COFFEE, COCOA, & ANCHO CHILI STEAK RUB RECIPE

 This is an amazing steak rub.   For the presentation, I used 2 buffalo ribeye steaks

I love Buffalo teaks.  A lot.  A whole lot

The intensity of the flavors is addictive.  In fact, when I switch back to beef, it has some kind watered down taste. It's like buffalo is "beef and a half".

 It's not the easiest thing to find, but it sure is worth it.  When they're available, I stock up and always have a nice supply of rib-eyes vacuum packed in the freezer.  I order them cut bone in and about 1 1/2 inch thick.  They end up around 18 to 24 oz.  Big ass steaks.

Anyhoo, back to the rub.  I've tried various things to spice them up before grilling.  Until recently, I keep it simple, just a bit of salt and pepper, some olive oil, and fire.  But to change things up I dug out a steak rub I used a while back.  

I had seen a few coffee steak rubs online and decided to put my own take on the best the recipes I saw.  

I discovered Magic.

Here goes.  (Mind you, this makes quite a bit for the pantry.)

     3/4 cup stone found coffee (I use Greek coffee...I'm Greek...)

     3/4 cup chili powder (Ancho)

     1/3 cup cocoa powder

     1/2 cup oregano

     1/2 cup garlic powder

     1/4 cup black pepper

     1/4 cup thyme

     3 Tbsp. ground mustard

     4 Tbsp. cumin
     4 Tbsp. kosher salt

     1/4 cup packed brown sugar
     
     Bone in Buffalo Rib-eyes cut at 1 1/2 inch thick.  

     

Combine in a bowl and you can save it all in a 1 lb coffee can.

Rub  bit of olive oil on steaks and them rub both sides of steaks with this bad ass rub.  Let them rest for a while in fridge.  Take them out an hour before you grill so the meat warms up to room temp.

One the grill is blazing hot, slap those babies on.  Instead of letting them sear for a few minutes on each side like everyone says, I flip them every minute.  This prevents the fat from catching fire, and actually bastes it with the fats. Once off, tent them with foil for 5 to 10 minutes to let them relax and take the juices back in.

Nice.  They turn out perfectly medium rare.  Yes, I made 3 for 2 of us.....

ENJOY!

PLAYABLE SLEEVE FOR PSYCHEDELIC FURS SINGLE

 Here's a cool oddity in my record collection.   This version of the Psychedelic Furs' single "Dumb Waiters" has a playable sleeve!

What you get is a promo for their upcoming LP Talk Talk Talk, playing many of the tracks in edited form, including a snippet of a different version of "Pretty In Pink".

The B-Side is also a great instrumental "Dash" that was never to be released again, even on the cd reissues.

The copy I have is pretty much in mint condition and I think was only played a few times since 1981.

Got this one for a steal on eBay.  I think I paid $2 for it.

Here's the Dumb Waiters video

EARLY BLUE NOTE 78 RPM RECORDS

Gave a listen to a very early Blue Note 78 record today.  In 1941, Meade "Lux" Lewis recorded a  couple piano solos at Blue Note studios.  "Honky Tonk Train Blues" b/w "Tell Your Story".  Blue Note #15.

The fun part is how I ran across this (and a handful of other rare jazz 78's).

Back around 2005, I stopped into a St Vincent de Paul thrift store to give the records a look over.  They mainly have beat up alums from the 70's, like a bunch of Kenny Rogers records...but usually had a few old 78 records sitting there.  I noticed a stack of 12" 78's  (usually 10') and thought they were some symphony cuts, like most were.  

I pulled them out and see the Blue Note label, and my heart skipped a beat.  There were 4 Blue Notes,  #2, 5, 15, and 16.   Next to those were a few Commodore 12" jazz records, also quite rare, as well as a 12" Black and White 78, yet another rare black jazz label from around 1940.   Next to that were some 10" 78 of Billie Holiday on Commodore.  OMG

I then proceeded to shit my pants.   $10 later, I drove them home realizing this was a find of a lifetime.

Lewis had first recorded Honky Tonk Train Blues for the legendary Paramount records back in 1927, for Victor in 1937, and also for Decca and Columbia throughout the years.
The Paramount recording is ULTRA scarce.   This early Blue Note is also quite rare and goes for around $65.  This copy is in near mint condition.

Here's the only You Tube clip of this recording.  My copy is in near mint condition and does not have the pops.   Enjoy..

MARCH 2022 BUYS

Fun March.  

Biggest fun was going to see Billie Eilish in concert with my kid.  It was her first concert and a great show!

Here she is in her bucket going around the arena.  She got real close to us

And a wide shot of the Climate Pledge Arena

The other fun thing was buy more dividend earning shares.

During most months, I receive a small chunk of dividends from my holdings, I will go shopping for the best bargain I can find among my holdings.  It's all about the compounding of my holdings and returns.  It's the whole point of dividend growth investing.

This past month was a tad different.  I focused on 2 goals.  First was matching my spending of 2021 with a few companies I frequently shop at.   I explain this in my post about 2022 goals

Secondly was buying a handful of AT&T shares since I would be receiving 1 share of the new WBD company for every 4 of AT&T I held.  That's free money in my eyes.  So I focused a lot on AT&T shares before the ex-dividend date.

The result was spending $5,169.58 of my dividend income on new shares that will result in $159.40 of dividend income.  That's a yield of 3.08% And since these are growth stocks, that total will only go up. 

Here's a breakdown of my purchases:

Remember, if I can do this, so can you.

MARCH 2022 DIVIDEND INCREASES

 Dividend increases.  

The most important reason I invest in what I invest in.  

How can anyone keep up with inflation unless there are increases in the yield? 

February was chock full of increases (as it usually is for my holdings).   It's hard to beat what each February brings.  March is usually about half of what each February brings.

What really affected this month was the planned dividend cut by AT&T (T).   It's been in the works for a long while, and on the 25th, it was officially announced.   It resulted in a $446 hit on my annual dividends.  But I've been prepared for this.  A positive is I get a big chunk of the new media company that is emerging from this.  Hopefully, the dividends from this new entity will make up some of this.

Other than AT&T, I camou out of March with about $110 in additional dividend income.  Not bad.  Average that over the course of a year, and it really makes a dent.

March resulted in 6 increases and 1 cut for a net loss of $355.44

Here are the details:

As you see, Medifast (MED) spit out a nice 15.5% increase.  Canadian Natural Resources (CNQ) also upped their game with a monster 27.7% increase.  Patience really paid of with that holding.

Hopefully, April will bring more interesting increases from some of my major holdings like Johnson & Johnson (JNJ), Apple (AAPL), and Costco (COST).   I'm pumped.

MARCH 2022 DIVIDENDS

What a month.  I'll just cut to the chase:   

When I started this whole investing in dividend growth stock thing, this is the result I was seeking out.   Having a dividend payout almost every day of the month and a big gain over the past year.  

I was waiting for this month since making a ton of purchases in November and December.   

58 payments.  Wow. $2,680.28.    Double wow.   A 63.4% increase over 2020 (when I made $1640.).  Three strikes and I'm.. 

That's an average of $46.21 per payment.  Over and over and over.  

And guess what I did with it?  That's right: I bought more to add to this runaway snowball.

Here are the dividend details.

BHP is a fun semi-annual event..

Please add a comment if you have a question or just want to say HI..

Until later.  cheers!