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You may have noticed a wide variety of “dry rubs” available at grocery
stores and specialty food stores lately. These fragrant combinations of
herbs and spices add texture, color, and, of course, flavor to everything
from steaks to chicken. Sometimes though, the commercial rubs are very
salty and many contain MSG, which may give some people a headache.
So why not try to make your own dry rubs with whatever herbs and
spices you have in your pantry or spice rack?
Try this basic rub which is enough for about 10 steaks.
Basic Steak Rub
1 tsp. chili powder
1 tsp. salt
1 tsp. garlic powder
2 tsp. paprika
3 tsp. cinnamon
4 tsp. brown sugar
2 tsp. oregano
3 tsp. ground cumin
Combine the ingredients in a large, shallow baking dish. Place one
steak in the dish and gently pat it down to coat the bottom side of the
meat with the rub. Flip the steak over to coat the other side. Gently rub
the mixture into both sides of the meat.
Repeat the process for each steak. Let the steak rest for about an hour
or so, coated with the rub, then grill as usual once the steaks are at room
temperature.
NOTE: Throw away any of the leftover rub that came into contact with the
raw meat.
Serving the Steaks: Serve steaks without steak sauce since it will
overpower the rub and you will only taste the steak sauce.
OTHER HERBS & SPICES TO TRY IN RUBS:
Marjoram, basil, thyme, rosemary, oregano, lemon pepper, dry mustard,
celery salt, red pepper flakes, Chipotle powder, etc. - experiment until
you get just the right combination of ingredients for your version of the
perfect rub.
Suzanne Lieurance is a freelance writer and owner of the Three Angels
Gourmet Co. which offers a unique line of “heavenly gourmet mixes” for
sale at http://www.threeangelsgourmet.com and through gift shops,
Christian bookstores, gourmet food stores, and gift basket companies
across the country.
For daily food tips and other fun food information, visit the Three Angels
Gourmet Co. blog at http://www.threeangelsgourmet.blogspot.com
In 2005 we saw the fuel prices so high that many had chosen to buy hybrid vehicles and they quickly sold out. There were waiting lists at Toyota and Honda for all models. And the Toyota Prius was car of the year. The United States Congress and Senate passed an Energy Bill, which had many incentives for those who bought Hybrid Vehicles. Many of these tax breaks started on January 1, 2006, which meant some car buyers had waited until 2006 to buy the cars that they wanted.
Meanwhile Daimler Chrysler and other Auto Makers are going all out with incentives to get people to buy their gas guzzling SUV models like the Jeeps. Offering $58.00 per month payments, $1,000 rebates and free oil changes, maintenance and gas allowance for two-years. With those sorts of incentives they are sure to sell vehicles. Yet you can expect the Hybrid Vehicle trends to accelerate even so.
In fact expect in 2006 for new models to come out to meet the consumer demand and alleviate some of these waiting lists. Also expect fuel prices to inch back up fueling the further demand for such vehicles throughout 2006 and into 2007. The free market and consumer choice to save fuel may just save the environment yet, say some Global Warming Alarmists. Just think the answer to their solution all along is free markets and capitalism and not more rules and regulations, which is exactly the opposite of what the opposing party of the current leadership in the US stands for. Think on this in 2006.
“Lance Winslow” - Online Think Tank forum board. If you have innovative thoughts and unique perspectives, come think with Lance; http://www.WorldThinkTank.net/wttbbs/
Living a creative life is often very closely connected with our feelings and emotions. It is no coincidence that those of us who are creative also tend to share traits of being emotional, sensitive, and good at communicating with others.
To be able to use creativity as a means of connecting with other people then, it’s essential to be able to tap into our own deep feelings and experiences within, and then convey them in an articulate way to our intended audience.
It might seem at first that this idea only relates to a specific form of creativity and is only relevant for writers, musicians, painters and so forth, those who are in the “Creative Arts”.
For example, an author writing a new crime thriller may be trying to communicate feelings of excitement, danger, adventure and fear. The quality of the writing determines how successful they are in conveying these emotions to their readers.
But think more carefully. Anyone who uses their creativity in their career or projects is in some way essentially seeking to communicate.
A fashion designer with their new range of teenage fashions may be wishing to communicate feelings of fun, sophistication and style.
A photographer with their exhibition of 1950s style black and white pictures may be trying to inspire feelings of nostalgia, childhood and a loss of innocence.
A graphic designer with their new magazine cover may be trying to appeal to their target market using intelligence, wit and a sense of individuality. They may be seeking to attract a readership who consider themselves to be intelligent, witty and individual.
A museum curator, when creating a new exhibition on the history of space travel may seek to communicate feelings of awe, wonder, excitement and man’s ability to achieve the seemingly impossible.
All of these examples share one thing in common. They are people using their creative abilities to communicate with their intended audience on some emotional level.
The motives may of course be different, and each individual may use a variety of methods and techniques from project to project, but the aim throughout is constant - to engage their audience and arouse an emotional reaction. And by doing this they make a lasting impression, enough that their audience wants to read their next book or visit their next show.
Think about your creative projects. When you create do you begin with an aim, motive or intended outcome on an emotional or connecting level?
When we do, we can create work that has more impact and therefore lasts longer in the memories of our audience. By having our intentions clearly outlined before we set about creating, it can help us stay focused on the outcome.
It doesn’t mean our creativity will be hindered or suppressed, in fact quite the opposite happens.
For example if you were asked to write a story that has an emotional impact you may take some time to come up with any ideas about the kind of emotions you want to convey and then take longer to choose one and begin to develop it.
But if you were asked to write a story that recounted a deep loss for example, it’s likely you’d very quickly be able to call upon your own experiences of memories of that feeling in your own life and use your creativity to compose a piece of writing that effectively communicates these feelings to your reader.
So for your next creative project, whatever it may be, give careful thought to the emotion and the communication behind the creativity.
Remember ultimately that the work we all most connect to, hold most dear and remember longest, is that which speaks to us on a deep level of feeling and emotion.
© Copyright 2006 Dan Goodwin.
Creativity Coach Dan Goodwin is the author of “Create Create!”, a FREE twice monthly ezine for people who want simple and powerful articles, tips and exercises to help them unleash their creative talents. Sign up right now and get your FREE “Explode Your Creativity!” Action Workbook, at http://www.CoachCreative.com
* Sylvia Plath teaches a valuable lesson about the Even Flow - opening the channels for creativity, regardless of this is for poetry or not.
Sylvia Plath was a poet and that was her job and her life.
She would every day no matter what, as soon as breakfast was over and no matter where she was in the world, sit down with her notebook and just start to write - about absolutely anything at all.
As she explains, this was NOT in order to create a wondrous new poem, but ONLY in order to keep the channels open, keep in the flow.
It wasn’t about practising either, but simply an exercise in FLOW - and she was very adamant about doing this, put it before many other if not all other things because she considered it so very important.
Because if a good idea came along or an insight at any time of the day which was to come afterwards, the channels would be open and a super poem would just simple glide out and through and become, there and then.
So she would write about anything whatsoever, no holds barred - a shadow on the windowsill, a bit of lettuce, an old mushroom she’d found on a walk and brought back to her room. About the table cloth, about her hands, about a little pool of light on the carpet or about her feelings of having nothing whatsoever new to say - and just let it go from there for her “morning exercise” - no expectations of it other than knowing the ACT of doing it was what did the trick.
I read her biography and this really stuck with me. I understood it right away and I implemented it right away too. Switch on computer, call up blank word document and just start writing.
Often, I would start with the words, “What shall I write about today?” and sometimes it would go on like this, “I really don’t know, everything seems a bit far away and nebulous, jeez I wish I was somewhere else, somewhere fresh and breezy, with a wide blue sky …”
As you can imagine, from there you can and most importantly, you DO automatically get into all sorts of places, all sorts of states and the flow really does come, it just happens and Ms Plath was absolutely right, it really does open the channels.
Now as to application of this.
They are veritably endless.
What channels are the most important to you, bring you the most rewards, carry the most important things like poetry was to Sylvia Plath and story telling to Silvia Hartmann in their respective times?
Creative music? Painting?
Loving perhaps?
Now that’s an interesting idea, isn’t it.
You could have your breakfast and immediately afterwards and as a part of a routine just like brushing teeth, find something to love in your environment - a toy or nic-nac, a shadow, a curtain, a house plant, a table top - like in the original usage of the pattern, it is NOT about the object or the outcome but simply to open the channels for the FLOW.
It might be more urgent to you to *be MORE loved* instead and you might want to practise receiving with the brushing of your teeth instead - receiving energy from the same toy or nic-nac, from a shadow, curtain or a house plant, anything in your environment at all, and letting it into your heart.
And as the Sylvia Plath exercise was NOT about making a poem to be sold later, this is not about making you be healed but only about opening the channels and practicing the FLOW - because when it flows, it flows and you get all these other benefits naturally and as a side effect, of course.
This is a truly superb pattern to be applied to all and everything which may be important to you at any particular time; what makes it so superb is the insistance on the FLOW as opposed to the PRODUCT.
Bringing in the PRODUCT disturbs the flow - of course! - and that is a fantastic reminder that there are certain things that, if done for their own purpose and aim, are the true building blocks and pre-requisites for the products which may follow - be they paintings, or stories, or poems, or our abilities to give and receive this and that.
These products are a result of a well established Even Flow and that is something people tend to forget in their hurry towards and focus on the “end result” - when the products are in truth, nothing more than the wake left behind a ship which indeed, contains all the valuables.
The Sylvia Plath Pattern Of Flow (Metaphor & Poetry)
by Silvia Hartmann 2003. All Rights Reserved.
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