Visioneers: Just A Smidge Off?

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Another KFOG Iron Chef Contest Winner? {Perhaps Not. But It Is My Own Recipe.}

Beef with Lemon Lavender Borscht Jus
Dr. Atkins Would Approve. 

2 medium-sized beets
Olivas de Oro Organic Cold-Pressed Meyer Lemon-infused olive oil*
Four 3-oz. lean filet mignon steaks
salt, fine herbs, lavender, fresh ground pepper
2 tbsp red wine
1/2 tsp. cornstarch mixed in 1 tsp. water
1 tsp grated lemon peel and 2-3 lemon zests 
1 oz. feta cheese, finely crumbled
1 oz. plain yogurt
clover/alfalfa sprouts, and/or arugula

Prepare beets the night before by cooking 2 hours in slow boiling water. Let cool, peel and dice. Marinate overnight in 1/4 cup meyer lemon oil and a dash of salt. Remove all diced beets except for 5 chunks, and save for tomorrow's salad lunch. Retain marinade for 'jus.'

Wrap beef steaks in microwaveable clear wrap. Microwave on medium high1-1/2 to 3 minutes just until pink is gone, depending on thickness. Retain beef juice from wrap and pour into jus, then add 1-2 tsp. salt to taste, a dash of crushed fine herbs and/or lavender to jus, mix well, and set aside. Pan-sear or grill beef until just slightly brown. Remove to plate.

Bring jus and 5 beet chunks to a simmer over medium heat. Add wine, increase heat to med-high and reduce until thickened, using cornstarch if necessary. Add salt to taste. Drizzle over beef and onto plate, and sprinkle with finely crumbled feta. Garnish with a grated lemon peel, lemon zests, and a thimble-sized stack of  sprouts and/or arugula drizzled with 1 tsp. olive oil. Create swirls of plain yogurt on plate rim, draw crescent-shaped lines with toothpick into sauce, add a turn or two of fresh ground pepper, and serve.  Serves two.

*Available at your local farmers market.

Tip: Microwaving beef in clear wrap before pan-searing or grilling not only saves time, but ensures thorough cooking while keeping beef tender and juicy.

In Memorium.

Warren Zevon's last album, The Wind, is a heartbreaking portrait of a really cool guy who made excellent, creative music. I cannot stop staring at the cover. It's a simple photograph of Warren and by God if he doesn't look exactly just like my friend  Paul Gerlinger before he passed away last year. Seriously, check it out. These men are almost identical. Paul was an extremely cool, courageous guy too. After their deaths, I have this huge hole in my heart that only music can fill. Can't remember who lept into the great beyond first, but hopefully, they've shaken hands in heaven and noted the resemblance.

Woman's Best Friend.

Amongst all my trials, tribulations, ups, downs, lefts, rights, sideways, there's my dog. TJ. What a great pal. Nobody else stands at my knee when I talk to people.  

Real Cool Life.

I took the award for Best Female Performer at the firm's "American Idol" show/karaoke party tonight, for singing Etta James' "At Last." What joy. Am I walking on a cloud. I am the only person in firm history to have won twice. I almost felt  like surrendering my award to Angela, for doing Axl Rose and "Welcome to the Jungle." I really should give it to her, really. But I just couldn't. However, it's time for this crooner to retire.  I love this firm but they must be sick of me. Hell, even I'm sick of me.

Stanford Lively Arts.

You just have to love a guy whose name is Craig Hella Johnson. I'll be attending this concert next Thursday, and hope to see some of my friends there. And I sure hope to see more of Hella Johnson.

CONSPIRARE, Craig Hella Johnson, conductor
Thursday, July 29 at 8 PM
Memorial Church - FREE
Stanford University Campus

Conspirare is a professional chamber choir based in Austin, Texas. Under the leadership of Artistic Director Craig Hella Johnson, Conspirare has received critical acclaim nationally for its adventurous programming and innovative concerts. Made up of outstanding singers from throughout the United States, the ensemble toured the Bay Area in 2002, and appeared at Carnegie Hall, Riverside Church and Avery Fisher Hall of Lincoln Center in New York in 2003 as part of the American Choral Directors Association's national convention. Conspirare has several self-produced live performance CDs in distribution and recently signed with Clarion Records for its first studio release; the choir will begin production of this new CD with recording sessions at Skywalker Ranch in August 2004.

Conspirare will perform a varied, international program in a wide breadth of styles and languages. Featured pieces include Lamentations of Jeremiah, by Alberto Ginastera, Autumn Flowers, by Gordon Binkerd, and the recently composed work by Frank Ticheli, There Will Be Rest. The program will also include British composer Paul Ayres sublime Ruth, and works of Scandinavian composers Per Norgard, Jon Nordal, Einojuhani Rautavaara and Anders Paulsson. -- Beth Youngdoff

Best Show On Television.

I nominate "Scrubs" for the most terrific TV show on earth. It's fast-paced, quick-witted slapstick, fresh and funny as sunglasses on a duck.  I laugh for thirty minutes straight every time I tune in. Thursdays at 9:00 on NBC.

This Is No Joke.

People, please. Just say "no" to Krispy Kreme's New Frozen Donut Shake.   Who invents this stuff, and what in the heck are they thinking???

For heaven's sake. It's bad enough fast food places are intentionally trying to hurt us, but this, this, is certain death.  The only way the Krispy Kreme Korporation kould be exkused would be if these were no-Kalorie, no-Karb. Khrist on a Krutch.

Send A Card.

This is my favorite free e-card site, Apple i-Cards.  Why don't you send a card to someone you love today?

New Truck.

I traded in my crusty old sedan for a new truck, got a great deal. It was Fleet Sweeps Week at the local Nissan dealer and my 2004 black Frontier is pretty durn slick. I've been wanting/needing a truck for a long time and either it or God was calling my name because the puzzle pieces fit into place like it was meant to be a long time. Sure is going to save my back lugging music equipment. The sedan was poorly suited for my lifestyle.

This Is Where I Live.

Read this about the restoration taking place in the South San Francisco Bay.  I hope I'm still around when it opens up several years from now. I once wrote a song about the sorry state of the land around here. One line went, "I took a wrong turn/that made my eyes burn/Calpine, Cargill and PG&E/Have turned the South Bay/Into One Smelly Place/Couldn't run fast enough to get outta there." Something like that. I hope they put in lots of trails. $100 mil should buy some nice changes.

He Shoots, He Scores.

This is the quote I have been waiting for. You go, Gary. Thanks for that whole coat-hanger thing. I knew it all along.

"Bush has created more harm to this country's standing and security than any president in history," Trudeau said. "What a shame the world has to suffer the consequences of Dubya not getting enough approval from Dad." -- Gary Trudeau

Can't wait for the next issue of Rolling Stone.

Barbara's Boxing.

Anyone watching C-SPAN right now is seeing Barbara Boxer (D-California) urging the President and the Senate to turn away from senseless issues like "defining" what marriage is, and focus their energies on the safety and welfare of all Americans. She held up a big blue poster with a frightening quote from Tom Ridge warning of an impending Qaeda attack and stated she certainly hoped that they'd stop wasting their time on a constitutional amendment, which the author knows has not one slim chance of passing, is wasting valuable time, and is not ensuring the total safety of our country, and to put the Constitution above their own political well being. She is a great leader and I hope she is nominated for President someday. She already has my vote.

The Kindness of Strangers.

Last night a room full of people, people whom I do not know nor had ever met before, sang Happy Birthday to me so sweetly, it almost made me cry. It was in a beautiful French restaurant so lavishly decorated, with food dreams are made of so lovingly plated and presented, and the music played throughout the night in several different wonderful variations. For an hour or two it really felt like I was really in Paris. I will always be grateful for that and will always remember my charming dinner companion and dear friend, Rowland, for that wonderful birthday celebration.

'appy Birthday To Me.

My new song, Roses Are Black, is coming along fine but man, is it ever a tearjerker. Well, what would you expect? President Reagan, Ray Charles and Mattie Stepanek all died, in a set of three, within a three-week period and news of each passing hit me like black roses would. I think black roses are a metaphor for bruises on my heart. Donna says anything that makes people feel something is wonderful, even if it is a knot in the stomach. The lyrics sure are pretty.

Wisdom.

"You think that what you are accomplishing is a drop in the ocean. But, if this drop were not in the ocean, it would be missed." -- Mother Teresa

The Heart of San Gregorio.

Here is a nice article about George Cattermole, the nice man who keeps inviting me back to play at the General Store there. Oh, by the way, my next performance (not necessarily my next appearance, of course) is all set for Saturday, October 9, at 11 a.m. I have some new material I hope folks enjoy. Hope to see you there.

Letterman's Top Ten re "Fahrenheit 9/11:"

More good stuff from Dave:
Letterman's Top Ten List:
Top Ten George W. Bush Complaints About "Fahrenheit 9/11":

10. That actor who played the President was totally unconvincing.
9. It oversimplified the way I stole the election.
8. Too many of them fancy college-boy words.
7. If Michael Moore had waited a few months, he could have included the part where I get him deported.
6. Didn't have one of them hilarious monkeys who smoke cigarettes and gives people the finger.
5. Of all Michael Moore's accusations, only 97% are true.
4. Not sure - - I passed out after a piece of popcorn lodged in my windpipe.
3. Where the hell was Spider-man?
2. Couldn't hear most of the movie over Cheney's foul mouth.
1. I thought this was supposed to be about dodgeball.

Hometown Parade.

Attending the 4th of July celebration parade in a small farming community, I found myself saying things like, "My goodness! Just look at that beautiful tractor!"