Friday, June 24, 2016

Insurance, Brexit,



Ouch, I have just paid our car and home insurance. Gosh that hurts every year. I could pay monthly but we prefer to get it over and done with, I put money aside for it mind you rather than have to suddenly turn round and find a large sum of money. One insurance company we had, split it into 3 payments a year which was better. I don't know if they still do it, but in England we used to have a declining insurance so long as we didn't claim. People used to do all they could to avoid losing that benefit. Of course, we only have to insure the contents of our home as we live in a rented apartment.

I was hoping the final results of the British referendum on whether to stay in the European Union or
not, would be in before I went to bed. I saw one comment that it is considered people don't really understand what they are voting for. If the final vote is for exit, it will make me pretty glad not to live there any more although an exit vote will apparently have repercussions on this part of the world too. These days a country trying to stand alone is nonsensical, especially such a small country. OK we were once great, but that is a looong time ago. I just read that Sunderland, where Matt was born, have voted to leave the EU. Damn fools. It seems that at the moment the vote is swinging that way, the majority want to leave. I gather it is going to be a close result. I hadn't realised this was why the politician Jo Cox was shot. I cannot believe that something like that would happen in the UK. Place must have changed considerably since I lived there.

I have been cooking a lot of skirt steak recently, it is delicious if properly prepared and cut across the grain. Of course I would probably serve asparagus with it whilst it is still in season. Not long to go now unfortunately.

Herb-Marinated Steak with Tomato, Onion, and Herb Salad

By Elana Karp and Suzanne Dumaine

From Plated: Weeknight Dinners, Weekend Feasts, and Everything in Between

Serves 2, with leftovers for 2
Skirt steak is an ideal cut for quickly soaking up flavor (and then cooking in even less time), plus it will hold up all week long. Marinated onions and tomatoes soften as they sit and make for especially great leftovers in sandwiches, on their own as a salad, or, in this case, tucked into a gyro.
Ingredients 
1 sprig fresh rosemary
2 sprigs fresh oregano
1 sprig fresh thyme
1 clove garlic
2 lemons
¼ teaspoon crushed red pepper
4 tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil
1½ pounds skirt steak
5 beefsteak or heirloom tomatoes, or 2 cups grape tomatoes (whatever’s in season)
1 small red onion
¼ bunch fresh flat-leaf parsley
¼ bunch fresh basil
1/3 cup crumbled feta cheese
Kosher salt and freshly ground black pepper

Ingredients for the Steak Gyros with Yogurt Sauce

2 large pitas
¾ cup Greek yogurt
Leftover steak
Leftover tomato, onion, and herb salad
Kosher salt and freshly ground black pepper

Directions for the Herb-Marinated Steak with Tomato, Onion, and Herb Salad

  1. Roughly chop the rosemary, oregano, and thyme leaves. Roughly chop the garlic. Zest 1 lemon and halve both.

  2. In a medium bowl, combine the rosemary, oregano, thyme, garlic,
 lemon zest, juice of 1 lemon, and the crushed red pepper. While whisking, slowly add 2 tablespoons of the olive oil. Add to a large resealable plastic bag along with the steak, shake to coat, and set aside to marinate for at least 30 minutes at room temperature or overnight in the fridge.

  3. While the steak marinates, cut the tomatoes into ½-inch wedges 
(or halve them, if using grape). Halve the onion and slice it as thinly as possible. Pick the parsley and basil leaves from the stems.
  4. In a large bowl, whisk together the juice of the remaining lemon and
 2 tablespoons olive oil to make the dressing. Taste and add salt and pepper as needed. Set aside.
  5. Heat a grill to medium-high or a grill pan over medium-high heat.
 Remove the steak from the marinade, allowing the excess to drip off. Season generously on both sides with salt and pepper. When the grill or pan is hot, add the steak and cook until browned on the outside and medium-rare, about 3 minutes per side. Remove and set aside to rest for 5 to 10 minutes before thinly slicing against the grain.
  6. While the steak rests, add the tomatoes, onion, parsley, basil, and feta
 to the bowl with the dressing and toss to coat. 
Before serving, set aside half the steak and half the tomato salad and save for leftovers. Store separately in the refrigerator for 1 to 2 days.

  7. Serve the steak with the salad alongside

Have a great day

22 comments:

  1. Sounds like the voters in the UK understand no more about the issues than voters in the USA. Like Father, like son. They are blathering on about securing their borders and getting rid of immigrants. Sound familiar? Ugh.

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    1. Yes it does Denise. I see your future "president" is over there right now. Mind you, England is a little island and is swamped by those immigrants. However, if they are stupid enough to think they can stand alone in this economic climate, God help them.

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    2. I had no idea the UK was so self-sufficient. They do not need to buy goods from anyone outside their borders? Wow. I haven't traveled there in years and doubt that I will do so now.

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    3. As has been said Denise, many of them do not really understand the economic consequences they just want to stop the influx of immigrants - or so I understand. When it really starts to hurt their pockets, maybe it will hit home, trouble is others already know what is likely to happen and will also be hurt economically.

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  2. It is disturbing and I gather places that are heavily reliant on EU input like Cornwall are already getting worried. The possibility of a worldwide financial meltdown with vast amounts already wiped from British stocks is quite frightening.

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    1. We get pensions from the UK so that is worrying me Helen. From all I read, many of the voters do/did not understand the implications.

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  3. It will be interesting to see what happens.
    We pay our car insurance every six months and our home insurance is included in the mortgage payment.

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    1. The mere fact that Donald Trump is behind the result worries the hell out of me Alex.

      Well of course we have no mortgage.

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  4. I didn't know much about the European Union or Brexit so I did a little reading about both this morning. Hubby was really shocked last night when he heard how the voting was going and now of course all countries are in a bit of an upheaval since it passed that UK will be leaving the European Union. Interesting times we live in.

    Our house insurance is with the mortgage too, like Alex. I pay car insurance monthly only because I'm a bit "stingy" with my money. I don't want companies to have it until it is absolutely due. It gets automatically taken out of the account, so its not too hard to keep track of.

    betty

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    1. Don't know a heck of a lot about it myself Betty as I have lived here for 40 years. We do get pensions from the UK though so I am concerned.

      No mortgage of course. You could be right Betty it's one hell of a big wallop all at once.

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  5. I wasn't exactly sure what all of this meant for the UK but as soon as I saw that Trump thought it was awesome, I decided that it wasn't good. Sure was a close vote though.

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    1. My reaction to Donald was the same JoJo. Very close. Tony Blair, the PM, took a risk and it didn't pay off for him.

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  6. I was surprised by the results of the vote too, and we're watching my hubbies 401K getting hit by the impact. I hope it isn't as dire as they predict. Damn!!! Then we have the election here, of dear, I fear the results there even more!

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    1. Things like the 401K will bounce back eventually Yolanda, but the economic situation in Britain may get worse and worse. As for your election, what can I say!!

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  7. Anything Trump supports has to be dodgy. On the other hand, democracy has spoken and we can't just turn around and say none of them knew what they were voting for. It sounds a bit like sour grapes. However, I'm very disappointed and surprised at the result.

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    1. I like sour grapes Pinky. I think many of them didn't understand the consequences. I am one who didn't really until I suddenly realised today that the pound has fallen which means my pensions won't be worth much at all any more.

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  8. We have house insurance but for the trailer and car insurance. The odd thing to me, we have property tax on the trailer, even though we rent a lot of land (but we own the trailer).

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    1. The laws on Property Taxes seem unclear Ivy. When we had the trailer in NC we owned both the trailer and the land. Then discovered we were being wrongly taxed and got a reduction although they wouldn't refund the back taxes (they would have been down on us like a ton of bricks if we had owed them) then our neighbours went to check on their taxes and were told there wasn't any dwelling on their property. They had been living there for about 10 years by then!!!!

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    2. Oh my gosh! This kind of stuff is so wrong. Why not the money back that you paid, that seems also so wrong. Ack.

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    3. Seemed wrong to us but what can you do Ivy?

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  9. I pay my car insurance monthly because whether I save it or pay it, I just find that paying it monthly works better for me. I always say, as long as it works for you the. Continue on that path. Budgeting is partly knowing what works for you and making sure, of course, that it is being paid. I have a feeling the average Joe had no true idea what this meant when they voted to separate. I think the huge amount of refugees was part of the reason for the people voting to separate but I bet they would vote differently now. From what I'm hearing, Britain is trying to say this actual vote should be considered null and void.

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    1. Birgit, for some reason your comments don't come through to my email, I don't know why.

      As you say, what works for you. In my case I like to get it out of the way. I am sure you are right, many of the voters didn't really understand what it was about. There have been reports of people calling in and saying they wanted to change their vote. There are calls for another referendum. Whole thing is a big mess.

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