Thursday, November 15, 2018

Craig Spence Steak

We often spotlight a prominent LGBT person on this blog. It is a way of keeping their memory alive and offering a topic of table conversation. Mostly it has been leaders and heroes, but at times, such as this, just LGBT characters that all go to make up the fabric of LGBT's in this life. Such a person was Craig Spence. Read his story after the recipe.


Simple cube steak is a staple of our cuisine. Wither called “country-fried” or “chicken fried”, it is derived from the German Wienerschnitzel and adopted in the mid-west and south, esp. Texas where nearly a million servings appear yearly. Presented here with a mustard sauce, some tomatoes and a green vegetable. Perfect for your dinning pleasure.

Ingredients:

1/3 cup all-purpose flour
1 tsp smoked paprika
1 tsp onion powder
1 tsp salt + ½ tsp pepper
1½ pounds beef cubed steak
3 tablespoons vegetable oil
1/3 cup mayonnaise
2 tablespoons balsamic vinegar
1 tablespoon Honey Mustard (see Note)

Directions:


 
Open package of cubed steak, sprinkle with onion powder and paprika.

In a shallow dish, combine flour, salt, and pepper; mix well. Completely coat cubed steak with flour mixture. Press into each piece.



In a large skillet, heat oil over medium-high heat and saute steaks for
6 to 8 minutes, until juices run clear, turning once. Place steaks on a covered serving platter.

Drain excess liquid from skillet and reduce heat to low. 
 


In a bowl, whisk together mayonnaise, vinegar, and mustard; add to skillet. 



Return cubed steaks to skillet, completely coating them with mayonnaise mixture. Cook 3 to 4 minutes, or until heated through.

Note

You might want to use Dijon-style mustard one time and another time try one of the many mustard blends that are readily available in the supermarket.


Serve with a side of sliced tomatoes and maybe some broccoli and a fruit cup.


So proud to be serving my Master Indy!

socialslave

To satisfy and restore.
To nourish, support and maintain.
To gratify, spoil, comfort and please,
to nurture, assist, and sustain
..I cook!

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1989 – Republican Lobbyist Craig Spence, committed suicide after it was discovered he was involved with secret tours of The Reagan White House with “Rent boys” (male prostitutes).

Spence’s name was splashed everywhere when an article appeared in the Washington Times. It identified Spence as a customer of a homosexual escort service being investigated by the Secret Service, the District of Columbia Police and the United States Attorney’s Office for suspected credit card fraud.

The newspaper said he spent as much as $20,000 a month on the service. He had also been linked to a White House guard who has said he accepted an expensive watch from Mr. Spence and allowed him and friends to take late-night White House tours.

After the scandal had died down, he was asked who had given him the "key" to the White House. The Washington Times reported that "Mr. Spence hinted the tours were arranged by 'top level' persons".

Background

Spence had been a correspondent for ABC News. During the Vietnam War, he covered Southeast Asia, but eventually was expelled by South Vietnam.

In January 1985, Spence registered with the U.S. State Department as a foreign agent for Japan and began lobbying for Japanese interests. Throughout the 1980s, Spence built a reputation as an influential lobbyist .
It was said that Spence entered a downward spiral in the wake of the Washington Times exposé.

Death
On November 10, 1989 Spence was found dead in Room 429 of the Boston Ritz Carlton, the city's most expensive hotel.
Two weeks before he lay down in his tuxedo and died in what police say was probably suicide, Spence invited a production company to his home to shoot a "video postcard," a seven-minute final message to his friends. 
Seated in a leather chair, the 49-year-old former television reporter said nothing of death. He was upbeat ("Take heart, good friends"). He joked that his Maltese dog, Winston, had been maligned in news reports as a terrier. He philosophized about a life that disintegrated in the four months since the stories in the Washington Times.
"Keeping a cheerful spirit in the midst of these pressures isn't easy, but Winston's holding up, and I'm working at it." He chuckled.

In his videotape, Spence criticized The Times, referring to it as "a local cult-owned newspaper." He reserved his strongest criticism for the government, saying it distorted "the Craig Spence puzzle."
"The government, through its various agencies and ambitious officials, sometimes looks right at the key pieces and cannot or will not see the picture," he said. "Worse, it sometimes pockets a piece or two to ensure that the puzzle is never put together."

In the video, he appeared healthy, vigorous and poised. He defended his patriotism, which friends said he felt was maligned by the unproven allegation of blackmail. He showed off a plaque given to him by Marines. He was known for dropping hints that he worked for the CIA.

"Some of you may know when it comes to the intelligence community, there is no such thing as coincidence. Now, I'm not sure I've seen the whole picture yet myself."

"I'll close by telling you I'm sure that in the end the truth will come out and this too will pass," he said.
"Now, I may be naive about my optimism, but I'm an American, proud of my country and confident of the fairness of its people. So take heart, good friends, and share that pride and that confidence with me. Good night and God bless."
Spence arranged for delivery of as many as a dozen copies of the numbered videotapes, including one provided to The Washington Post, "in case I ever disappear."

The official account of his death states at 5:30 AM Friday, Spence was in Room 429 of the Ritz-Carlton. He had set out a copy of his will and his birth certificate. He moved the bed to block the door. He dressed in a black tuxedo with white bow tie and white suspenders. Then he lay on the bed and called a friend in Virginia. "He told him not to have any regrets personally, and he said he had taken a lot of pills," reported the friend to The Post. "He began to ramble and be incoherent." The friend, whose identity was not disclosed, hung up and frantically called the Ritz-Carlton to report that Craig Spence appeared to be dying in his room. The operator said the hotel had no record of anyone by that name.

Investigators later learned that Spence had registered under the name C.F. Kane, an apparent reference to Charles Foster Kane, protagonist of Orson Welles's "Citizen Kane," Spence's favorite movie. Spence's body was not discovered until Friday afternoon. Firefighters sawed through the door and found him on the bed, the telephone cradled on his shoulder.

In black felt-tip marker he had written on a mirror of his room:
Chief, consider this my resignation, effective immediately. As you always said, you can't ask others to make a sacrifice if you are not ready to do the same. Life is duty. God bless America.
As a postscript, he wrote, "To the Ritz, please forgive this inconvenience."

A few months before his death, Spence alluded to more intricate involvements. “All this stuff you’ve uncovered (involving call boys, bribery and the White House tours), to be honest with you, is insignificant compared to other things I’ve done. But I’m not going to tell you those things, and somehow the world will carry on!

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