steak

#1219: Grab A Stack of Eats 2025

RECORD STORE TALES #1219: Grab A Stack of Eats 2025

Every year at the cottage, I try to expand my cooking game just a little bit.  In the past, this included making our own onion rings, slow cooking some beef ribs, caramelizing onions, working with exotic meats such as duck and lamb, and finding new ways to cook my veggies.  Had money been available this summer, I would have liked to start smoking my own meat.  Perhaps next year.  In 2025, we did try some new things and have some excellent food experiences.

The story starts in December of 2024.  We have a “tire guy”, Jason, who comes to the house and swaps out our tires twice a year.  I knew that Jason was a hunter, and I know he had a freezer full of moose meat.  We talked about it a bit, and discussed seasoning and cooking techniques for the exotic meat.  I asked if he could spare a taste of the moose meat.  Just a taste.  I am well familiar with moose, as a boss at work is also a hunter and brings in his own moose spaghetti from time to time.  It is not very gamey.  It has a beef-like taste and texture, with a venison finish.  It is a lean meat and not bad for you as a beef substitute.

Jason didn’t bring just a taste.  He went above and beyond, to the point that I was actually freaking out over the amount of meat that I had to eat.

I just wanted a taste.  What I got was a pack of moose pepperoni, a huge moose salami, and ten frozen links of big moose sausage.  Ten links.

There has not been a single year in my life where I ate ten links of any sausage at all.  Typically, I would have two or three at Sausagefest in the summer, and that is it.  I don’t do Oktoberfest and I’m not a big pork eater.  Jen won’t touch any kind of exotic game meat at all, so I could not count on her for any help.  The sausage was kept in the freezer until the opening of cottage season 2025.  It would be the first food experiment of the new year.

“Dad, you have to help me finish this sausage.  At least one link,” I told my father.

“Oh you eat them son, just enjoy.  You don’t have to share with me,” he answered as some form of polite excuse.

“You don’t understand what I’m saying dad.  I CAN’T eat ten links by myself.”

Cut to the end:  He didn’t eat any of them, and I did finish all ten.

Most of them were cooked on the barbecue, well done, and served with a toasted bun and a variety of toppings from mayonnaise to mustard to guacamole.  One was done in a frying pan, but the fumes actually triggered a seizure in Jen, so I avoided that method from then on.  Still, even with different toppings and condiments, ten sausages is a lot so I had to get creative.

One night in September, arriving at the cottage on a Thursday night, I needed to eat some dinner but had few options in front of me except…moose sausage.  I imagined cutting up the sausage into small chunks and using them in some way, and then realized:  I had everything I needed to make a moose spaghetti.  So I got cooking!

I began by cutting the sausage into meatball-sized chunks.  Then I sautéed it in olive oil, diced up some green peppers, red onions, garlic and mushrooms, and added them to the mixture.  I like a nice chunky sauce, so those diced veggies would blend in perfectly.  I let them cook until they reached the desired done-ness, and then added some craft spaghetti sauce that my dad had in stock from an unknown store.  I like a bit of heat, so I gave it several shots of Tobasco sauce, gave it a stir and let it simmer.  I made enough spaghetti to serve two, and dumped my sauce with moose sausage on top.  It was a masterpiece.  I finished it all – eventually.

That experiment was a total success.  Maybe Jason will get me some more sausage this winter, and I can try again next year.  Not ten links though.  Five will do me fine.

Our other successful experiment involved my first try at cooking a steak of Canadian wagyu.  I have cooked Japanese A5 wagyu at home before, but that is a very expensive and hard to find meat.  We no longer shop at our local Kitchener butcher (Robert’s Boxed Meats) after they sold us not one but two rotten steaks.  No third chance for Robert’s, and no more access to Japanese A5 wagyu.  The bright side of this is that after Robert’s almost ruined our cottage weekend with a steak that we had to throw in the garbage, my dad suggested we try the local Kincardine butcher, the Beefway.  This began a love affair and with a great store, and relationship with the staff who know us by name and recognize us when we come in.  When we first visited, I asked if they had heard of such a thing as A5 wagyu.  They had, of course, but didn’t carry the animal in stock.  Cut forward to 2025, and they now have Canadian wagyu in stock.  Not as marbled as the Japanese A5 variety, it might actually be a more enjoyable meat to enjoy as a steak.  There is a farm on the highway to the cottage that grows the animals, which is likely where the Beefway got theirs.

The Japanese A5 wagyu is so rich, that you really can’t eat more than a little in one sitting.  It is considered more a steak that you cut into cubes and share.  The Canadian variety was better suited to the steak eating experience.  I ended up doing two this year, both ribeyes.  The Beefway had a variety of cuts in stock, but I like a ribeye.  It was not cheap, but as a treat, certainly the best steak I’ve ever made at home.  More enjoyable than the A5 due to the better meat to fat ratio.  It was still incredibly tender, even when I accidentally cooked the first one to a medium well.  The second one, I underestimated and cooked it to a rare.  The thing is, both were really good.  With a good steak, I always keep the seasoning simple with salt and pepper, and maybe garlic powder.  A crappy steak needs everything I can throw at it to make it tasty, but the wagyu doesn’t need much.  No steak sauce.  You want to taste that meat.  You’re paying for it, so you better be able to taste it.  Salt might be enough on its own.

That is 2025 and its food experiments in a nutshell.  Nothing crazy, and all with local meat.  Which leaves us to end on a funny story.

The first time I purchased wagyu from the Beefway, I was so excited about my find, that I wanted to tell the world.  I made a post on the local Kincardine Facebook group.  There were several “likes” and loads of positive comments, except from one person who just didn’t…get it.

Darlene Johnson saw the price on my ribeye and had an absolute fit.  Her first of many comments is below.

 

She didn’t understand that the steak was a local cow, bred similar to the Japanese variety, no matter how it was explained to her.  She continued to berate me for buying it, and the store itself for “selling out” to Japan.  She said she preferred a nice lean steak.  I bet she cooks it well done, too.  I had to block her.  She was just mean.

Darlene A. Johnston will not dissuade me from buying the meat I like, and I will continue to patronize the Beefway as long as they are open.  Wagyu or otherwise, I have never had a tastier steak (or bacon, or pork chop, or chicken breast), than what I can get at my new favourite local butchers.

2025 was another successful year for food.  Bring on 2026!

 

OCT 6 2025 UPDATE:  She’s baaaack!

#1192: Close Encounter of the Stinky Kind!

RECORD STORE TALES #1192:  Close Encounter of the Stinky Kind!

It has been the Spring of Unseasonal Cold!  Unable to catch a break this year, Jen and I have spent most of our cottage time indoors with the heat cranked.  What a change from years past.  The water levels are low, and we have not seen much wildlife.  Well, except for a recent close encounter.

We left for the lake on Thursday night, to the soundtrack of Frehley’s Comet.  Friday was a day off, and it was spent cooking exotic meat on the barbecue (more on that in a bit).  It was also spent flying my new drone.  A step up from the Potensic, I now have in my arsenal a Ruko U11MINI 4k.  Unfortunately, due to the wind and cold, I only had one flight with it.  You can see from the video footage that the camera is far superior.  The images and videos are clearer, and level with the horizon.  I will be posting a full review soon, and more videos, as I work with the drone and gain more experience.

We ran out propane on Friday night, just after my lamb chops were cooked to a perfect medium rare.  The last gasps of flame puffed to an end as the lamb was finished.  Of course, with two big beautiful steaks on deck for Saturday night, we had to get more propane.  Friday was the day for exotic meat – scallops, moose sausage, and lamb chops.  Each one of them turned out perfect.  My scallops had an abundance of butter to soak up, seasoned with garlic oil and chunks.  The moose sausage was strong but not game-y, and the lamb of course was the highlight.  I did those with butter, garlic, oregano and fresh parsley.  But Saturday was steak day, the “big” day.  We had a porterhouse and a ribeye to grill!  Propane would be purchased on Saturday morning.

I woke Jen up around 7:00 AM.  Nobody likes hitting the Kincardine McGas bar during the breakfast rush, so we aimed to be there before that.  I started warming up the family truckster, Jen got in, and I noticed that I left a Tim’s coffee cup in the car.  I grabbed it and quickly ran over to my fireplace to toss it out.  It was a cool but beautiful morning, still dim as we waited for the sun to penetrate the clouds.

Just as I approached the fireplace from behind, preparing my aim to launch my cup, I saw movement!

Black and white movement!

I skidded to a halt and aborted the launch of my coffee cup.  It landed meters away from the target — which was a blessed thing!  Inside the fireplace, nosing around looking for scraps, was a large black and white skunk.  I shrieked like a baby and ran.  “There’s a skunk in there!!” I shouted to Jen who had no idea why I was running.

I was literally a second away from being sprayed.  If I had not halted when I did, that coffee cup would have launched right into the fireplace, hitting and startling the skunk, and thus ruining my weekend and probably the week after.

Close call!  They say close only counts in horseshoes?  It also counts when barely missing a skunk at 7:00 AM!

 

 

#1147: Dream On (At The Cottage) Goodbye to Aerosmith

RECORD STORE TALES #1147: Dream On (At The Cottage)

“Aww, crap!” I explained upon arrival at the lake on Friday night.  “I forgot my drone!”

I should have known.  When we packed the car, I said “I’m surprised everything fit so easily.  I thought we had more stuff.”  Because we did have more stuff!  Sitting in a box in the living room…

Drone photography has been the highlight of the summer this year.  Now we’d have to rough it!  Back to regular earthbound cameras for us.

As it stands, without the drone we didn’t do much photography this time.  Last week’s video was so epic, there really wasn’t a need for it this time.  There were plenty of other activities on hand.  For the most part, we focused on music.

Twisted Sister, Kiss and Alice Cooper…all were interrupted by the news that Aerosmith had called it a day for touring.  Cutting short their 50th anniversary farewell tour, the Bad Boys from Boston have been forced to end it due to Steven Tyler’s insurmountable vocal issues.  It’s over – the man can no long sing live.  It felt right to put on the debut Aerosmith album and listen to the beginning again.  It was a bittersweet, but important album to listen to that night.  I’m sure everyone did their own tributes to Tyler that day, but mine was the only one with lake breezes and sunsets.

Come dinner time, and with a fresh tank of propane, I put on the best burgers of my life.  If you bought these burgers in an upscale restaurant, you’d be paying $20 each.  My secret ingredients included thick cut bacon, chopped and added to the mix, as well as minced mushroom, minced onion, and roasted (not raw) garlic. I don’t think these burgers can be topped.

We also bought a beautiful T-Bone and Porterhouse steak for Sunday night, but Saturday night’s dinner had gone bad.  Some wretched pork chops from Farm Boy (in Kitchener) had spoiled, so what do we eat?  Unprepared for this moment, we ordered in Domino’s Pizza, and they delivered right to the front door.  Also delivered right to the porch was a cool set of Lego Speed Champions, which kept me busy in the absence of a drone show.  Ah, the modern conveniences of life.

It’s funny how few people seem to understand how cool it is getting deliveries to the front door.  “I prefer to buy it myself at the store, it is close by.”  Well, for 50 years, there was no such nearby convenience here as “record stores” or “toys stores” or “pizza delivery”.  This is all new to us.

We hope that Steven Tyler is able to enjoy a relaxing retirement, just as pleasant as our weekend at the lake.

 

 

 

#1086: Seven Tales for Seven Photos

RECORD STORE TALES #1086: Seven Tales for Seven Photos

Instead of one new Record Store Tale, today I present seven mini-stories!  With photo accompaniment.

#1087 A:  Canadian Redneck

Found this guy on my Facebook one morning.  No idea who he is.  Looks kind of familiar.  “Hey ya’ll!” he said, apparently on his vacation.  “Take a vacation from yourselves once in a while!” he said.  Should I be taking advice from this guy?  Something tells me no, but something also tells me yes….

I’ll give this guy credit for one thing, whoever he is:  great hair.  That’s a classic style he’s sporting there.

#1087 B:  A Couple Turkeys

Fall has arrived and it’s turkey season.  I snapped this selfie up at The Beef Way, north of Kincardine Ontario.

Regular readers here know we take food very seriously.  We had some bad luck earlier at a Kitchener store called Robert’s Boxed Meats.  I am here to tell you that we will never shop at Robert’s Boxed Meats ever again.  Twice he sold us spoiled beef, and the last time was an expensive tomahawk steak.

The Beef Way sold us three freshly butchered tomahawks this summer, not to mention some T-bones, porterhouses and ribeyes.  He also sold us the best bacon I’ve ever had in my life, some amazing “fry-pies”, and condiments & jams.  It is a shame the Beef Way is so far from home, but we won’t be wasting any more dollars at Robert’s Boxed Meats.  Which is a shame, since Robert’s is the only place within 100 kilometers that sells A5 Waygu steaks.  Just not worth the risk.  Don’t be a turkey; don’t buy from Robert’s.  One pack of spoiled meat is an isolated incident.  Two is a problem.  You have been warned.

#1087 C:  Jen is Joining Tee Bone Man!

Harrison has created a prototype Jen figure for the Adventures of Tee Bone Man!  But this is not her final form, and we have her own Jen In Space spinoff planned.  I have purchased a number of different hair pieces and hats for Jen as she ventures into space on board the Galaxy Explorer.

You will just have to keep reading Tee Bone Man to see how she fits into the story.  Though she has been mentioned in the past, a few people asked me “Why is Jen not in the Tee Bone Man stories?”  The truth is there isn’t a good reason, aside from the fact that we don’t write together very well.  We never have.  We tried to write our own Trailer Park Boys fan fiction when we first met, and we immediately realized we do not collaborate well with the written word.  At all.  We’re better off creatively with me writing and her knitting!

However, this winter we’re going to start integrating her character into the story — wish us luck!

#1087 D:  If It’s Too Loud Then You’re Too Old

The porch is my happy place.  Music sounds better out there in the great green open!  And I play it loud.  It’s easy to forget how easily sounds carry at the lake.  You’d think the trees would act as a sound baffle, preventing the music from carrying.  You’d be wrong!

Maybe it’s the lack of city background noise, but if I am cranking it really loud, you can hear the tunes almost all the way down at the beach.  At normal volume, passers by can hear it from the road.

And they know I’m playing music way cooler than they are!

A few weeks ago, a couple kids were biking down the road with some kind of speaker on their bikes.  They were blasting “Kickstart My Heart” by Motley Crue.

“GOOD SONG!” said one kid to the other.

I just laughed, and remembered being told to turn that song down when I was their age, about 34 years ago!

 

1087 E:  Green Lamborghini

Driving home from the cottage on October 1, I snapped a photo at a stoplight.  I know, I know.  You’re not supposed to handle your phone at any time in a car, even a stoplight.  But I could not resist this beauty.  Two kids crossing the road filmed this car as it sat low to the ground, ready to rip.

He did not “rip” though; he drove the speed limit the whole way, even on Highway 8, which surprised us.

It was a pleasant drive home, with only one guy zipping in and out of passing cars, and it wasn’t this guy.  It was some guy whose car sounded like a weedwhacker when he gunned it.  Lambo Man just kept going the speed limit.

Good going, Lambo Man!

1087 F:  A Penny For Your Thoughts

I just found these coins in my music room:  one of each major denomination of Canadian coinage.

#1087 G:  The Face of Terror

Ah, childhood photos.  Always good for a laugh…or pure horror!

My parents took me to meet “celebrities” a couple times.  Once was David Prowse, dressed as Darth Vader.   He even signed his autograph as “Darth Vader”.  That terrified me…but just look at Bert and Ernie here!

I may be smiling, but I was terrified and did not want to be there.  Bert was tickling me.  I was not amused!  I wanted the hell out of there!

Somewhere out there is a guy who used to dress as Bert and tickle kids to get them to smile.

Parents, never do this to your kids!  They will only post the photo to shame you down the road!

 

 

 

#1069: A Tale of Three Seizures

RECORD STORE TALES #1069: A Tale of Three Seizures

It happens every few months.  Clusters of seizures, wreaking havoc on our mental health and chaos in the house.

We had a great weekend, but a weekend without seizures of some kind is very rare for us.  We made it all the way to Sunday morning without an event.  Although I didn’t witness them all, I counted three seizures on Sunday morning.

I figure there was one before 2:00 AM.  I woke up around then, and I found my Lego trumpet player smashed.  Jen had no memory of doing it, but she did manage to pick up most of the pieces and put them all aside somehow.  The final missing piece was found in the morning.  They only way we know a seizure happened was because the Lego was smashed, returned, and she had no memory of it.  It’s a bit like piecing a mystery together from the evidence left behind.

The second seizure happened before 5:00 AM.  I am certain that Jen could not get into the bed, because I was sprawled over the whole mattress.  I went looking for Jen.  Not on the couch.  Not on the spare bed.  Not on the parents’ bed.  I lit up all the lights in the house and called for her.  Not in the bathroom.  That’s all the rooms.  I went back into the spare room and she was on the floor.  I assumed she went to bed in the spare room due to lack of options, had a seizure and fell off the bed.  It was very difficult to wake her up and get her into a proper bed.  She was uninjured.

Third seizure was the one I witnessed.  I was outside working on the porch.  In between songs, I heard unpleasant noises coming from the bedroom window.  I looked in and Jen was convulsing.  It took her approximately three hours to come back to reality after that seizure.  And a lot of cleanup that I won’t get into.  Suffice to say it was a tiring and difficult morning for me.

For Jen it was a day of sleeping.  She spent most of it in bed.  I spent the morning watching two of the greatest sequels (with two of the greatest sequel soundtracks) of all time:  The Empire Strikes Back, and The Wrath of Khan.  I wasn’t in the mood to be outdoors.  I wanted to be in where I could better monitor Jen’s recovery.

Incidentally, we have a pretty good idea of what caused the seizures this time.  She missed her meds the previous day.  That’ll do it.

We try not to let these things ruin our weekends.  We had a great five days at the lake, regardless of Sunday being a writeoff for Jen.  We made the best of it.  We had a tomahawk steak for dinner, but I was just wiped out afterwards and called it an early night.

Nobody said it was easy.  But we don’t quit either.  We don’t give up on each other.  We’ve been through enough this year already.  This wasn’t even a roadblock or an obstacle in our lives.  Once it’s over and done with, all that’s left is to write the Record Store Tale.

#1065: Even the Best Weekends Can Turn to Crap

RECORD STORE TALES #1065: Even the Best Weekends Can Turn to Crap

It started great!

Thursday night, the music on the trip up to the lake was amazing. We began with The Cult’s Fire Woman EP, and moved on to Michigan Left by the Arkells.  Jen fell asleep in the car and I was left to sing along by myself.  Never a problem!

We came packed with lots of Lego, and plenty of new music to unbox live on Grab A Stack of Rock.  We arrived with coffee, treats and tunes!  Immediately I set up on the front porch and started playing mellow music.  Jim Cuddy’s All In Time is one of the best cottage front porch albums for dancing that I have ever heard.  From rockers to tear-jerking ballads, what an album!  I used to consider it “just a Blue Rodeo album without Greg” but it’s actually far more than that.  Articulating it is hard, but the album evoked emotions and dance moves that Blue Rodeo didn’t.  We also played some of Alice Cooper’s more emotional, cinematic tunes that night.  It was a magical start.

Friday was a wonderful day!  I commenced with some more porch music, and then we hit The Beef Way for our weekend meat!  We chose two T-bone steaks, a turkey breast fillet (for Jen) and a beautiful duck breast (for me).  It was my first duck breast.  I seasoned heavily with salt, pepper and garlic powder to offset that gamey taste.  I scored the fat, cooked it skin side down in a frying pan for 10 minutes to get it cripsy, and finished it in the BBQ.  When finished, you could have mistaken it for steak, it was that good.  The skin was the best part, and I’ll get duck breast from The Beef Way again.  Just an awesome lunch!

Of course, Friday night was Grab A Stack of Rock, and an excellent show was had, almost two hours long!  Grab A Stack really did rock this time!  Lots of new music revealed, to be reviewed in the coming weeks/months, including Journey Through Time.

First thing Saturday morning, I taped an excellent Tim’s Vinyl Confessions, reviewing the new Def Leppard Drastic Symphonies.  I cannot wait until this airs!  Although we were both kind but critical, I’m sure the Fanboy trolls will be out when it’s released on YouTube.  I will of course be posting it here for ease of viewing.  It was possibly my favourite Tim’s Vinyl Confessions that I’ve been involved with to date!

We did “Jazz Saturday” morning with Herbie Hancock’s Quartet.  By recommendation of Robert Lawson, next Jazz Saturday will be to Pat Metheny’s Bright Size Life.  It’s ordered and on its way.  Then we switched to the back yard, and built Lego all afternoon.  We are both enjoying the Lego “Speed Champions” series of licensed car models.  They are all roughly the same scale and although they are similar in design, very few of them use the exact same design techniques.  Jen also build a New York City skyline, while I finally finished my knockoff Titanic set.  I’ll never buy knockoff Lego again.  It looks cool complete, but it was very hard to build with confusing instructions and bags.  The final fitting pieces were not up to Lego’s standards.   It does look good, but never again.

It was Saturday evening that turned everything to shit.

I made the steaks, damn perfect if you asked me, and Jen proclaimed “I’m gonna eat the whole thing!”  I was already half full from snacking on chips so I knew I was keeping leftovers.  As she took a mid-meal break, Jen had a seizure.

The coffee spilled.  The Coke spilled.  I could stop neither because I was busy keeping her from falling off her chair.  Eventually I got her safely down, where she soaked herself in spilled coffee.  It took some work to get her into bed.  More seizures later that night.  She fell off the bed, and once again Mike managed to pull off a save.  I’ve lost track of the rest of the seizures that night but we figured it was four or five total.  Not the most restful night, and I was completely exhausted from cleaning up the spills.  I went to bed early and slept in late.  Not the way I usually do things at the cottage.  I like to stay up late and enjoy the creatures of the night.  That didn’t happen this weekend.

I came home Sunday completely exhausted and Jen slept the entire way.  Music on the way home was also mellow:  Ward One: Along the Way and When the Bough Breaks by Bill Ward.  Really good and felt appropriate to my mood.

We will have more Lego to build next time.  My Jazz Quartet set looks challenging and interesting.  Hopefully the next trip will be less eventful!

 

 

#1061: Musical Flashbacks and Flame Throwers (VIDEO)

RECORD STORE TALES #1061: Musical Flashbacks and Flame Throwers

I know how to pick the tunes.

Trip up:  Of course, it had to be High Noon by the Arkells.  Had to be.  That album has become too important to me.  And so we played and I sang along, and really struggled and failed to hit the one “ooo ooo ooo” in “Never Thought That This Could Happen”.  One of many signs of my aging body this weekend.

Three day weekends are really special.  Sure, we didn’t get to finish everything we wanted to.  But we did have fun.  For the first time, we checked out a local shop called the Beef Way.  We picked up a delicious tomahawk steak and some apple pie jam.  Highly recommended.  We are all done with Robert’s Boxed Meats in Kitchener.  For the second time, he sold us steak that had gone bad.  Never again, Robert!  Beef Way has our money now.  Guy was super helpful.

When we arrived on the front porch, it was all about the music once again.  I captured some on video for you to enjoy, and I hope it gives you that “being there” feeling.  The idea this weekend was, once again, to travel back in time.  Listening to albums in the place I first heard them:  the cottage.  Priest…Live!  Misplaced Childhood by Marillion.  White Lion’s Big Game (who Jen understandably confused with Bon Jovi).  This time it just made me glow.

The biggest deal about this weekend was the unprecedented spotting of wildlife!  I managed to capture all of it either on photo or video.  There was a beefy raccoon.  We had a turkey.  There was a beautiful skunk.  Best of all, our fearless little chipmunk friend returned to visit us on both front and back porches.  On Saturday we had a Lego session, and he came right out to help.

A word about Lego:  It sure has changed a lot since we were kids.  Now there are angles for every degree and orientation, slopes we never had before, lots of pieces that have both right and left-handed counterparts, and building techniques that involve going sideways just as often as upwards.  It was challenging for both of us.  But we’re both making progress!  And I thought we’d be done in a weekend….

If YouTube allows the music, then check out my picks.

2023 is off to a banging start!

#776: (Wag)yu Shook Me All Night Long [Reblog]

Today is our anniversary!  In this throwback post from 2019, enjoy some wicked looking steaks.

RECORD STORE TALES #776: (Wag)yu Shook Me All Night Long

For highway driving, nothing quite hits the spot like AC/DC.  It feels right.  Who Made Who works as a quickie “greatest hits” selection for a quick spin down Highway 401.  Mrs. LeBrain and I were heading to the GTA to celebrate 11 years as a married couple.  We rocked to “You Shook Me All Night Long” on the dance floor that night, and we were returning to the very same location once more.

Highway 401 is in a perpetual state of construction, but good music helps take the edge off.  This was my first drive that way in the new vehicle, and also the first with my latest gadget, a nifty dash cam that is sure to provide lots of content for my YouTube channel in the coming months.

Sorry, quick tangent:  Phil Rudd is the “man”, but Simon Wright doesn’t get enough credit for his time on the AC/DC drum stool.  AC/DC isn’t an easy beat to get the feel for, and every AC/DC drummer has their own approach.  The 1980s were a period of hard-hitters and Simon Wright was the perfect drummer for that era.  His precision is absolute on “Who Made Who” and it just sounds right.  Compare the original to Chris Slade’s interpretation on AC/DC Live.  That’s all I have to say about that.

We arrived at the hotel mid-afternoon and I settled into the jacuzzi pretty quickly.  I wanted to do a funny gangsta style photo in the hot tub with me holding a couple of American dollar bills.  I was thinking about when Floyd Mayweather threw the $1s at Conor McGregor.  And holy shit did Facebook react.

“Dude you look like if Kuato from Total Recall was successfully removed from his twin, grew up, lived a long and depressing life and got really excited when someone gave him 2 bucks to sh!t in the local YMCA jacuzzi.”

Two things:  Yes, I had pants on.  And yes, that “gang sign” is the Vulcan salute.  Relax.  Let a man enjoy his jacuzzi, publicly on social media like damn 20 year old.  Are you not entertained?!

We did some shopping.  Because, like an idiot, I forgot to bring a nice pair of shoes for dinner, I had to get a new pair just for this one night.  Then we met up with Jen’s best friend Lara for lunch.  Did some more shopping.  I wanted to go to stores that we don’t have at home.  There isn’t much of that, just the same old chains.  We did hit one up cool store, where I bought something called “Jean Guy”, but we couldn’t find any cool music or toy stores.  At least I got my shoes!

So where were we headed?  In ’08 when we got married it was the Pavilion Royale, but now it is a high end restaurant called 17 Steakhouse & Bar.  It’s very different on the inside, but recognizable.  There was the dance floor, where I once spun to “You Shook Me All Night Long”.  But we chose 17 for more than sentimental reasons.  The main draw was the real Japanese A5 wagyu.  And that’s what this chapter is really about.

I’ve never had real wagyu in my life and American wagyu was not going to do it.  You only live once.  Carpe diem.  Go big or go home.  It’s only money.  All that bullshit.  I’d done my research, I knew what I was getting my wallet into.  I’d been planning it over a year.

We started with a simple but delicious field green salad, with incredible goat cheese.  The smoothest goat cheese I’ve ever tasted.  Only when we finished the salads did they began firing our steaks.  None of that “here comes your main dish before you’ve finished your starter” nonsense.  Jennifer chose the US prime T-bone, medium rare, and let me tell you, that alone could have been the best steak I’ve ever tasted.  It was 25 oz, so more than enough to share.  So tender!  With cripsy, tasty fat.

Jen’s steak could easily have been the most tender I’ve ever tried, if not for my Japanese A5 wagyu.  Market price was $30 per oz.  I chose an 8 oz striploin, medium rare.  You should always get a wagyu steak cooked to medium rare.  I was electric with tense anticipation.  The steaks arrived, cooked precisely to order.

I gently cut a thin slice, which came off like butter.  There was a lovely char on the outside, a crisp splash of flat, and then the most tender meat you can imagine.  It was seasoned simply and perfectly, the saltiness enhancing that beefy umami.  On the tongue, it was like butter with only the slightest sensation of a meaty texture.  I probably didn’t even have to chew.

It’s a very rich piece of meat, far more than I anticipated.  I’d estimate that I finished about 3/4 of my meal, leaving a $60 chunk of wagyu in my takeout bag.  And that chunk of leftover wagyu was the best lunch I ever had the following day.

For sides, we ordered the fingerling potatoes roasted in duck fat and thyme, the asparagus with hollandaise, and the scalloped potatoes au gratin.  Of those three, the asparagus was the clear winner, with the potatoes au gratin in second place.  Only I liked the fingerling potatoes; Jen didn’t care for them, leaving her batting average with any form of duck to be zero.

We had an incredible dessert of cheesecake, Crème brûlée and whipped cream which was supernaturally good. Everything was.

Having had probably the most expensive steak I’ll ever buy, was it worth it? If you are a steak lover, then yes, it is worth it.  And I love steaks.  A little goes a long way, but every steak lover should try real Japanese wagyu once.  It’s unlike anything I’ve had before and it is easily categorised as a true delicacy.  Having said that, should we return to 17 Steakhouse in a year, I don’t know that I would order it again, and that is only because there are other interesting features on their menu that I would like to try.  The 36 oz tomahawk would be a sight to behold, though I couldn’t eat it all myself.  I would also like to try the Porterhouse, the lobster bisque, and beef tartare.

Yes, the wagyu was worth it, and I can still taste and feel its texture on my palette.  It won’t be for everyone except in small doses.  They have a 4 oz minimum order, and I suggest that may the perfect size to experiment with.

17 Steakhouse & Bar gets 5/5, and so does the wagyu. 

We started with AC/DC so we’ll finish with AC/DC.  Who made wagyu?  17 Steakhouse did, and it was hell’s bells!  I couldn’t wait to sink the pink steak in my mouth.  It’ll shake your foundations just like it shook mine.  It’s a little bit of a ride on, down the 401, but worth the drive.  Hell ain’t a bad place to be(ef)!*  For those about to rock, I wagyu.

* Courtesy 1537

#776: (Wag)yu Shook Me All Night Long

GETTING MORE TALE #776: (Wag)yu Shook Me All Night Long

For highway driving, nothing quite hits the spot like AC/DC.  It feels right.  Who Made Who works as a quickie “greatest hits” selection for a quick spin down Highway 401.  Mrs. LeBrain and I were heading to the GTA to celebrate 11 years as a married couple.  We rocked to “You Shook Me All Night Long” on the dance floor that night, and we were returning to the very same location once more.

Highway 401 is in a perpetual state of construction, but good music helps take the edge off.  This was my first drive that way in the new vehicle, and also the first with my latest gadget, a nifty dash cam that is sure to provide lots of content for my YouTube channel in the coming months.

Sorry, quick tangent:  Phil Rudd is the “man”, but Simon Wright doesn’t get enough credit for his time on the AC/DC drum stool.  AC/DC isn’t an easy beat to get the feel for, and every AC/DC drummer has their own approach.  The 1980s were a period of hard-hitters and Simon Wright was the perfect drummer for that era.  His precision is absolute on “Who Made Who” and it just sounds right.  Compare the original to Chris Slade’s interpretation on AC/DC Live.  That’s all I have to say about that.

We arrived at the hotel mid-afternoon and I settled into the jacuzzi pretty quickly.  I wanted to do a funny gangsta style photo in the hot tub with me holding a couple of American dollar bills.  I was thinking about when Floyd Mayweather threw the $1s at Conor McGregor.  And holy shit did Facebook react.

“Dude you look like if Kuato from Total Recall was successfully removed from his twin, grew up, lived a long and depressing life and got really excited when someone gave him 2 bucks to sh!t in the local YMCA jacuzzi.”

Two things:  Yes, I had pants on.  And yes, that “gang sign” is the Vulcan salute.  Relax.  Let a man enjoy his jacuzzi, publicly on social media like damn 20 year old.  Are you not entertained?!

We did some shopping.  Because, like an idiot, I forgot to bring a nice pair of shoes for dinner, I had to get a new pair just for this one night.  Then we met up with Jen’s best friend Lara for lunch.  Did some more shopping.  I wanted to go to stores that we don’t have at home.  There isn’t much of that, just the same old chains.  We did hit one up cool store, where I bought something called “Jean Guy”, but we couldn’t find any cool music or toy stores.  At least I got my shoes!

So where were we headed?  In ’08 when we got married it was the Pavilion Royale, but now it is a high end restaurant called 17 Steakhouse & Bar.  It’s very different on the inside, but recognizable.  There was the dance floor, where I once spun to “You Shook Me All Night Long”.  But we chose 17 for more than sentimental reasons.  The main draw was the real Japanese A5 wagyu.  And that’s what this chapter is really about.

I’ve never had real wagyu in my life and American wagyu was not going to do it.  You only live once.  Carpe diem.  Go big or go home.  It’s only money.  All that bullshit.  I’d done my research, I knew what I was getting my wallet into.  I’d been planning it over a year.

We started with a simple but delicious field green salad, with incredible goat cheese.  The smoothest goat cheese I’ve ever tasted.  Only when we finished the salads did they began firing our steaks.  None of that “here comes your main dish before you’ve finished your starter” nonsense.  Jennifer chose the US prime T-bone, medium rare, and let me tell you, that alone could have been the best steak I’ve ever tasted.  It was 25 oz, so more than enough to share.  So tender!  With cripsy, tasty fat.

Jen’s steak could easily have been the most tender I’ve ever tried, if not for my Japanese A5 wagyu.  Market price was $30 per oz.  I chose an 8 oz striploin, medium rare.  You should always get a wagyu steak cooked to medium rare.  I was electric with tense anticipation.  The steaks arrived, cooked precisely to order.

I gently cut a thin slice, which came off like butter.  There was a lovely char on the outside, a crisp splash of flat, and then the most tender meat you can imagine.  It was seasoned simply and perfectly, the saltiness enhancing that beefy umami.  On the tongue, it was like butter with only the slightest sensation of a meaty texture.  I probably didn’t even have to chew.

It’s a very rich piece of meat, far more than I anticipated.  I’d estimate that I finished about 3/4 of my meal, leaving a $60 chunk of wagyu in my takeout bag.  And that chunk of leftover wagyu was the best lunch I ever had the following day.

For sides, we ordered the fingerling potatoes roasted in duck fat and thyme, the asparagus with hollandaise, and the scalloped potatoes au gratin.  Of those three, the asparagus was the clear winner, with the potatoes au gratin in second place.  Only I liked the fingerling potatoes; Jen didn’t care for them, leaving her batting average with any form of duck to be zero.

We had an incredible dessert of cheesecake, Crème brûlée and whipped cream which was supernaturally good. Everything was.

Having had probably the most expensive steak I’ll ever buy, was it worth it? If you are a steak lover, then yes, it is worth it.  And I love steaks.  A little goes a long way, but every steak lover should try real Japanese wagyu once.  It’s unlike anything I’ve had before and it is easily categorised as a true delicacy.  Having said that, should we return to 17 Steakhouse in a year, I don’t know that I would order it again, and that is only because there are other interesting features on their menu that I would like to try.  The 36 oz tomahawk would be a sight to behold, though I couldn’t eat it all myself.  I would also like to try the Porterhouse, the lobster bisque, and beef tartare.

Yes, the wagyu was worth it, and I can still taste and feel its texture on my palette.  It won’t be for everyone except in small doses.  They have a 4 oz minimum order, and I suggest that may the perfect size to experiment with.

17 Steakhouse & Bar gets 5/5, and so does the wagyu. 

We started with AC/DC so we’ll finish with AC/DC.  Who made wagyu?  17 Steakhouse did, and it was hell’s bells!  I couldn’t wait to sink the pink steak in my mouth.  It’ll shake your foundations just like it shook mine.  It’s a little bit of a ride on, down the 401, but worth the drive.  Hell ain’t a bad place to be(ef)!*  For those about to rock, I wagyu.

* Courtesy 1537

#726: Misplaced

GETTING MORE TALE #726:  Misplaced

I lost my favourite flash drive.  It’s around here somewhere.  Maybe I left it in a shirt pocket that ended up in the laundry.  Flash drives can survive a go in the wash, that’s no big deal.  It has 32 gig of various music on it, and it’s my handy dandy go-anywhere music solution.  Most recently it had the complete studio albums of Black Sabbath, Van Halen, Deep Purple, and many more.  Losing it (temporarily we hope) meant putting some tunes on another flash drive instead.

This time, I loaded it up with some AC/DC, Faith No More, Led Zeppelin, Rush, Joe Satriani, Whitesnake, and more.  Jen had a day of errands to run, so I decided to use a vacation day and help her out.

Our first mission, for most people, was no big deal.  In the lives of Mike and Jen, it requires planning and preparation:  getting your photo ID at Service Ontario.  You know those lovely pictures that look like mug shots because you’re not allowed to smile or show any facial expression at all?  Those are an obstacle and a half for Jen.  Why?  Because she’s epileptic and can’t have her photo taken with a flash.  Just another day in the Mike and Jen Show.

Since this wasn’t her first rodeo, Jen knew what to do.  She learned the hard way last time.  I know what you’re thinking.  “Why don’t they just take a photo without a flash?”  They can’t.  Those cameras are hooked up in such a way that they cannot turn the flash off.  Last time Jen had to do this, the staff at Service Ontario were absolutely stunned.  This time, we called in advance and booked an appointment.  Jen told them of her condition and made sure that they were prepared for her.  Then she went to Walmart and had some photos taken without a flash.  We picked the most bland-faced one of the bunch, and she had it printed up in various sizes and finishes so we’d have lots of options.

“Print it?” you’re asking.  “Why not just give them a card with the pictures on it?”  Yeah, they can’t do that either.  So what we do, and it’s quite ingenious, is take the Walmart photo and tape it where you’d normally stand to have your picture taken.  Then, they take a picture of that, while Jen looks away.  It took a few tries but we got her photo ID today with no hassles.  That was a first for Jen!  Mission accomplished.

Then we hit the road for Mission #2.  I loaded Dirty Deeds Done Dirt Cheap up on the flash drive.  The mission this time was really simple.  We were going to visit Jen’s best friend Lara in Brampton for lunch.  It was a lovely day for a drive and AC/DC kept my pedal to the metal.  We both had a chuckle at the lyrics to Big Balls, with me remembering what it was like to be 10 years old and laughing every time Bon Scott said “balls”.

When Dirty Deeds ended, I threw on Rush’s Moving Pictures.  On a recent episode of Eddie Trunk’s radio show, Geddy Lee left no doubt that Rush is over.  Neil Peart has not only retired from Rush, he said, but from drumming altogether.  The physical toll that those 40 years took on Peart’s body means he needed a permanent vacation.  Rush will never play again.  That was running through my mind when I selected Moving Pictures, but soon I was immersed, rushed down “the river” like a modern day Tom Sawyer.

We picked a cheap steak place for lunch called Chuck’s roadhouse.  Surf & turf for $20?  Sure, I’ll try anything once.  Better than a fast food burger.  My steak was overdone but I haven’t had a lobster tail in years!  The sweet taste of lobster and salty butter was almost too much to bear.  I could have cried with joy.  Lobster is the ocean’s steak.  That was the easiest $20 to spend, ever.  I’d go back; maybe next time the steak won’t be over cooked!

We had a great lunch.  Jen broke a plate, but like a true friend, Lara took the blame.  We dropped her back off at work and headed home to Led Zeppelin’s In Through the Out Door.  It’s a quirky one and that’s why I love it.

As we rocked to “Fool in the Rain”, Jen remarked on how much her musical taste had improved over the last 10 years.  “I’ll always love Nirvana and Stone Temple Pilots, but now I like Led Zeppelin too.”  Hey, I’m glad to have been a positive influence!

I think every music fan likes to share their favourites and hope it connects with somebody else.  The car is my favourite place to do that.  Thanks, Zep!