I sat out on our back deck last night, grilling steaks and listening to the NPR commentators report the election results as they came in. It was nice, really quite an American feeling, and also quintessentially Northwest, seeing as how I was decked out in my Gore-Tex in anticipation of October rain. I think I’m going to make it an election-night tradition.

I wish I could feel like what happened last night signified a real change in tone for the capitol and the nation. I’m afraid that what it really was was just the other end of the pendulum’s swing. Short-sighted people deciding they didn’t like the last bill of goods they blissfully swallowed and turning around to bite the hand that fed it to them. Lather rinse repeat. Oh well, at least maybe abortion rights will be preserved for another term. Hell, if we take the Senate we might even get some actual work done.

I tried a new spice-rub recipe that I cribbed from some or another PBS cooking show. The idea was to recreate the flavor of tea-smoked duck without spending 48 hours smoking your meat (besides, I threw out my last pipe years ago). Turned out to be really tasty when applied to steak. Here’s the recipe:

one and a half cups Lapsang Souchong tea leaves
half cup red chili powder
half cup green chili powder
quarter cup onion powder
quarter cup garlic powder
eighth cup chipotle powder or flakes
3 tablespoons salt
2 tablespoons freshly ground black pepper

Flumph your steaks around in the mixture, then grill. Throwing the extra spice down on the flames will give the meat an extra smoking. The rub blackens in the fire, making a lovely, smoky piece of cow. I can’t wait to try it on salmon or pan-seared scallops.

Here’s to you, Voting America. Thanks for making about forty percent of your voice heard. 🙂