Me? I just returned from a two-week Sabbatical. No work. No ordinary life events. No ordinary stresses. Nothing but quiet, peaceful, rejuvenating days punctuated by family, friends, my church family, and a reconnection to what life is all about and a rebalance of priorities. In a word, I feel centered. Balanced. Calm.

The first nine days we spent in Orange Beach, Alabama and the back half was in Vail, Colorado. My good friend Rachel talks often about how her body needs the beach to “get right.” For me, that means the mountains, evergreens, crisp air, and the changing fall colors of aspens. It just does something to me inside that is hard to explain. Perhaps that is why I love Northwest Arkansas so much. Its rolling hills, gorgeous foliage, and dotted lakes and streams are stunning. Coming home from vacation was not disappointing, not in the least.

On the plane rides to and fro from our destinations, I kept a pile of my go-to magazines at my side. Food & Wine, Martha Stewart Living, and bon appetite, these are my mainstays. A quick word to the wise: don’t look at gorgeous food magazines unless you are prepared to cook.

One page 88 of the latest bon appetite magazine, the dry-rubbed flank steak with grilled corn salsa stopped me in my tracks. Okay, it stopped me in my two-feet by two-feet wide Group 4 American Airlines seat. “Dennis, Dennis, take a look at this gorgeous grilled flank steak. Argghhh! It’s beautiful. We HAVE to make this when we get home.”

Indeed we did.

We arrived home on Friday at 1pm. First stop was Fresh Market in Rogers for a few groceries, then picked up Hudson from Doggy Day Care and a few hours later after unpacking, the bon appetite flank steak was prepped for the grill. It.was.delish.

I share this with you because I think that (1) you will want to make it yourself because the dry rub is out-of-the-world and (2) I just wanted to share with you that something that looked so amazing in a bonafide magazine actually tasted as good as it look. The dry rub punched out crazy-flavors that perfectly blended and the corn salsa with red onions and lemon juice perfectly worked in unison that left me thinking, “Wow, Wow, Wow.”

The September issue of bon appetite is available in stores now, so please check it out and grab a copy. However, if you want to get started on the grilled flank steak with the grilled corn salsa right away, they posted the recipe online. Nice, huh?

What about you? 

Are you ever inspired by a magazine recipe? Have you copied a recipe ingredient-for-ingredient? Or, do you look at the photos and allow your imagination to run wild and create your own rendition? I admit I do both. But this time I followed their recommendation to the tee.

In a word, it was delish.

Happy grilling.

Eat well, my friend. Eat well.

Lyndi