  (Don’t forget to comment to enter our newest giveaway for this heavy, heavy, marble and wooden rolling pin and package of a Made In Oklahoma mix to roll out! Winner will be announced Labor Day weekend.) I’ve been sitting here, patiently twiddling my thumbs, having dutifully turned off all computers and the water heater due to a power outage this afternoon, that occurred without warning. I called the power company to alert them that we are without electricity and the woman laughed at me! She did. I asked if she had any idea how long this outage would last, and again, she laughed. Did I sound that funny? Or maybe she heard the terror in my voice as I assumed that she was hinting to me that we would never have electricity again? Mr. Fix-It isn’t here this afternoon and so I am totally on my own. I am like Mrs. Ingles on the prairie, only with two dogs and two cats instead of children. And you can’t eat your dogs and cats any more than you can eat your children!!! How will we survive? I have already assessed my stock of deydrated food stuffs, mentally preparing what could be on the menu for the evening meal. I still have two quart jars of my homemade beef jerky that I have managed to hide from Mr. Fix-It and lots of veggies. I have water in the Berkey to boil and pour in with the veggies and meat to make soup and figure that could last us a few weeks. But it just dawned on me that we are under a burn ban so there will be no fire to boil the water. And it is getting stuffy in here. Never mind that the 115 degree days have broken. It has been 88º outside and who can live in 88º without air conditioning? I mean, really? Well, that’s all there is to it. We are all going to die. I remember the nice man who came to talk to us about a generator. We had all chuckled that if we invested that much money into something, we would end up never needing it. That is how Murphy’s Law works, you know. We didn’t buy one. Now it is payback. No generator – no electricity. I can’t even get the car out of the garage because the door is electric and HEAVY and I haven’t competed with Olympic heavy-weight lifters in some time now. And I have no water! Ack. The well pump is not working. All I have is what is in the Berkey. I have to conserve and I feel like it’s been weeks since I had a drink of water. My tongue is sticking to the roof of my mouth. This is rough. Oh wait. Never mind. The lights just came on. Yep! And water is coming out of the faucets. I’m tellin’ you. That was the longest ordeal! The electricity was off, like…let’s see…hmm…an hour and a half? Really? Huh. I thought it was weeks. You know, you just lose all track of time when you are having to rough it. OK. So I’m being silly. The fact of the matter is that Mr. Fix-It is looking into a generator and I’m thinking this episode will give him a little extra boost toward that purchase! We lose electricity a lot in Oklahoma. And this has given more pause for thought on our water situation, as well. A hand pump would be a handy addition to our well system or a windmill with a tank. We’ll have to think about that too. We all need to be thinking about ways that we can live more sustainably without depending so much on outside forces. And trust me, two quarts of beef jerky won’t cut it!! This kind of thinking always sends my tastebuds to grilling out. Unfortunately, we can’t do that right now. Too dangerous with a chance of a grass fire. But it hasn’t been that long ago that we weren’t under a burn ban and I tried a meat marinade that Mr. Fix-It found online that is just to die for. He said that he found it at American’s Test Kitchen. It is wonderful and unique and doesn’t take much time. Try this out. I promise that you that you will be hugging yourself and saying, “Who needs a Steak House??!” So, here’s hoping that you have electricity all the days of your life…and that you will be well-prepared just in case you don’t!! Warm-Spiced Parsley Marinade with Ginger 1/2 cup (packed) fresh parsley leaves 1 jalapeno chile pepper, seeded and chopped course 1 (2-inch) piece fresh ginger, peeled and chopped course 3 medium cloves garlic, peeled 1 tsp ground cumin 1 tsp ground cardamom 1 tsp ground cinnamon 1/s cup olive oil 1 tsp salt 1/8 tsp ground black pepper 3 or 4 one inch to one and a half inch thick steaks, preferably New York Strip, Ribeye, Filets or Sirloin  Place first 10 ingredients into a food processor or blender  Process until all ingredients are well-blended and fine  For Kabobs, trim all fat from steaks and cut into 1″ cubes. Sprinkle with tenderizer. Or, leave steaks whole and sprinkle with tenderizer.  Place steaks or cubes into a container that has a tight lid and add marinade from the food processor. Seal with lid.  Toss until all cubes or steaks are coated with the marinade. Place in the refrigerator, covered, from 4 up to 24 hours. I did mine overnight and until the next evening – probably 18 hours.  For kabobs, on skewers, alternate meat with pineapple, sweet onions, green pepper or you can also add mushrooms and parboiled new potatoes.  Place steaks or kabobs on a hot fire. Coals should be gray, glowing red. And these are now my instructions about how we cook a steak. Sear one side of the meat until browned and quickly turn to the other side. Immediately cover the grill with lid and allow steaks or kabobs to cook, undisturbed for 7 minutes for medium-well, 6 minutes for medium and 5 minutes for medium rare.  Immediately remove steaks or kabobs to a platter and cover with aluminum foil. Allow to rest for 10 minutes.  Serve immediately  |
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Tags: dinner, ginger, kabobs, marinade, parsley, recipe, steak
Please sign me up for you give away, I made your summer drink with strawberries and lemons, it was a big hit with everyone, thank you for sharing. Roxanna
I really need to read more s l o w l y. I couldn’t figure out what one would use ginger, parsley marmalade for. With English muffin and peanutbutter? Crackers? Thumbprint cookies? Then paging down and seeing the pics. the light finally lit as to what you wrote. I then READ your post and laughed and laughed. So enjoyable it is reading you posts. Definitely gotta try the marmalade, um.. the marinade.
Hope you’re feeling better! Have a COOL day!
Will do, Roxanna. So glad you enjoyed the drink!!
Ha Ha, Herdog. I guess you COULD use the marinade instead of marmalade but doesn’t sound too appetizing to me!! And I sure hope you all are cooler than it has been here!!
love your blog… please enter me in your give away
marianne
Thanks, Marianne! Just got you entered!
hi. upcoming backwoods home magazine promises new jeff yago article on how to fix alternate energy for power failures. i’m going to copy it and send it to my friend in west virginia who recently lost all her food supply because of the terrible power outage recently. she is alone and a bit crippled so i hope the article will help. there was, of course, difficulty getting gasoline in the outage and how could you store enough to keep the generator going for so long? you might read the article before investing in a generator, or do both.
if you look at rural revolution website you can see the huge water tanks recommended by the lewises(all it takes is money!)
if i had the wherewithal that is what i’d get.
thanks
deb harvey
Deb, thanks for the suggestions! The generator that we are looking at is propane and so we could have a 1000 gallon tank of propane to go with it. But we are also looking at solar for the well pump. THAT sounds promising. Of course, here in Oklahoma, a windmill on a well would do great. We have no shortage of wind here!! Thank you for hopping over to the blog. I read Patrice’s blog regularly!! And you are entered in the giveaway.
OK, I know you meant to be funny, but do you not have stored water? and other necessary items? I’m in southern IL and we get a LOT of power outages and storms and WE STORE WATER…….The last derecho left us without power for over 5 days and that was a short time compared to ice storms in Kentucky. I just shook my head….. Kathleen in IL
I was cracking up reading your blog, but also relating to you. I live in rural AZ and I truly believe my power comes from about 100 year old lines . A bird could sit on the line and the power goes out. A beautiful still day and the power goes out. Rain, wind, snow and…. you know.
I do have a generator – gas. Wish it was propane and might look into that. I have gas stored, and lots of food storage just because I live 20 miles from town. I do have a filled water tank that comes off of my well. But still feel the inconvience everytime it goes out. However, after 15 years, I have had enough experience to know what I need to do.
Two winters ago though, we had a really cold spell, very unusual for this area. It got to 15 below. My water lines froze for two days and the darn generator would not start. That was a bad time. Didn’t freeze though with the wood stove and lots of food and bottled water. (Even for the toilet). Fun experiences for sure!!
This looks really yummy to try. Get tired of trying to think of different things to fix for supper. Sorry for your non-electric experiences. I remember 2 winters ago our power was out for several days. We have a generator, but it was buried out in the garage ans as my hubby plows snow and was out in the storm, it was awhile before it was out and set up. We had the old woodstove going and were melting snow so we could water the cow. not a fun time. Really enjoy your blog!
Diane, you DO sound like an experienced emergency preparedness hand! I’m thinking your lines are old than ours, but I bet ours are close behind! I swear that I see old, glass insulators every so often!! 🙂 And you are entered.
Thank you, for reading the blog, Jackie! You all are inspiring me to get busy on what we need to do for the next time around! and you are entered!!