First thing was to cure the new pan. A thorough washing to remove the factory oil preventing rust and any other crap it’s picked up on its way to me.

The after a completely covering the pan in vegetable oil it goes straight into a very hot oven for an hour and half to bake the oil to the surface of the pan. The process smoked out the entire house and set my smoke alarm off but it was necessary. Below is the pan after it’s baptism.

Now to start trying the Alton Brown cooking method. Steak at room temperature with a spray of oil and salt and pepper to each side of the meat. On to the preheated cast iron  pan for 30 seconds each side. I used my iPhone to keep track of the time.

Now another 30 seconds on the other side.

Now into a 260 degrees Celsius oven for 2 minutes each side. This will get you medium rare (the best way to enjoy steak) but another minute either side will finish the steak medium.

Once the steak has finished in the oven it will need to rest for a couple of minutes. I use 2 kitchen strainers so the juice can run out (which it will) without the steak sitting in them and losing its crispy finish.

After a couple of months and many streaks my pan has now got a nice black shine on it and barely smokes at all. It’s important to never wash the pan. I just pour some salt on while it’s still a little hot and rub it around, the same as you would on a BBQ. The salt will clean the pan as it’s gritty and also kill most bacteria.

Finally I use some aluminium foil to keep the pan covered as I keep it on top of my cupboards and don’t really want dust in my steak.

On the 28th Emily and I leave for 17 much-needed days in Cuba. All inclusive at a resort in Varadero, a couple of hours from Havana.

I’ll be sure to post back plenty of photos but the main focus of this trip is to relax and unwind. I’m planning to get loads of reading done and partake in my fair share of poolside cocktails. We’ll squeeze in a trip to Havana as well so I can check out the cool cars, pick-up some cigars and take in a Tropicana Club show.

I can’t wait.

Unboxing

Dry ice - "Ice to see you!"

Private Reserve

The Queen's meat!

The finest of the fine

No no, thank you!

Individually wrapped parcels of love (meat)

Medium rare please

With salad and mash.

Now with a special Chinese beer - complete!

]]> http://www.urbanseven.com/blog/2009/10/18/donald-russell/feed/ 7 http://www.urbanseven.com/blog/2009/07/02/update-back-in-australia/ http://www.urbanseven.com/blog/2009/07/02/update-back-in-australia/#comments Thu, 02 Jul 2009 23:42:23 +0000 Brenden http://www.urbanseven.com/blog/2009/07/02/update-back-in-australia/ A quick update to say I’m back in Australia for the next 6 weeks or so sorting out my new VISA. I have been working my ass off lately on Seal.com so I have yet to finish my travel blogs.

Hopefully things will die down in the next week and I’ll be able to catch up. I haven’t even spoken about Barcelona or Hong Kong yet.

_B

OK so I have been back in London for a few weeks now and just been a little lazy on the blog entries.

What have I been up to? …umm I have been working pretty hard, we have a heap of client work on lately which has been keeping me busy and I have finally just started on doing some work for Seal which I am pretty excited about.

Have been spending my money on drinks quiet a bit too, the picture above is from a night out in Gilford with a few guys I work with. Catching the tube home after a night out drinking is always a challenge.

On the weekend I visited the New Era: LND store (the place that makes those caps with the gold sticker that people leave on) and it was amazing, I didn’t get anything though cause the styles I wanted didn’t fit my big head (7 1/4 inches) but I will be back.

To finish off I have finally joined the gym again, Fitness First because I can go to any of their gyms in London which will make things easier for me on the way to and from work as well as being able to go to one near my place on the weekends. The hard part will be getting rid of 9mths of eating and drinking to excess.

_B

It was awesome, like a trade show for food and wine. So I love food, cooking and drinking so if any of you had yet realised I would have loved it.

I couldn’t believe how many people went, it was like the ekka, this kind of thing totally wouldn’t work in Brisbane….actually the Caxton St seafood festival was packed but I think everyone was just there to get fucked up, rather then enjoy the seafood.

Anyways I had some awesome food, wine, beer, cider and PIMM’s….some English spirit mixed with lemonade and fruit, which everyone drinks in the summer. I even brought home a heap of cheese, bread, curry and chutneys for dirt cheap.

Today (Sunday) I hacked out the overgrown mess that was my backyard. The back courtyard of my studio has a raised deck which was completely covered with vines and tree branches so you couldn’t get out there, the landlord said he would trim it before I moved in but clearly it hasn’t been touched in years, so I trotted down the the local B&Q (Bunnings) and got a pair of garden shears. I spent a few hours back there and after loads of pikes and some pretty messed up blistery hands its all cleared.
To celebrate I had a BBQ, English style, I bought a disposable BBQ from the supermarket (small tray with a metal grill and coals and had myself a barbee.

_B

_B

Just thought I would let you know I updated my blog settings today so I could use some new editing tools. Please let me know if it stuffs up at all….my German is still rusty.

P.S I know the gallery is broken, I will fix that soon

_B

Well as a few of you know already I am heading overseas for 12 months in March and now it’s finally definite, I now have my plane tickets to London. I am leaving on the 18 March 08 for London, then I will be spending 2-3 months traveling around Europe via rail seeing as much as I can. Then I plan to head back to London and work for 4-5 months and hopefully save enough money to spend 2 weeks in German for the Oktoberfest and then over to New York to start my road trip across the states to Los Angeles. By the time this is finished it should be about mid November and time to start my Canadian ski season job at Whistler Ski Resort in Canada for the next 4 months.

I plan to keep a constant blog packed full of pictures so keep posted and leave comments when you can.

Monday night I picked up my new car. A white 1993 BMW 318i

I got it pretty cheap and with new 18″ chrome rims too! It’s in really good condition and runs well, I will probably end up putting it in an auction in a couple of months after I replace a few worn things so hopefully turn a profit on it.

_B

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 Just a quick post to say I am back and I will be posting the trip in its entirety starting tomorrow, with plenty of pics and videos.

 Stay Tuned.

_B

 Today I am off to New Zealand…taxi gets here in 5mins.

I will post as much as I can while I am away, with photos too I hope.

Anyhow if my plane crashes and I die a terrible death this will be my last recorded message.

“Hi Mum”

_B

As a couple of my friends know I have been trialing ‘WHS’ the last few weeks as I built myself a NAS box about a month or so ago, I attempted a couple of  the complete Linux based NAS software packages but they didn’t support my RAID card so they were out.
In my frustration I ended up installing Windows XP and just running file shares but the system was really limited and really wasn’t what I was planning….mind you XP without all the user installed software is as solid as a rock….100% up time.

Then I read an article about ‘Windows Home Sever’ moving to RC1, and it was time to check it out.

 Check it out here

*more to come

_B

Today I woke up at 10am, made myself a toasted sandwich and a coffee and enjoyed some day time TV.

I then spent my time reading all 127 new ‘Engadget’ RSS posts {sooo want an iPhone when it comes out}

Went for a short drive and bought myself a magazine….I about about to go to the movies and see Fantastic Four

…if the next 4 weeks go like this I will be one happy man

_B

BTW: I will start some Media Center computing and Windows Home Server reviews/posts soon.

Not a lot really, I have been training the new guy at work Pricepoint the past couple of weeks, he’s a fast learner so it’s been pretty crusiy. I was expecting to finish last Friday but the new guy needed Mon-Wed off to finish moving so Wednesday will be my last day of work…litrally, as I am not getting a new job until I come back from NZ in a month.

As of Wed I should be posting a lot more as I document my stint of unemployment with my new amature blogging skills

_B

Not much to report…we are still trying to sort out accommodation for our NZ trip , but on the up side my fish eye lens arrived yesterday so I will be able to get some awesome photos while I’m over there.

Going to the gym tonight….need to hit it hard as it’s been a week since I last went.
I now have a curl bar and a bench press at home too….picked up that and a shit loads of weights from my brother on the weekend as he never uses them.

_B

We finally decided to leave and just before we walked out the door they started

We rushed back to see but now couldn’t even get close….it was shithouse!

We ended up cruising around to half a dozen other clubs but they were all pretty shit and it was also raining.

Boooo…..2 Thumbs down for Friday night!!!

Sat and Sun were pretty good, stayed home, fixed the backyard, bought my mum a new LCD and well drank some beer

_B

We got tickets to see ‘Sneaky Sound System’ at ‘The MET’ for a “sold out” gig!

Should be loads I’ve fun………I’ll post my findings tomorrow.

_B

Damo came round last night for the game and drinks and to discuss our trip to NZ, we did a little discussing, some watching the footy but I would say the focus was on ‘drinking’. This is why today I’m ……hungover more then Jamie from Big Brother last year!

_B