INTERNET! This is the most important link you will read today. Thanks to Lifehacker.com I have found the single best way to cook steakhouse-style filet mignon using a little bit of time and even less effort.

This revelation came thanks to finding a new method of cooking steak and a co-worker telling me about a “Valentine’s Day Special” at New York Butcher Shoppe in Cahaba Heights. That special was two filets, two stuffed potatoes, salad and bread for $35.

Here’s how I did it:

1. Put your wrapped steaks in the freezer for an hour
2. When you’re ready to cook, preheat the oven to 225
3. Take a cast iron skillet (I bought a Lodge pre-seasoned 12-inch) and put on high heat for at least 8-10 minutes.
4. Remove steaks from freezer, unwrap and season both sides with salt and pepper (NY Butcher included a special seasoning)
5. Put a small layer of high smoke point oil (I used peanut oil) on the skillet. Immediately put one steak on the skillet for one minute to sear one side (Use a press if you have one to even the sear)
6. Remove steak from skillet and put in rimmed baking pan, seared side up. (Repeat with as many steaks as you have)
7. Insert baking pan in oven, cook to desired doneness. (I went with medium and cooked them at 225 for 30 minutes and bumped it up to 275 for 13 more)
8. Once cooked to desired temp, remove from oven and let sit under a foil tent for 5-10 minutes.

This was, without a doubt, the singlest best steak I have ever cooked. The meat quality and seasoning had a lot to do with it, but the flavor and doneness were as perfect as I have ever cooked. Seriously, I’m not trying to oversell this. This was as good a filet as I have ever had in restaurant.

The texture, temperature and juiciness were perfect. The steak was cooked to perfect medium throughout.

Cook steak exactly like this.

Some notes: I have an electric oven and set it at 8/9 for high heat. When you put the steak on, it’s going to get a little smokey but if you’ve used the right oil it won’t flare up. It’s not a thick smoke and most range vents should be able to handle it. Only sear one side. Let it cook for the full 30 minutes before you test the temp. I suggest a instant-read digital thermometer.

This would be great if you were cooking for a lot of people as the steaks could be seared one-by-one and then cooked easily in the oven while you tend to other things.

Not a sanctuary, for sure.

We decided to re-do it, but on the cheap. We managed to do it for less than $500.

Walls

Behr Premium Plus Ultra – Primer and Paint  Color: Anonymous  - Thanks Lifehacker!

Millie did two coats with a simple roller and it looks fantastic.

Furniture

We had ugly, but matching, furniture from Ikea that just needed a little update. I tried to follow these directions but couldn’t get my hands on the Benjamin Moore paint. I used Sherwin Williams latex paint instead. The big boost was the primer. Not having to sand made it much easier. We added some new hardware from Home Depot.

The bed was a gift from my dad. We did the same thing with the primer and paint.

Overall it looks great. It’s not super smooth as in the pictures from the directions, but it’s pretty close.

Extras

We found the comforter and shams from J.C. Penny. The comforter is Liz Claiborne and was originally $250, but marked down to $75. The shams are the same and were originally $50, but marked down to $15. Millie found the curtains. Two panels and the rod were $100 total.

Total Cost

All told, we spent $210 at JC Penny and about $230 at Home Depot and Sherwin Williams for the paint and supplies. The hardware for the bedside tables and dresser was about $20.

I took a bite before I took a picture. It was that good.

There were two football games yesterday. They represented 66% of the remaining football games this year (The Pro Bowl does not count.)

Football needed to be celebrated. I’d been waiting to try this since I saw it randomly on Pinterest (not just for the ladies!)

It is dead simple: Chicken breasts, buffalo sauce, ranch dressing mix, pepper jack cheese. the result is  Buffalo Ranch Chicken Sandwiches.

Directions:

Put frozen chicken breasts (I used four) in a crock pot. Pour entire 16 oz. bottle of Texas Pete’s Buffalo sauce over top of chicken. Open ranch dressing mix. Cover chicken with mix. Turn crock pot on low, cook for six hours.

After six hours, remove chicken from crock pot and shred (you’ll be shocked at how easy it is.) Turn crock pot to warm and put chicken back in the simmer sauce four at least 45 minutes to let it soak up the sauce.

Toast some sandwich rolls and put pepper jack cheese on them. Add any other fixins you see fit to the roll and add the chicken and enjoy.

Very tender, very good sandwich and very easy to make!

Source: My Kitchen Apron

The finished product. Damn good.

Another day, another Pinterest recipe. This time it’s the bacon, cheddar, ranch pull.

Ingredients:

1 loaf of sourdough bread (round kind)

1 6-8 slices sharp cheddar cheese

1 Tbps Hidden Valley Ranch dressing mix

1 packet bacon crumbles (I used Publix brand)

1/2 cup butter, melted.

Directions:

Pre-Oven

Pre-heat oven to 350

With a bread knife (I don’t have a good one), slice the sourdough in a grid pattern, left to right, up and down. Do not slice all the way through, just a little bit off the bottom of the bread.

Sprinkle the bacon crumbles over the bread, making sure the bacon gets in the slots you’ve made in the bread.

Break cheddar slices in half and insert them into the slots as well.

Mixed ranch mix and melted butter and drizzle over bread.

Wrap in foil, bake on a cookie sheet for 15 minutes.

Unwrap from foil, return to oven for 10 minutes.

Enjoy!

Source: PlainChicken.com

I had been wanting to try homemade pizza crust with some of the Fat Tire we bought in Chattanooga, so I googled a recipe for fast beer pizza crust.

The Dough

• 4 5 cups flour (More on this)
• 2 teaspoons instant yeast
• 1 teaspoon baking powder
• 1 1/2 teaspoons salt
• 2 tablespoons olive oil
• 1 1/2 cups room-temperature beer (Which is 12 oz, why not just say that?)
• Williams-Sonoma pizza seasoning (Awesome to have it go in the mix)

I used Fat Tire for the beer, which is awesome. I put all of this into our stand mixer with the dough hook and let it go for about 3 minutes.

Some notes:

The recipe calls for four cups of flour, use at least five. The dough was very sticky when it came out of the mixer and I kept adding flour until I got it not sticky. So, add more flour.

Once it’s finished, glaze a small bowl with olive oil, put the dough in, cover and let rise for 90 minutes-2 hours.

Cook the pizza for 3 minutes without toppings, add toppings, return to oven.

Before we start…If you make any sort of pizza at home, be it Digornio or something like this, you need a pizza stone. Pizza stones distribute heat more evenly, give your pizza a flat surface to cook on and are just all around awesome to have.

The ingredients for the pizza were:

• Sliced zucchini – Sauted with pepper and olive oil
• Mount Olive roasted red peppers, sliced into strips
• Fresh mozzarella, sliced thin
• Spinach – Sauteed for about 30 seconds (it wilts on its own in the oven)
• Kraft Mexican shredded cheese
• Shaved parmesan
• Dei Fratellia Pizza Sauce

Pro Tip:
When rolling out dough for a pizza I’ve found that yellow corn meal is much better than flour for making sure the dough doesn’t stick to your surface. Flour on the bottom of the pizza has a burnt chalky taste when it comes out of the oven, but I can’t taste the cornmeal after the pizza has been cooked.

Cooking

• Put pizza stone in oven, preheat to 500 degrees
• Roll dough into circle, curl edges for a crust, press dough to desired thickness (We use a pizza peel for easy transfer to the pizza stone, but I’ve read where parchment paper works as well?)
• Put your sauce on and put the pizza in the oven for about 2-3 minutes.
• Remove pizza, apply rest of toppings, return to oven
• Bake for 8-10 minutes until the crust is as crunchy/chewy as you would like
• Remove, let the pizza hang out for about 2 minutes, slice, eat, enjoy.

This pizza was amazing. The crust was just that, crusty with a nice chewy inside. The ingredients worked together perfectly. Definitely will make this again.

It tastes as good as it looks.

Research has shown that setting goals that include changing habits, such as not drinking soft drinks, go much further in bringing about change than setting a static goal, such as losing 10 pounds.

By not drinking a sugar-laden Coke, one can easily ditch 10 pounds in a year, but by simply saying “I’m going to lost 10 pounds,” with no plan in place, there is a much greater chance at failure. Also, one could easily achieve 10 pounds of weight loss in the first six weeks of the year, then abandon that goal and gain the weight back just as quickly.

So to that end, I have several goals that I hope to meet by way of resolving to take action in several areas.

Goal 1 – Personal Fitness

Actions:

• Go to the gym on Tuesday and Thursday mornings for strength training
• Go to the gym on Monday and Wednesday afternoons for cardiovascular work (and some weekends)
• Limit alcohol intake to no more than 1 drink per night and non-consecutive nights during the week
• Dine out no more than one lunch and two dinners each week
• Bring lunch to work at least four times per week

Desired Outcome – There is no set goal here, e.g. lose weight, in the above goal. Simply put, if I do the above on a consistent basis I will be much healthier than I am 365 days from now.

Goal 2 – Personal Development

Actions:

• Read (not on the web) for 45 minutes at least four times a week
• Limit TV time to no more than 80 consecutive minutes during the week
• Write a new blog post at least once per week

Desired Outcome – I want to limit my screen time away from the office and reading more or writing can help with that. Outside of an advanced degree, reading is the best way I can further my education. When I do write, I fully intend to gather source material beforehand and disconnect from the web to maintain focus.

Goal 3 – Give Back

Actions:

• Join and attend church services at least once per month
• Volunteer at least eight hours per month

Desired Outcome – There are hundreds of excuses why we haven’t joined a church since we’ve been married, and it’s one I think we both want to change in the coming year. I think weekly services or bible study could absolutely serve as a time of re-centering and re-focusing on goals. There was a time in my life when I volunteered several weekends per month. I want to get back to that. So much has been given to me, and I feel like I haven’t given anything back in many, many years aside from a quick donation online. It’s time to give back with some sweat equity.
Goal 4 – Odds and Ends

Actions:

• Stop biting my fingernails – I do this, a lot. It’s gross, I need to stop
• Listen more – I’m getting better at this
• Stop trying to one-up – My story is not always best, if others are wrong on inconsequential things, I need to let it go
• TBD

The result is a BCS top three consisting of LSU, Alabama and Arkansas. Three schools from the same six-team division in the 12-team SEC. With two weeks to play in the season, the trifecta at the top for the SEC West is unprecedented.

The possibility of rematches involving Alabama are very strong given that, regardless of a LSU win or loss, the Crimson Tide is assured of a spot in the top two of the BCS.Alabama lost to LSU, but beat Arkansas.

Regardless of what happens, there will be questions as to the legitimacy of the BCS, given the potential rematches involving Alabama-LSU or Alabama-Arkansas now seem inevitable. Mathematically, Alabama, LSU and Arkansas are the best teams in the country. LSU is the lone undefeated BCS team, and Alabama and Arkansas lost to the right teams at the right time. (Arkansas to Alabama, giving the Razorbacks time to climb back up the rankings and Alabama to LSU more recently by a small margin, causing only a small drop in the rankings)

So what can be said for teams like Oklahoma State,Virginia Tech, Stanford, Boise State and (undefeated) Houston?

Has there ever been a better time to argue for a college football playoff? Here’s my suggestion, which I developed with my coworker Katey, in the span of 20 minutes this morning.

BCS Playoff

12 teams, seeded 1-12, with six automatic qualifiers and six at-large bids. Seeds 1-4 are based on final BCS rankings among AQs and receive first round byes.

Automatic Qualifiers:

Conference champions from each of the six “BCS conferences” of the SEC, Big East, Big 12, Big 10, Pac 12 and ACC.

At-large bids:

Top six non-AQ teams as determined by the BCS standings.

Making assumptions related to the rest of the season, this is how it would shake out:

Automatic Qualifiers

SEC: LSU
ACC: Virginia Tech
Big 12: Oklahoma State
Big East: Rutgers
Pac 12: Oregon
Big 10: Michigan State

At-Large Bids (based on current or assumed BCS standings)

Alabama
Arkansas
Stanford
Boise State
Houston
Oklahoma

The playoff seeding would be as follows:

1. LSU
2. Oklahoma St.
3. Virginia Tech
4. Oregon
5. Michigan State
6. Rutgers
7. Alabama
8. Arkansas
9. Stanford
10. Boise State
11. Houston
12. Oklahoma

Click to expand

With a 12-team, single elimination, four-round playoff bracket looking like this (click to enlarge)

Using the 2011/12 calendar as a schedule, four round one games would start on or around December 17^th, four round two games on Dec. 24^th and two semifinal games on Dec. 31^st. The championship game would be played on January 14^th, only five days after the scheduled date of the 2012 BCS National Championship

The only clunker of a first round matchup is the 6/11 of Houstonv.Rutgers. That says more to the Big East than anything else. I think people would happily pay to see Case Keenum take on a non-CUSA defense. Each of those matchups provide for some amazing mid-December football that could easily compete with the NFL’s late-season matchups.

It gets tricky when you talk about where to play these games. The Cotton Bowl, Capital One Bowl and Chick-Fil-A Bowl all come to mind as excellent chances to farm out the playoffs to the major, but non-BCS  bowls. The playoffs provide for 11 total games. The six major bowls, the four current BCS bowls and then a final BCS Championship game will host each game.

The final game could be bid out every year to cities like Atlanta, New Orleans, Dallas, Indianapolis, Detroit etc., just like the Super Bowl.

Other bowl games could fill the void during the week during the holidays and would feature much more entertaining matchups from schools in major conferences that travel well. It works out well for sponsors, conferences, host cities and fans. Because who really wants to watch the RL Carriers Bowl in New Orleans between Troy and Ohio?

Pros:

True championship tournament featuring the best teams from all conferences
Doesn’t dramatically expand the season
Doesn’t encroach on academic year
Increase revenue to be distributed to participating teams and conferences.
Allows all small school conferences shot at national championship
Keeps current bowl system intact as a complement to playoff

Cons:

Lessens chance of major early season matchups for team trying to preserve BCS standing
Difficult/costly for fans and teams to travel to up to four extra games

Can you imagine what a 12-team playoff would look like? Every team, every game would matter. Rutgers and Houston would have the same chance as winning the national championship. No more four “good” games only leading up to the national championship. Every game would count, with equal build up and implications.

Click to expand

Just for fun, what would the playoffs look like this year?

How GREAT would that be?

I say bring it on, on one condition.

(Note: I wrote about this on my Facebook wall today)

Funds generated from the tax must go directly into supporting mass and alternative transit initiatives as well as alternative fuel research.

50 cents of every dollar could go to building:

1 – Protected bike lanes on major city thoroughfares
2 – Commuter rail transit to allow people to remain in far flung suburbs, but work in a city center.
3 – Light rail within cities
4 – Subsidizing alternative transportation projects e.g. Office locker rooms for cyclists, street narrowing/landscaping
5 – HOV lanes. People will still have to drive.

This would revitalize major population centers and boost those major cities that have seen a suburban flight. Not everything would be a mass of urban high-rises and condos stacked next to each other, as cities like Birmingham have PLENTY of room for light and medium residential development. There are still great neighborhoods with beautiful houses on large lots within five miles of the city center of Birmingham. (I’m about to move to one)

Seriously? This is the wide open spaces of the suburbs? (12 miles from downtown Birmingham)

People may not want to give up their houses in the suburbs with their huge yards, huge driveways etc. to which I say what yard? So many new developments these days are houses that look exactly alike stacked so close you can reach out and touch your neighbor’s home.

The other 50 cents should go to research and development alternative energy strategies such CNG, fuel cell, electric and hybrid vehicles.

Boone Pickens stance on reducing our dependance on foreign oil is admirable. America that is not reliant on foreign oil is a stronger America. Less money spend on gas (yes, less even with the tax as a result of the R&D) would free up more money to spend on other domestic goods and services which would revitalize the economy. I won’t even go near the positive affect it would have on foreign policy and our military involvement in the Middle East.

Sure, paying $6 or $7 a gallow sounds like a bad idea on the surface, but if we spent the resulting tax revenues wisely, it could pay off in the long run.

Homepage photo courtesy of Amit Patel

The book gives a history of research surrounding the brain. Most of the early theories centered on the brain being milled early in our lives and by the time we reach our 20s the brain, and it’s behaviors, are mostly intact, unable to change as we age. The only change comes in the form of decay as the nervous system slowly breaks down and then dies.

New research pointed to neuroplasticity in which the brain is constantly shifting the way it operates to make it more efficient.

How does this work?

Ex. People who become blind but can hear better do so because the area of the brain responsible for sight is taken over by the area responsible for hearing.

In a study of cab drivers in London, the area of the brain responsible for spatial reasoning-navigating London- was much larger than the area dedicated to memory.

Edward Taub’s CIMT is mentioned in which a stroke patient spent 8 hours a day for several weeks using limbs on the left side of his body. The result was the brain re-mapping the pathways necessary to use the left side of the body.

The basic premise is that the large amount of time spent online is causing us not to exercise certain synapses in our brain. The neurons needed for deep, creative thought do not fire. Instead we are firing our quick response neurons, problem, solution, move on. This has a profound long-term affect on creativity, problem solving and discussion skills. We can’t argue a point or sit back and be creative. Our brains absolutely need time to reflect and recharge. Constantly pinging it with stimuli does not give our brain the necessary time to do that.

A constant flood of stimuli does not allow our brain to process bits of information necessary for long-term memory. This is why you can leave a meeting, check your email and instantly forget anything that was said in the meeting. When it’s necessary to process events, thoughts or process steps following a meeting, the brain must have time to do so. Time also isn’t the main issue, but the brain must be conditioned to do so. So even though one may take 5-10 minutes after a meeting to recap, if the brain isn’t conditioned to process things effectively, 5-10 minutes may not be enough.

Our working memory (RAM) is only capable of processing 2-4 pieces of information at any given time. So working through 10 items in a meeting with no means to process/remember them leaves open the possibility of things being overlooked. The information is flowing in is called “cognitive load.” As cognitive load reaches peak capacity, our ability to distinguish the important from the unimportant is severely diminished and all the information becomes static and noise.

Short term memory needs time to process thoughts to long term memory. Any disruption, whether a jab to the head or a simple distraction can sweep the nascent memories from the mind. (A boxer not being able to remember a fight)

Building long term memory can actually make our minds sharper. Expanding long term memory enlarges our intelligence.

The calculator – When schools started allowing the use of calculators, the resulting effect was the freeing up of cognitive load to process more complex mathematical equations. The Web is the opposite in that it taxes cognitive load and diminishes understanding.

The intellectual environment of the Internet is “like trying to read a book while doing a crossword puzzle.”

The book cites an overload of working memory as a possible link to ADD, wherein the ADD is caused by an overloaded working memory and thus may be preventable.

Hyperconnectivity goes beyond the Web with office workers checking email upwards of 30-40 times per hour. Even a brief distraction can curb cognitive processes, forcing a person to restart to get back to where they previously were.

This “switching cost” taxes are brain in much the same way as navigating a curvy mountain road would a car. When moving in a straight line, free of curves a car operates more efficiently and can go faster, but when constantly moving in various directions and braking, the car’s fuel efficiency and wear on the tires is heightened.

Jordan Grafman of the National Institute of Neurological Disorders and Stroke says that being online constantly does increase our ability to multitask. However… “The more you multitask, the less deliberate you become; the less able you are to think and reason out a problem.”

Solutions given are likely to be conventional and unoriginal. “How does Acme do it?”

On multitasking, to quote Roman philosopher Seneca “To be everywhere is to be nowhere.”

Cliffnord Nass of Stanford led a research study that showed heavy multitaskers are “suckers for irrelevancy” and that “everything distracts them.”

Heavy multitasking diminishes the ability to support calm, linear thought which is hugely important in navigating a complex equation or taking part in an argument.

“There needs to be a time for efficient data collection and time for inefficient contemplation, time to operate the machine and time to sit idly in the garden.”

“Outsource memory and culture withers.”