Monday, May 5, 2014

Reflections

A-to-Z_Reflection_[2014]
The A to Z Challenge being all over bar the shouting, we have been asked to post reflections for this year. Here is a link. As many of you know I was a minion, meaning I worked for Tina’s Terrific Team. Having created and posted all my blogs in advance I figured I wouldn’t have a hard time helping. I was wrong. I ended up with 40 blogs to oversee, so many people entered this year, I understand the co-hosts end up with a lot more. One thing everyone needs to remember, this is all voluntary and none of the co-hosts or the minions receive any financial Bloggingcompensation for doing what they do. We are all just trying to help and to ensure that everybody gets the maximum benefit and enjoyment from this Challenge. It should be a fun time, not stressful. Nor should help from anyone provoke the kind of response I had from one blogger who was very snarky with me. A number of people I came across had nowhere for me to add my name as a follower except as an email and I didn’t really want any more emails. OK if you don’t want to encourage new followers, so be it. Participants are also encouraged to write short blogs for the month, I came across some which rivalled War and Peace in length. If you join next year, please shorten what you are saying. None of us have time to read such an epic during the Challenge. Finally, I thank the co-hosts for all the work they did without which this event could never run smoothly.

Arlee Bird: Tossing it Out
Alex J. Cavanaugh: Alex J. Cavanaugh
Stephen Tremp: Author Stephen Tremp
Tina Downey: Life is Good
Damyanti Biswas: Amlokiblogs
Jeremy Hawkins: [Being Retro]
Nicole Ayers: The Madlab Post
M. J. Joachim: M. J. Joachim's Writing Tips
Heather M. Gardner: The Waiting is the Hardest Part
AJ Lauer: Naturally Sweet
Pam Margolis: An Unconventional Librarian

This is what we had for dinner on Saturday night. I am not the best photographer in the world, as you know, the sauce ended up being quite dark, but it tasted really good. I didn’t actually use the concasse, I used a can of chopped tomatoes which worked very well. Of course I only used two steaks.

Chef John's Steak PizzaiolaChef John's Steak Pizzaola
allrecipes.com

1 lb beef tenderloin steaks, cut into 4 medallions
salt and pepper to taste
1 Tbs olive oil
1 cup sliced fresh mushrooms
2 tsp butter
1 pinch salt
1 cup sliced sweet and hot peppers
4 cloves garlic, crushed
1/2 cup white wine
1/4 tsp dried oregano
1 cup tomato concasse (see link for recipe)
2 Tbs chopped fresh oregano
1 tsp balsamic vinegar
1 pinch red pepper flakes
1 pinch salt and ground black pepper to taste

1. Season steak medallions with salt and black pepper on both sides.
2. Heat olive oil in a large skillet over high heat. Add steaks and cook until browned, about 2 minutes per side. Transfer to a plate. Reserve oil in skillet.
3. Place mushrooms and butter into the skillet and season with salt; cook and stir until mushrooms are softened and beginning to brown, 5 to 6 minutes. Reduce heat to medium; add peppers and cook and stir until softened, about 2 minutes. Stir in garlic and cook for 1 minute. Pour in wine and sprinkle in dried oregano. Increase heat to medium-high and cook until the wine is nearly evaporated, about 3 minutes.
4. Stir tomato concasse into the mushroom mixture and simmer until tomato is softened, 3 to 4 minutes. Add fresh oregano, balsamic vinegar, and red pepper flakes; stir to combine. Adjust salt and black pepper to taste.
5. Place steaks back into the skillet with the mushroom mixture and cook until warmed through and cooked to desired doneness, 4 to 10 minutes.

Servings: 4

Have a great day
Jo (2)

31 comments:

  1. Hi Jo - good reflections .. I'd better not comment too much about the length of my posts .. but some were extraordinarily long ... and yes - I don't think people think about the Challenge being a voluntary thing and therefore make life as easy as possible for everyone and be thoughtful.

    I'm still catching up .. and could do with some champagne and your steak! Cheers - better write my post .. Hilary

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    1. Actually I never found your posts too long, they were full of interest.

      Pity you can't pop in for the bubbly and the steak. Would love to share.

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    2. Me too - now enjoying a glass of wine ...and waiting for some supper to cook ... could do with a natter!

      Cheers H

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  2. Thank you for all your hard work this year. I didn't come across you until today, so I am sorry to hear someone was snarky with you. That's just not necessary. I hope it didn't taint your overall positive feeling for this experience. Congratulations for continuing and being a leader!

    Julie Jordan Scott
    The Bold Writer from A to Z

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    1. Thanks Julie. No, I just ignored her and moved on. She obviously didn't feel I was being very helpful at all.

      Nice of you to visit. Thanks.

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  3. I remember commenting about the number of blogs that were still in the list long after the last letter they had posted had passed, plus those that never even started. Sorry if you thought it was snarky. I know following 40 blogs must be difficult.

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    1. Nope, it wasn't you Denise. You were right about some of those blogs and maybe they didn't get caught by anyone before the end. However, in my case it was the response from one of the people I was trying to help. Tina too had someone be quite nasty to her, but it got resolved. I don't know why people have to be like that.

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    2. That'll teach you to try to help someone. Why do people feel the need to kick someone who is trying to help them? Anyway, I appreciate you catching my typos and spell errors.

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    3. Our job as minions is to help people to have a better experience in the A to Z, taking advantage of the opportunity to get new followers and to keep an eye on whether they are posting or not. I don't have anything to do with their typos, that's for their friends to deal with if anyone does.

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  4. HI, Jo,

    You all did a SPECTACULAR JOB! I am appalled that someone was nasty with you!

    Goes to show you how rude people can be sometimes, but I never would expect it in this community where everyone is so helpful and kind.

    This looks AMAZING... Steak pizzaiola is one of my favs!

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    1. Thanks Michael, I tried.

      It was delicious.

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  5. Hi, Jo:

    I'll write my reflection for Fridays post. I'm basically an unfocused wreck right now.

    Hugs and chocolate!
    Shelly

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    1. No rush the linky list will be open for a day or two.

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  6. I commend you for your volunteer work! I think volunteers often have it most rough because they put up with the same dissatisfied "customers" you would in a paid job but you're doing it for free. I volunteered at a food pantry for years and some of the comments I got from customers there were pretty astounding. But you hope the rewards outweigh the negative.

    Here's my A to Z wrap-up post. I also have an End of Challenge book giveaway going on for either contemporary romance or contemporary YA.

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    1. You are so right about the way some people behave. Not expected in this case I must admit.

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    1. Not a bad motto for us bloggers is it?

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  8. I have been pretty vocal about my frustration with A-Z this year. The first day I went to over 50 blogs, only to find 'read more', Captcha turned on, a dead link, no A-Z posts or even current posts, one 'invite only' blog and a few in other languages. That set the tone for me. It's a lot of hard work for the hosts and helpers but it seemed that many of the participants did what they wanted despite the guidelines.

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    1. Of course one of the problems was Alex having family illnesses to deal with which made him late getting to the Linky List to amend it. I also came across similar problem JoJo - maybe they think the guidelines aren't for them.

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  9. You have a very nice blog. "Keep calm and blog on" are great words of wisdom.

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    1. Thanks Linda. I hope you can follow the words.

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  10. Jo, again, I'm sorry for what you had to endure from some of the participants, but I again thank you for your wonderful help. Yes people, it's all volunteer, and those of us who work on this project love it, but do spend a lot of time. It's my wish that the minions all get lots of visitors. If you go to the A-Z Blog, linked below, there's a whole page listing every minion, and if each participant visited them, wow, what a nice load of comments that would be. (These would be comments that don't require a response - they are thanking THEM, not meant to create more work). I did push for that when I did my thank you post to all my wonderful minions.
    Intrigued by this recipe, but just caught a glimpse of Saturday's too, so will have to come back. Gotta go get my iPhone fixed...battery swelling in the sudden heat...just what I needed today!
    Tina @ Life is Good
    A to Z Team @ Blogging From A to Z April Challenge 2014

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    1. Thanks Tina. Sudden heat, what's that?

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  11. Rivaled War and Peace - LOL!! Those long posts are killers. I just couldn't do it this year.

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    1. They really are, they put me off somewhat in the normal course of events, but in the A to Z they are very out of place.

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  12. Jo, I thought you did a wonderful job with your posts as well as helping!

    One of my frustrations (and there weren't too many for me, thank goodness, other than only 24 hours in a day) was trying to find a way to follow some people I'd found interesting. Like you, I didn't really want more emails, and some blogs seemed to have no way to follow at all, anywhere.

    I had a great time of it and gained new followers and new friends! And some new recipes, thanks to you.

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  13. Thanks Lynda. I had the same kind of problems, I already have a number of people who's blog comes by email and I find with so many emails I tend to skip them. Whereas on my Blog reader I am there just to read.

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  14. I don't usually have a follower button my blog, but I made sure to add it back for the challenge and hide my other blog so when people clicked on my profile, they would only see one blog and then be directed to the blog participating in the challenge. It was frustrating to click on a profile and find 3-4 blogs and then try to weed through which one was involved with A/Z. That and leaving comments on some people's blogs were the most frustrating, as well as like you said the long posts. I would look at length and if it was long, I wouldn't even bother. I truly agree keep it short and simple and I really made an effort to do so with mine, even though I tend to be verbose :)

    betty

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    1. Hi Betty. I never saw this comment, I don't know why. Thanks so much and I do hope you are going to take part in the challenge again this year.

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  15. Hello there.
    Congratulations on completing the challenge! Thanks for all your hard work as co-host. Don't know how you posted on your own blog and co-hosted the A-Z Challenge with its HUGE signup list...hope you managed to get some sleep during the event! I'm stopping by briefly as I navigate the twists and turns of the Road Trip…don't forget to wave when you see me drive by! (lol)
    Entrepreneurial Goddess

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    1. I admire you doing the road trip. I confess I have never tried. It was hard work being a Minion, but not as bad as the job done by the hosts, Alex J. Cavenaugh in particular. Thanks for your visit. See you during the next challenge.

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