Marination Celebration

Marinated Steak Salad from Elizabeth & Jesse W. Serves 10 Marinade: 1/2 C veg. oil 1/4 C soy sauce 1/4 C red wine vinegar 2 teaspoons Worcestershire sauce 1/2 teaspoon ground ginger 1 teaspoon minced garlic ( 1 clove) 2 lb flank steak Combine first six ingredients. Poke holes in steak with fork (so the marinade seeps in - yum) and place in large dish or plastic bag. Pour marinade over steak and marinate for 1-24 hours, turning every so often. Grill steaks to desired doneness and carve into thin slices across the grain (1/4" is good). Provide the following and have each person assemble steak salad as desired: salad greens craisins (do I need to give kudos since this is a registered trademark? Don't want to get sued over a blog posting) chopped pecans sauteed yellow onion (2 onions for 10 people is just about right) goat cheese (chevre) steak Newman's Own Light Balsamic Dressing (another trademark ... here's to you, Newman) We have lots of reasons to celebrate in our family right now. But first I would like a critique on my use of "marinate" and "marinade" ... you may not care, but I've been struggling for 30 minutes now trying to remember which one is the verb and which is the noun. I hope I correctly distinguished between marinate (the verb?!) and marinade (... noun?). Criticism welcome. Reason uno: my husband just finished his entire first year of PhD work. I honestly didn't know he had it in him to work this much. I've already given him my full year's quota of props. (I do, however, have some kudos leftover, so when I find out that you've done something great I'll give you some of those.) We had some of his classmates over on Tuesday night after their last class and served this salad. Reason dos: we've done our part to control the pet population by having Salem ... er ... snipped. Snippadee doodah. Just trying to make Bob Barker proud. (However, I am afraid this has set us back on the whole "gaining trust" thing ... nothing says "I love you" like subjecting your beloved pet to castration) Reason tres: the seeds we planted in the garden are actually coming up. Miracle of nature. I guess when I set my expectations low I leave lots of room for pleasant surprises. Reason cuatro: I live in a college town but don't have to take exams. Lovely. Reason cinco: I stepped outside this morning and saw that it was raining on one side of my house but not on the other. The side it was raining on was also the side the sun was coming up on, so the sun/rain/blue sky combination was fantastic. Reason seis: Have I already mentioned how excited I am to be going to Spain and France this summer?