Digging the Midwest Summer

This Saturday was one of those days that makes me really like, even love, living in the Midwest. All in all, this summer has not been all that bad from a heat and high humidity perspective and today was pretty darn amazing. I don't think we ever got out of the low 70's and while there wasn't a ton of sunshine, the humidity was way low, even after a thunderstorm with a nice dump of rain earlier this afternoon.

It was cool enough this morning to not feel daunted by doing a long run along the River Walk in downtown Naperville. I needed it as I had started my day at 745AM at the lab at the hospital to get my blood work down as a follow up to the physical fiesta earlier in the week. I thought to myself, 'Get there ten minutes before they open at 8AM.' Bad call - I forget that the elderly work on an earlier mode. I was 12th in line, behind all manner of canes and complaints about Medicare. So after waiting almost an hour before I got my blood drawn, my blood was boiling and I was never so glad to be gone and I went straight for a run. The long run flew by - I think it was because I was listening to the "This American Life" podcast. That program consistently delivers some of the most thought-provoking and funny programming out there. Ira Glass, the host, sounds like he probably got beat up a lot in high school, but if he did, man, is he ever serving up sweet revenge with the great program.

Anyway, after the run the day was looking great, so I decided to get steaks for dinner tonight and that I'd grill them over charcoal. Whole Foods just opened a new market and I went over there. It's an awesome new store and I wound up with some great sirloins, a Korean bulgogi marinade, veggie chips, and hot wasabi rice cracker, and an amazing bag of Rainier cherries. Have you tried these little slices of heaven yet? The Rainier cherry is pretty much close to perfection. DO NOT let the yellow color turn you off. They are wonderfully sweet and amazing.

So after the storm, the Weber got fired up and the charcoal set to glowing...

And while watching the Olympics out one eye and the steaks out the other, soon dinner was almost ready:

Didn't even bother to do a marinade tonight. Just grilled the steaks with a little grilling salt/herb mix. I did make a garlic herb butter (threw in some tarragon, rosemary and fresh parsley) to put on as the steaks came off the grill.

It's been a good night. And now we're watching the Olympics. The Opening Ceremonies just went on a little too long and even earlier today, I thought I was already in overload mode with the Games, but no more. We'll see if that sticks.