Sweet 16 and the Case of the Missing Steak...and by the way, whose idea was it to call it "sweet" sixteen?

Today, was my son's 16th birthday party. He is in the throngs of being your textbook teenager.  He is extraordinarily bright, kind, charming and responsible and once in awhile the teenager-ism (or whatever you want to call it) takes over and you are totally perplexed and can only scratch your head and wonder "huh?"  He invited 30 of his friends to celebrate this landmark birthday. I did a kid friendly menu which incorporated the vegetarians so it was basically easy. It was a Mexican fiesta; tortillas, corn, beans, cheese, guacamole, salsa, rice, lettuce, sour cream and choice of barbecue grilled chicken and skirt steak. I had calculated 1/4 pound of meat for each kid, so I calculated 8 pounds of meat plus 4 more, for a total of 12 pounds, because, well, I am Italian. Well, fortunately only about 22 showed; because the meat disappeared faster than you can say "16!" OMG, I was almost in a state of panic to see the food dwindling and the guests still eating. It would be a total embarrassment to run out of food and, besides, in my Italian culture, it is the 11th commandment "thou shall not run out of food when serving guests." We barely made it. The reason why the meat disappeared quickly is the OMG marinade. It is the easiest, fastest and best marinade ever! And, it is relatively cheap and you can use it for both steak and chicken but best on a skirt steak. I would normally have a photo of the food for you, but the food disappeared before I was able to get my camera. 

Sweet 16 Marinade

1/2 cup olive oil
1/2 cup soy sauce 
4 tablespoons of honey
3 cloves minced garlic
1/2  teaspoon salt
1/4 teaspoon pepper

2 pounds of skirt steak or chicken (works best with a skirt steak but chicken pretty awesome as well)

Whisk first 6 ingredients in a bowl until completely blended about 3-5 minutes. Pour over skirt steak and let marinate  over night for best flavor. Easy to double, triple or quadruple, etc. Then grill and enjoy and watch it disappear.

 The Pre-Teen Years, Pre-Sweet Sixteen. 

My son, the chef with a bloody hand on a Halloween.