Happy Holidays from Texas and a Bit More

Howdy, all, and Happy Holidays from Texas to those who are celebrating them at this time of year.

By now you know that I like to talk about my culinary adventures around the world and do have another and also a bit more on using the Frameworks later.  But, first I would like to share a little bit of Texas cookin’ that you may want to add to your recipe book.  Many of us who live here are fond of smoked meat or anything that can be smoked, including fowl, fish and vegetables.  And, every Texan serious about smoked food has to have a smoker.  I am the proud owner of one.  During this time of the year turkey is a favorite.  I used to just slop a ton of home-made barbecue sauce on a good sized bird and turn it loose in the smoker, not alive however!  But, now, the night before I brine the bird in a bath of flavored salt water in a bag surrounded by ice…don’t want anyone eating my turkey to come down with a case of food poisoning.

OK, here’s the recipe for a tasty bird…if you don’t have turkey, a couple of chickens will do…

·         2 Cups of Kosher salt (or plain salt if you don’t have it)

·         ½ Cup of brown sugar

·         1 Cup of Bourbon whiskey or your equivalent favorite! (optional)

·         3 Cups of apple juice

·         1 Tablespoon of black peppercorns

·         1 Gallon of water

Put the bird in a bag made for baking the bird in the oven or some suitable water-proof bag.  Then pour the brining mix into the bag.  Tie it tight and put it in a container that has enough ice in it to keep the bird cold overnight.  That’s it for the prep.  Then the next morning fire up your smoker, put some barbecue sauce on the bird, and let it sit in the smoker until done.  If you don’t have a smoker you can roast the bird in the oven.  Mighty tasty!

Now, on to my latest adventure, which took me to Jo’burg, South Africa, last week, home of some of the finest beef in the world.  And, of course, I had to have another taste of steak, this time at the Hillside Tavern in Pretoria.  What a meal…here’s the link… http://www.igougo.com/dining-reviews-b122329-Pretoria-Hillside_Tavern.html

And, on to the “bit more” I mentioned earlier.  While in Jo’burg, I was assisting a client in the preparation of an RFP.  We took an interesting approach that I hope will be followed in the future for anyone preparing an RFP for an application solution.  We used the eTOM, SID, TAM, and Integration Frameworks as the basis for the RFP.  The scope of the RFP was stated using the Frameworks as a point of reference, along with compliance criteria.  That was pretty much it, because we felt there was no need to duplicate the details contained within the Frameworks in the RFP.

The Frameworks make for a great set of functional (eTOM and TAM), information (SID), and service-oriented (Integration Framework) requirements.  Why start from scratch!  Our focus was spent on enterprise-specific requirements not covered in the Frameworks.

Next trip takes me to St. Louis the first week of January 2010…home of some more fine beef, barbecue, and Italian food.