luisgarcia dot com

I know everyone has someone in their family that cooks the best brisket that an outsider could never compete with. I tried this recipe today and this is definitely a contender. I prepared it with Southwest Risotto and Roasted Asparagus. Great dish!

Ingredients:
¼ cup coarsely ground black pepper
1 tablespoon finely snipped fresh rosemary or 1 teaspoon dried
rosemary, crushed
¼ teaspoon ground red pepper
¼ teaspoon ground cloves
1 (4 to 5 pound ) brisket
1/3 cup water
1/3 cup soy sauce
1 tablespoon tomato paste
3 teaspoons paprika
1 teaspoon ground cumin
1 clove garlic, minced
Fresh rosemary sprigs

Directions:
Combine black pepper, rosemary, red pepper and cloves. Spread on a piece of waxed paper. Place brisket on pepper mixture; press mixture into meat, turning and pressing to coat all surfaces. Place brisket in a shallow baking dish.

For marinade, combine water, soy sauce, tomato paste, paprika, cumin and garlic. Without dislodging pepper, carefully pour marinade over meat. Cover and refrigerate overnight.

Preheat the oven to 275. Carefully remove meat from marinade. Wrape meat in foil. Place in shallow roasting pan. Bake 4 hours for medium. Garnish meat with fresh rosemary sprigs. Serves 16 to 20

I was very excited to hear Chan Marshall, of Cat Power, sing in another commercial today. The commercial is for A Diamond is Forever and is very beautiful. They chose a great song too, being a cover of the Cat Stevens “How Can I Tell You”.

Update (November 16, 2006):
If anyone can find me a download or where to buy this version of this song, I’ll Paypal you some lunch money. I’ve looked everywhere!

As I mentioned in my last post , I absolutely love Cat Power. I couldn’t have been happier with a performance than I was last night. I heard from a friend that she was great at “Austin City Limits”:http://www.aclfestival.com/default.aspx on Friday so I was anticipating a repeat performance. For the first 4 songs I couldn’t take the smile off my face. The Memphis Rythm Band was a great addition to the mix and really impressed me with their unique sound and assortment of instruments. I took some pics that didn’t come out too hot but they’re still keepers. I also recorded a few songs with my camera as video and they didn’t turn out too bad either but of course it was very dark so it’s all audio and no video.

As many of you may know, it’s been a good while since I’ve been hooked on Chan Marshall (aka Cat Power). Chris at Gorilla vs. Bear did a podcast featuring her new (at that time) song called “The Greatest” and at that very moment I was enveloped by her voice and unique sound. The version of the song was live at La Cigale Paris, November 11, 2005, which in my opinion is still the best version of it. Some might call this an obsession, but I like to call it my musical hobby. Why do I like her so much besides her unique style? I think it’s how real she is. If Norah Jones and Sarah McLachlan had a crazy kid, it would be Chan Marshall. Read below for a short description:

“Marshall’s live shows are often chaotic and unpolished, with songs beginning and ending abruptly and without apparent reason, or blending into one another without clear transitions. Marshall will often stop playing in order to apologize for a self-perceived flaw in her performance, and often claims to be suffering from extreme stage fright. She has even cut short a few of her performances without explanation. These events have had a polarizing effect on Marshall’s fan base. Some have been alienated by what they perceive as Marshall’s lack of professionalism, while others enjoy what they see as a candid, honest, and spontaneous performance. She is also very talkative during performances, usually cracking jokes.” - Wikipedia

Well she is coming to Dallas on September 16th and I am absolutely ecstatic. I’ve been waiting for her to tour for a long time. She will be at Austin City Limits next month but the day after she performs there, she will be at the Gypsy Tea Room in Dallas. A coworker and I are planning on going to see her crazy antics first-hand.

Listen to my favorite version of “The Greatest”:
The Greatest (Live @ La Cigale Paris) - Cat Power

Check her out on The Late Show. We could all learn something from her dance moves.

OR

Watch her live performance from Coachella

I know I shouldn’t be whining about this in the wake of Katrina, but all I can do is mourn my recent loss. Earlier in the year I had high hopes of winning “Yard of The Month” again for the second year running. I went to downtown Dallas and purchased a small fortune’s worth of flowers and miscellaneous lawn materials. It’s been months since that day and looking back I should have just donated that money instead of trying to fight Mother Nature and her Texas drought. It’s like she sent out an email to the southern United States and forgot to cc: Plano residents or maybe it got caught in our spam filters. All I know is that my lawn didn’t make the playoffs this season but we’ll get’em next year.