11.01.2007

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Don says:

I've had a lot of luck with cooking briskets on the grill just lately.   I buy the largest beef brisket I can find, sprinkle it liberally with steak seasoning. put it in the biggest pan it have, cover it with aluminum foil and bake it for six (6) hours at 275 degrees (F).   Then I let it cool to room temperature, refrigerate it for at least a couple of hours, pour off the broth into a bowl which goes back into the fridge.   Before I put it on the grill, I create an open aluminum foil pan for it and smoke it over a bed of Mesquite coals for two or three hours.   Next, I let it cool to room temperature one more time, refrigerate it overnight and, finally, slice it up and freeze it in eight ounce packages for later consumption.

Sounds like a lot of work doesn't it? Well, for one day it is, but later I can grab a package of beef out of the freezer, thaw it in the microwave and have a nice dinner on the table in less than an hour.

My seasoning mix (published on this site, in the recipe section) has lots of paprika in it.   Paprika is a nightshade and Lisa has developed a sensitivity to nightshades (peppers, tomatoes, potatoes and eggplant) so I had to find a new seasoning mix.   I settled on this mix which I found at sfherb but found it too salty so I came up with some extra ingredients which boosted the flavor while attenuating the salt.   I may eventually get around to publishing this in the recipe section but for now, it'll just have to 'live' here:

Knuckle Donny's New Seasoning Mix
Three (3) Tablespoons SF Herb Steak Seasoning Mix
One (1) Tablespoon Celery seeds (whole).
One half (1/2) Tablespoon brown Mustard seeds (whole).
One half (1/2) Tablespoon Comino seeds (whole)
Combine ingredients and mix thoroughly.   This is the right amount of seasoning for one brisket.

Remember the broth which I poured off and shoved back in the fridge earlier?   Once the beef is packaged up and in the freezer I go back to the broth, slice up the layer of lard which has congealed on its surface, remove it (for disposal), then vigorously stir the remaining broth while ladling it into one cup containers which are also placed in the freezer.   Once the broth is frozen it's removed from the containers, placed into one gallon freezer bags and stored back in the freezer until it's needed.   This rich beef broth is later thawed, at need, and used to make wonderful sauces or gravies.

If you read all that, and you aren't hungry, you must be a vegetarian. *grin*


In other news, I am now a duly registered Linux user.

Lisa says:

Well, what an adventure I've been having the past couple of weeks!   The...um, Lee won't let us call him El Jefe, so I'll just call him Instigator for now...of our little computer club asked me to help him with an artsy upgrade to our website.   The Highland Lakes Linux User Group meets twice a month, once in Marble Falls and once in Buchanan Dam, TX.   There are so few of us, so far, you can count us on two hands, but we want to be considered a serious geek-squad so we must have a Linux mascot.   If you're not familiar with the Linux Penquin and the reason he is so important in modern civilization, please visit this site for an explanation and to view the many incarnations of the Linux Penquin.

Many Linux User Groups adapt the Linux Penquin to reflect their geographical area, personal interests or mission.   After some discussion about what is unique to our area (the Highland Lakes and the watersports available to residents and tourists), we thought a waterskiing penquin would fill the bill.   I have some experience with vector art and created the little guy who is now our mascot.   Here he is in all his glory;

Highland Lakes Tex Tux

Well, now of course we need T-Shirts and coffeemugs, don't we?   So, since we had heard of CafePress but never been there, we clicked and shopped around.   What we found was perfect for us, a very small group who wanted personalized stuff to feel coo...ah, to advertise our educational, non-profit club.   Whew, almost slipped there...  We decided to go with CafePress so I designed the artwork and figured out how to set it up. You can see the products we offer here. We decided on a markup of $2 for each item to add a little money to the club treasury so the price of each item you see is $2 more than CafePress' base price.   Here's how it works for a Basic Shop, which is free;

Create an account, can be an individual or organization.   If an individual, SS number must be provided; if a company or organization, a tax number must be provided.   We're a tiny club and only expect to sell to ourselves so taxes shouldn't be a concern.

Design and upload your artwork after deciding what kinds of products you'd like to offer.   Some products need larger images, like T-Shirts, clocks and tote bags, for instance.   Mugs and hats and coasters require smaller sizes.   Dark items cost more because there's an underlayment of white to keep the colors true.   The files for dark or colored items must have a transparent background.   I created the images in PaintShop Pro 8 and read their tutorials on how to design for dark items.   If you have any questions, they have a toll-free number or you can contact me for any help you might need in using PaintShop Pro 8 to create your design.   A word of advice here, design in solid colors, gradients don't reproduce well.   There are many more items than those listed on our page, check out the rest of the CafePress site.

Decide what, if any, markup you'd like to earn on the items.   CafePress keeps the base price and sends you the markup amount monthly after a minimum amount is earned.   We chose $25 minimum.

The one disadvantage is that these items cost more than you'd pay if you had a traditional t-shirt printer do a batch of items.

The advantages for us were many;

1. Full store set-up with no obligations or costs.

2. You only buy the items you want, in any quantity.   You order online for yourself and they're shipped to you directly.

3. Shipping costs are reasonable, $5 for up to 5 items then a bit more but not excessive.

4. A large variety of items from which to choose.

5. The artwork can be different on different items, for example; women's shirts can be more feminine and men's more restrained, if that's what you want.   Caps can have artwork and text or just text, and so on.

6. All of the printing is done in full-color, which is much better looking than one-to-six color printing.

7. Excellent customer service (I've been on the phone).

8. Large, well-run organization.

We've received our order for black t-shirts a coffee mug and a wall clock.   The t-shirt isn't as good quality as one that is screen-printed, but screen-printing requires large minimum orders and can have hidden costs that the buyer didn't anticipate, so I think we did the best we could on that score.   I'm very impressed with the clock and mug and would recommend them highly.

I'm going to design some more stuff and hopefully set up a shop for my Master Gardeners group.   If that's not possible, whether through lack of interest or legal ramifications, I'd like to produce my designs with no branding on them.