didn't spend it, I know who could use it.

Think about it. If it really had cost 1.13 billion (like they thought it did), the money would have been all water-under-the-bridge, that's-the-cost-of-doing-business, and we-needed-every-last-penny. It wouldn't have been, "Oops, we're over budget, so sorry we can't pay some of you guys that helped out." The money would have been there. Which means the extra money is still there. And why should we just let it rot in some Ottawa bank?

Except that none of the money was ever really there, I'm told. We just borrowed it all from the Chinese. So much for my brilliant plan to fund volunteer fire departments.

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Phillip and his buddy chopped a large section of inch-thick ice off the lake yesterday and hauled it up to his friend's house . . . to use as a platform from which to take shots at the hockey net. If you didn't grow up on skates, you can't fully appreciate the agony these boys go through during freeze up. Their last ice hockey game was in March. They've spent the past seven months trying to mask their addiction with skateboarding, cabin building, soccer, work, and anything else that might crowd out pucks and nets and one-timers from their hockey-crazed minds. They even play road hockey occasionally.

Now that the lakes are freezing over, real hockey is once again within their grasp . . . if it just wasn't 12 degrees above freezing during the day. So while the rest of us rejoice in Indian Summer, the hockey addicts chop out a chunk of the lake. I'm not a hockey addict, but it must be something like an alcoholic trying to quash his craving with fruit punch.

The good news - or bad news, if you are an Indian Summer addict - is that winter will come. It always does.

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Here's another recipe:

Oriental Orange Marinade (for steak)

1. Get out a package of steak (I used two top sirloins, about the size of a dinner plate each)
2. Check to make sure your spouse isn't looking (if your spouse is okay with risky cooking experiments, you can skip this step)
3. Put the following in a food processor: a couple thick slices of peeled orange, a couple leaves of Chinese cabbage, a clove of garlic, a couple tablespoons of fresh or frozen ginger root (I keep some in the freezer pre-chopped), a couple tablespoons of soy sauce, and a half a teaspoon of cayenne pepper.
4. (side note 1: Ad lib the measurements if you want. This isn't a science experiment)
5. Chop the mix in the food processor until it turns into a thick, pulpy marinade
6. Realize that your spouse is frowning over your shoulder
7. When she asks what that stuff is, pretend it's a secret recipe. When she asks what's in it, try to distract her. When she refuses to be distracted, admit that you are making an experimental marinade, and you're fairly certain it won't explode like nitroglycerin when you apply heat. When she says it looks disgusting, and that orange goes with chicken, not beef, meekly concede your position and offer to abandon the project. When your 15 year-old son intervenes and says, "Aw Mom, just let him try it," offer a compromise: one oriental orange marinaded steak, and one boring old regular marinaded steak.
8. (side note 2: if you don't have a 15 year old son, or if he isn't a risk taker, you may be out of luck)
9. Make a boring old regular marinade with equal parts of soy sauce, mustard, and Hoisin sauce, then mix in some garlic powder, onion powder and basil.
10. Put the steaks in glass or porcelain contains (I used casserole dishes)
11. Spread the marinade on top and pierce the meat with a fork. Don't be shy - tear it up good and deep so the marinade can penetrate
12. Flip the steak and repeat the process so that both sides are covered
13. Briefly consider not piercing the boring old regular marinaded steak so that it won't be as tender as the experimental one. Then allow your altruistic side to triumph. You have nothing to prove. Honestly.
14. Let the steak sit in the fridge overnight, then flip it, cover again it with marinade, and pierce it again for good measure
15. I let mine marinade in the fridge for about 24 hrs in total. Longer is probably better.
16. Grill them both, making sure that you don't overcook either (even though you'd like to turn that boring old regular steak into shoe leather. But you have nothing to prove. Honestly.)

When your spouse cautiously tries the oriental orange steak, and admits that it's more tender than the boring old regular steak, graciously accept the comment without any hint of smugness. Because you really had nothing to prove.

Honestly.