In our Kudos file:  Tyler Rynberg, an Acoustical Consultant with Thorburn Associates at the Castro Valley branch, has recently earned his Professional Engineering license.  Way to go, Tyler!

In our What’s Up file:  Steve spoke at the Technology in Business Schools Roundtable (TBS) at the University of Wisconsin-Madison School of Business on May 18th.  His session "Classroom Technology Considerations in New Construction—How to Make Your Project a Success” stressed the need for IT/AV Managers at Colleges and Universities to actively communicate their needs to both the school’s in-house design team as well as the A&E design team.  Closing points were that to truly “future-proof” a technology classroom building/project, it is all about communication and teamwork!

TBS is a new organization of technology directors at major business schools.  Their goal is to meet business schools’ information technology challenges by fostering collaboration among the technology leadership of these schools and colleges.  Membership has quickly grown to over 70 business schools in three countries. http://www.tbsroundtable.org/

Of course, we’ll also be at InfoComm the second week in June, so stop by and say hello.

Julia’s Marvelous Margaritas
Wil’s CAD Manager Special--Cheese Avocado Dip
Kristin’s Party Perfect Pasta Salad
Tyler’s Dad’s Rockin’ Coleslaw
Jim’s Chicken and Shrimp Skewers
Steve’s Pleasingly Palatable Pork Ribs and Rib Rub
Derek’s Sweet Tea
Santa Maria Style Barbecue Tri-Tip

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Brown Sugar Fruit Dip
Grayson’s Key Lime Pie
Lisa’s “Don’t Heat Up the House” Boiled Cookies
 
Julia’s Marvelous Margaritas
 
1 oz. Amaretto
0.5 oz. Triple Sec
0.5 oz. Gold Tequila
2 oz. Sweet & Sour mix
 
Blend with ice, garnish with orange slice.

Wil’s CAD Manager’s Special - Cheese Avocado Dip

2 ripe avocados
2 TB lemon juice
1 clove garlic, crushed
1/2 small onion, grated
1 package soft cream cheese
salt and freshly ground black pepper
paprika to garnish

Mash avocados with lemon juice. Beat in remaining ingredients. Season to taste and sprinkle with paprika.  Serve with chips or raw vegetables.

Kristin’s Party Perfect Pasta Salad

10 oz. tortellini pasta, cooked and drained
1 cup chopped summer sausage
1 cup ½-inch cubes cheddar cheese
1 cup chopped tomato
1 cup chopped green pepper
½ cup sliced black olives
1 cup Italian salad dressing

Combine all ingredients; chill for an hour and serve.

Jim's Chicken and Shrimp Skewers

2 lbs. of boneless chicken breasts
2 lbs. of fresh shrimp (shelled and de-veined)
12 oz. package of bacon
10 shish-ka-bob skewers
16 oz. bottle of sweet barbeque sauce

Cut raw chicken into 1-inch squares.

Create chicken skewers with bacon skewered long ways wrapping back and forth around the chicken.
Create separate shrimp skewers with bacon skewered long ways wrapping back and forth around the shrimp.

Baste with barbeque sauce and grill chicken slowly until done.  Shrimp skewers will take a lot less time to cook.

Steve’s Pleasingly Palatable Pork Ribs

The following works well for all ribs but is best on short ribs.

1 rack of ribs, cut in half to fit in pressure cooker.  Place in pressure cooker (15 pounds.) Add 1/2 can of beer (Heineken, Guinness or Corona works well.) Consume the rest.

Cook at pressure for 10 minutes (baby back) or 15 minutes for standard ribs – the goal is to get them started so they don’t dry out on the grill.  If you’re really in a hurry, leave them in the pressure cooker longer.   At 20 minutes under pressure a rack of baby back ribs are usually coming off the bone.

Let the ribs cool in pressure cooker (under pressure.) Remove as soon as seal will allow and pat dry on glass or plastic tray (not metal.)

Slather with prepared mustard (the hot dog kind – brand is not important.) Cover with rib rub (see below) and let set overnight in the refrigerator.

Remove from fridge and bring to room temperature.  Re-apply rib rub if desired.  In the case of a rib emergency I have been known to skip the fridge and go from the pressure cooker right to the grill.  See note above about length of time in pressure cooker.

Get the grill hot.  For one to three racks, I use a gas grill.  I have a Weber with three burners.  After the grill is hot, turn the front and back to low and the center burner off.  Close the lid and let cook.

In about an hour or so the meat should be almost pulling off the bone.  Remove from heat, wrap in foil, place in insulated box for 15 to 20 minutes.  An empty cooler works well for this.

Enjoy with all the fixin's.  Cooking time varies with number of racks and the consumption of adult beverages.  

Rib Rub

1/4 cup paprika
1/4 cup taco mix (McCormick)
1/8 cup onion powder
1/8 cup black pepper
1/4 cup brown sugar
1/4 cup dry mustard
Mix ingredients together.  Store in an airtight container.  Adjust the ratios to your family’s tastes.  Someone in our household doesn’t eat really spicy food….

A good source of pepper is Gordon Peppers.  (www.gordonpepper.com.)  He has three flavors: Spiced Pepper, Texas Blend Pepper and Dragon Flakes.  Get the sampler pack and find the one you like the best.  Gordon helped me develop the lighting section of ICIA’s design school when he was at AMX.

Derek’s Sweet Tea

8-10 tea bags, I recommend Luzianne or Lipton Cold Brew
Small pot of water
1 cup of sugar 
1 gallon-sized pitcher

Add sugar to water and bring to a boil.  Add tea bags and turn off heat.  Steep tea for 20 minutes.  Pour the tea into the pitcher and fill with cold water.  Pour into a glass filled with ice and serve.  Garnish with lemon or mint.

Tyler’s Dad’s Rockin’ Coleslaw

Finely shred 1 small head of green cabbage (8 cups)
In a bowl, combine:
1 ½ cups Miracle Whip salad dressing
1TB cider vinegar
1 ½ TB whole milk
4 ½ t sugar
1/8 t prepared mustard
1 t mustard seed
½ t celery seed

Blend until smooth and mix with cabbage.  Sprinkle with paprika and chill.

Santa Maria Style Barbecue Tri-tip

Outside California, the term, “tri-tip” cut of beef is not well known.  The tri-tip is a triangular cut from the corner of a top sirloin cut of beef.   Other regional names for the tri-tip are "bottom sirloin", "bottom butt" or "triangle roast" (part of the top sirloin and part of the sirloin tip.)   There is only one tri-tip per side of beef, a total of two per critter.  It combines the strong flavor of beef with the perfect texture of a great steak.

Santa Maria, CA is the largest city in the Santa Maria Valley, eighty miles north of Santa Barbara and thirty miles south of San Louis Obispo.  Santa Maria Style Barbeque originated back when cowboys would gather under towering oaks for barbeques after a day’s work of branding cattle.

What is unique about Santa Maria barbecue is that there is almost no preparation -- a rub consisting of salt, pepper and garlic powder is applied immediately before cooking.  Try McCormick's California Style Garlic Salt or Garlic Pepper, or Suzie Q's Santa Maria Seasoning (http://www.susieqbrand.com/) Cover the tri-tip with a thick layer of the rub.  Traditionally, the tri-tip is grilled over red oak.

Preheat your grill for at least 20 minutes.  If you have a two-burner gas grill, fire up only one side.  If you are using charcoal, make a pile to one side of the grill.

Place the tri-tip, with the fat side up, on the side that is not being heated by the burner or coals and close the cover.  Cook undisturbed for about 30 minutes.  At this point, you can test for doneness with a quick-read thermometer.  You are shooting for an internal temperature of about 135 to 140 degrees F.  Immediately remove the meat from the grill and place in a covered container or wrap with foil.  Allow the meat to rest for at least 15 minutes before slicing.

Trim the fat and then slice it across the grain, which is across the triangle.

The most traditional Santa Maria Barbecue includes side dishes of fresh salsa, pinquito beans and toasted French or sourdough bread. It can also be accompanied by macaroni and cheese.

We have been using DWF Composer for the past year; although not to its fullest potential.  Composer allows our designers, engineers and draftpersons a means of communicating design information, view drawings and redline, or mark up AutoCAD files electronically.  Autodesk offers a free download called DWF Viewer which allows anyone on the team to easily view and print drawings.  The program is similar to the Adobe Acrobat Viewer where you don’t need the actual program installed in order to view the files.

Some benefits of the program: 

• Smaller file sizes can be emailed without file restrictions
• Electronic copies are easier to manage than hard copies
• Design team does not have to know AutoCAD
• Files can be converted to PDF’s
• Multiple sheets are condensed to one file that can be emailed and retain scale

The huge benefit is the degree of collaboration available with timely turn around.  Originals are not compromised; revisions are easily accessed.  Our staff reports the program is fairly intuitive and moderately easy to master.  The improvement to our red-lining standards have been enormous, especially for communication between offices.  The program has reduced costs for our company, mainly from the ability to email complex designs.

SKB has introduced the Drypod, a waterproof case designed for the Gen 4 iPod, Nano and Gen 5 Video.  The DryPod comes with a stainless steel belt clip, armband, lanyard with clip and adapter for other headphones with different angle plugs.