For you internet nerds out there...

Moira's websites got hacked by some Malaysian dweeb, and has been causing no end of misery for hundreds of other innocent people.  It's taken her pretty well a week to recover, and her attitude has been positive all along... "Time for a change anyways" she says.  Great attitude I say... but I still have a major dislike for the little pencil-neck looser who takes pride in destroying other people's hard work.

So, our ISP at the time - "Host Papa" - claimed no responsibility for being vulnerable in the first place... we're not exactly sure what exploit he used to get in, but for sure it wasn't Moira's fault.  So, we both decided to pull anchor and find another ISP who is keeping up with security updates, and has a support department worthy of the hard-earned money we spend on such services.

In comes A2webhosting.

They've been great, and the transition to them would have been easy if not for the inexperienced and incompetent support at Host Papa. Granted, it was a holiday weekend, when the senior help was likely at home eating chocolate bunnies with their kids, but still... they caused more problems than they solved,  deleting the account that *wasn't* hacked, and causing as much work as the original hacker.

Like Moira, I also witnessed mistakes made by them that caused more delays than necessary - all the while, A2 Webhosting bent over backwards to help us.  In the end, we're both back up and running - and yes, it was a cleansing experience we both used to rid our various web sites of those cobwebs that build up over time... it's easy to be a pack-rat, right?

So the long and the short of it is: caveat emptor. Look before you leap when it comes to selecting an ISP for your business. A2webhosting have been stellar so far...


Jim

Steak Sauce Recipe

As promised...  I use Jim Beam Black. For me, it has a bit more character than the regular one called for in this recipe.


Ingredients:

        2 cups tomato ketchup

        1 cup brown sugar, packed

        3 tablespoons Worcestershire sauce

        2 teaspoons dry mustard

        1 cup Jim Beam Kentucky Straight Bourbon Whiskey

        4 tablespoons cider vinegar

        4 tablespoons soy sauce

        1/2 teaspoon ground cayenne pepper

        dash liquid smoke, to taste, optional

Preparation:

Combine all ingredients in 2-quart saucepan. Bring to a boil over high heat, stirring occasionally. Reduce heat to low; simmer uncovered 20 minutes, or until thickened, stirring occasionally.

Makes about 3 cups.

Cheap Pig Parts

Did a bit of shopping last week, and saw how crazy cheap pork is right now... I bought a tenderloin for around 7 bucks, and I'll be getting about 6 meals out of it. Compare that to a AAA beef sirloin or t-bone steak at around 6 dollars for *one* meal, and it got me thinking that I'll be barbecuing more pork than beef this summer!

Here's how I prep mine for the barby:

First, I cut the long tenderloin into 6 ounce steaks then vacuum sealed them for freezing. I got 6 or 7 out of one chunk, so I was pretty happy about that! I marinade them for about an hour in: 2 tbsp of oil, 1 tsp of Tamari sauce or soy sauce, and a couple dashes of liquid smoke.  Play with the ratios according to your own taste.

Mix with a whisk, and soak the meat in it for at LEAST an hour or more in the fridge, turning every 1/2 hour... the ingredients tend to separate a bit over time. To get the marinade REALLY into the meat, I'll sometimes pierce the meat with a fork a few dozen times before putting it in the fridge.

Like beef, don't over cook it on the grill. Personally, I go for an internal temperature of about 150 to 160 C.  I keep a quick-read meat thermometer close at hand when grilling - best thing I ever bought for cooking meat.

To enhance the flavour, I usually have some steak sauce handy.  Not just any steak sauce - I make my own out of Jim Beam Black, a bourbon that has a dark smokey taste. I'll post the recipe...  It's really yummy! But - don't put it on the meat while cooking it - you'll caramelize the sugars and risk burning the pork. Steak sauces are for the plate, not the grill...


-jim 

Movie Review: The Three Muskateers

So, my special Lady is away for the weekend and I decided to view what I thought would be a "guy" flick on Pay-per-View. This latest rendition of the famous threesome looked good, so I'm now $7.00 poorer, and wish I wasn't.

What a waste of money! Don't bother with this one people... I turned it off before the end came. It was cheezy, campy, it was littered with terrible CGI eye candy, and the worst part - no gratuitous nudity! Maybe it was my mood, but I think the target audience for this looser of a flick would perhaps be the 10 to 15 year-old crowd.

I went over the Discovery channel and was far more entertained!

2 outa 5 stars...


Jim