I’ve got some salmon on the bbq out back, but I’m not here to talk to you about that. I want to talk about LAST night.

Melt:

1/2 stick butter

Add in:

Zest of one lime
1 clove chopped garlic

Simmer over low heat while you’re doing your other things. After 15-20 minutes, strain out the garlic and lime and squeeze in:

The juice from the lime you zested.

Set aside. In the meantime, heat up a well-oiled grill, indoor or out. (But if it’s indoor, like mine was last night, get ready for some smoke! WHOO!)

Liberally season with salt, pepper, and olive oil:

2 tilapia filets
2 ears of corn

Throw the corn on the grill. As each side gets some grill markings, turn it until it looks good and grilled all around.

Remove corn and throw the fish on the grill. Cut kernels off the corn.

Pile the corn in the center of two plates. spoon some of your lime garlic butter over the corn. Grill the fish until fully opaque and nicely marked on both sides.

Put one filet atop each pile of corn and top it with more of the lime garlic butter.

Oh man, deliciousness.

Let’s talk about dinner. Tonight (I’ll take pictures next time, I swear) I put some grilled flank steak on top of this salad (inspired a tiny bit — at least the name — by this):

Amounts, as always, approximate.

Melt over low heat:
1 Tbsp bacon grease (You don’t have a jar of bacon grease in your fridge? For shame.)

In:
1 Tbsp olive oil

Keeping the heat low, add:
1 clove garlic, finely chopped
1 shallot, finely chopped
1 scallion, chopped
1/4 onion, sliced thinly
Leaves from a few sprigs of thyme
Salt and pepper

You want the onions and garlic to sweat, not brown. Leave it on low for a good 10 minutes, stirring occasionally. Remove from heat and whisk in:

1 tsp dijon mustard
Juice of 1/2 lemon

Pour warm dressing over:

3 cups baby spinach

Allow the spinach to wilt for a few minutes. Throw on some crumbles of feta cheese, toss, and plate. Garnish with a little lemon zest.

I wonder how long after the locksmith comes to bust open the padlock on our storage space I will find the key I haven’t been able to find for a week. Fifteen minutes? A whole hour?

Got to quit for a while. See you again someday! I’ll leave you with the funniest thing in the world.

UPDATE: No, wait. This is the funniest thing in the world.

Let’s say it all together now: President Bush and the Republicans do not take national security seriously. Want some more evidence? Valerie Plame, whom the administration outed in order to exact political retribution on her husband, was working on weapons proliferation on Iran. That’s the same Iran whose nuclear ambitions the administration now claims is the top threat to our security. Sigh.

Crooks & Liars has the video.

Consumerist posted my story of customer service hell when recently dealing with Bank of America. A Consumerist reader wrote me with some very enlightening information about why the customer service agent didn’t know what she was talking about. His email is after the jump. But you’ll want to read the story first.

Read the rest of this entry »

From the department of irony:

Josh Marshall makes a good point here: despite the shakeup at the White House, the administration has failed to bring in any new blood so far. Think about it. He replaces his chief of staff with the head of OMB. He replaces the head of OMB with his trade representative, and his trade rep with the deputy trade rep. They take domestic policy off Karl Rove’s plate and give it to the new chief of staff’s old deputy at OMB. The top names being batted around to replace the press secretary are old administration spokespeople. (I think the Tony Snow thing is a fantasy. A commentator would have to be crazy to give up the ability to speak freely.)

So what kind of a shakeup is this when there’s no new blood?

Our president, eloquent as always.

I have a website, don’t I? Um, check this out. It’s pretty cool.