Do you have an “outdoor kitchen?” You know, an area in your backyard where’s there’s a built-in grill maybe in some stonework, a refrigerator, some seating, perhaps a sink or a smoker.

Something like this.

I don’t. But I sure wish I did. Being grilling — especially steak — enthusiasts, we dream of an outdoor kitchen where we could hang out and really be one with the outdoors while we cook.

Well, HGTV.com has a guide for creating that outdoor oasis. It’s got ideas, budgets, suggestions, etc. If nothing, I can at least dream of grilling my steaks in style, right?

And I can look at all the purty pictures.

Check out the article here.

And don’t forget to invite me over when yours is built. I like ribeyes. And T-bones.

And bacon-wrapped filets.

Photo courtesy HGTV.com

Snopes.com is a Web site dedicated to debunking myths and affirming truths. It cites sources better than I ever did in any of my college papers.

For instance, if you happen to hear an urban myth about your dishwasher detergent causing a highly contagious form of chicken pox that begins with purple and orange welts on your body and ends with you reciting the “Pledge of Allegiance” in Gaelic you go to Snopes.com to see if it’s really true. Could it really happen?

Most of the time the answer is “No.”

Here’s a great one I found about the origin of the word “sirloin.” Check it out:

Claim:   A choice cut of beef taken from the upper hindquarter (i.e., the loin) of a cow is called “sirloin” because an English king was once so delighted with his meal that he knighted the meat, dubbing it “Sir Loin.”

Status:   False.

Origins:   If we needed proof that inventing silly stories to explain the origins of words with non-obvious etymologies is both an old and long-lived practice, here it is: Across nearly four centuries, various writers have chronicled the tale that an English king especially fond of fine dining (any one of a succession from Henry VIII to Charles II) coined the word “sirloin” by knighting a choice piece of meat, thereby introducing “Sir Loin” to the world. Even the venerable Samuel Johnson included the anecdote in his Dictionary of the English Language (1755), noting under the definition of the word “sir” that it was “A title given to the loin of beef, which one of our kings knighted in a fit of good humour.”

While it is certainly possible that one or more kings of England has repeated this pun, the joke cannot be the source of the word “sirloin,” which appeared in English as far back as the mid-sixteenth century, antedating the ascension of any of the named kings (save Henry VIII) to the throne. More importantly, though, it was not until the eighteenth century that the word “sirloin” came to be commonly spelled with an “i” — until then it was generally written as “surloin,” indicating that it came from the Middle French surlonge (sur meaning “over” and longe meaning “loin”), just as the word “surname” came from the same French root (sur), indicating a family name that was used “over” (i.e., in addition to) one’s Christian name.

That’s fun stuff. You can click here for the entire Snopes story.

I wish I had thought of “Sir Loin.” I could have made a fortune writing children’s books with the valiant knight as its main character. The costume might be a little tricky, though. What on earth would he wear?

Here’s a little ditty by the Rev. Horton Heat. The tune is not too imaginative, but with these lyrics, who needs a melody?                                   

Reverend Horton Heat “Eat Steak” Lyrics
Songwriters: N/A

Eat steak, eat steak eat a big ol’ steer
Eat steak, eat steak do we have one dear?
Eat beef, eat beef it’s a mighty good food
It’s a grade A meal when I’m in the mood.

Cowpokes’ll come from a near and far
When you throw a few rib-eyes on the fire
Roberto Duran ate two before a fight
‘Cause it gave a lot of mighty men a lot of mighty might

Eat steak, eat steak eat a big ol’ steer
Eat steak, eat steak do we have one dear?
Eat beef, eat beef it’s a mighty good food
It’s a grade A meal when I’m in the mood.

Eat meat, eat meat, filet mignon
Eat meat, eat meat, eat it all day long
Eat a few T-bones till you get your fill
Eat a new york cut, hot off the grill

Eat steak, eat steak eat a big ol’ steer
Eat steak, eat steak do we have one dear?
Eat beef, eat beef it’s a mighty good food
It’s a grade A meal when I’m in the mood.

Listen to the entire song (with additional lyrics) here:

http://www.last.fm/music/Reverend+Horton+Heat/_/Eat+Steak

Guaranteed, this song will run through your head for weeks. 🙂