I don't work on Monday and am going to have a rib eye steak.What about you?

Well, that was nice. Two weeks of very limited Internet time. No blogs, no email. Only a few peeks at sports and a 30 Rock download. Now to check out what's been happening. Back in a little while.

Wow, lot's of baseball. Haven't been but D-Wayne got me a shirt. On with the post.

Let's start with meat, specifically, beef. The wife and I visited Costco last Sunday. I intended to go to the grand opening on Friday but mistook the huge, unmoving line outside for the line to enter the store. Turns out it was just the line for the 10 free eggs and motored away. According to initial reports in the Chinese language media, the Taichung Costco set records with the most memberships - around 50,000 as of Saturday - and the most single day memberships sold - 22,000.

Well, we bought. Shrimp, 2 kilograms of maple bacon and 3 lbs. of steak. I'm sure we bought other things, but I grabbed my steaks and just roamed the beef section while my wife finished up her list. The beef is good. Good cuts, well trimmed and clearly labeled. They offer U.S. prime and select beef. Prime of course is the best with the most marbling which affects flavor, tenderness and juiciness. Select is next, with slightly less marbling but still more than adequate for the average guy's needs. We bought Select Rib Eye Steaks cut about 1 1/2 inches thick, maybe a tad more. This is an important consideration when broiling a steak. Anything under an inch will probably be cooked to well done before you can pull it off the grill - assuming you are using a very high heat, as you should. Cooking the steak at lower roasting temperatures will not give your steak a seal that locks in the juices. The lower heat will also take longer to cook. Remember this rule of thumb with beef: Tender cuts need to be cooked quickly over high heat. Tougher cuts need lower heat to allow them to become tender and the flavor to fully develop. Therefore, if you're using chicken temperatures for a rib steak, you're gonna be doing a lot of chewing. So if you don't have the proper tools, don't even attempt this:

There is a good amount of food - maple ham, sausages, beef bakes... - produced by a Taiwanese company, K & K Foods (碁富食品股份有限公司) that, if I'm translating this correctly - 本公司為美商在台分公司 - states that they are a Taiwanese branch of / for an American company. Their website is still under construction, but this page says they have been supplying companies such as McDonald's and Burger King since 1987. I have tried their maple ham and found it very good. Nice and thick, not too lean. So, don't be put off by the brand. Give it a try and let me know how their other products rate.