Previously, I mentioned that I had a TEC grill for nearly thirteen years before replacing it two weeks ago. One thing my new grill did not have was an infrared burner capable of 1500^oF for searing beef, lamb and other meats. So, I ordered the option and installed it Friday evening. That took away from my food prep time so we had leftovers for dinner. I made a curried turkey salad for my wife while I enjoyed a pulled pork sandwich. Saturday, we shared a Portobello mushroom stuffed with tuna and covered with Swiss cheese as an appetizer. I also marinated 16/20 shrimp with Greek seasonings in olive oil for about an hour before grilling them. They were served over a light tomato and fresh herb salad. Finally, Sunday was red snapper seasoned with Chinese five spice and sprinkled with soy sauce. I marinated it in the refrigerator for 3-4 hours. It was lightly floured and deep fried for 12 minutes. With so many choices I decided to present you with an appetizer this week. The stuffed Portobello mushroom is the recipe of the week. You can also fix this without the tuna and use you favorite cheese as the stuffing. The first time I had this appetizer was in Little Italy in New York. It was made without the tuna and filled with fontina cheese. I have enjoyed it that way at home several times. However, the real secret is the addition of the balsamic vinegar. Stuffed Portobello Mushroom with Balsamic Vinegar, enjoy!

Bill and Keep

The Voice on the Net Coalition (VON Coalition), of which Broadvox is a member,  response to the Notice For Proposed Rulemaking and the Further Notice For Proposed Rulemaking and although reasonably short at nine pages, it is still surprisingly longer than needed. The net of the response is that the VON Coalition wants the FCC to do three things:

1. Maintain the current definition of IP services as Information Services as defined in the Telecommunications Act of 1996. This would prevent any change in how IP services are regulated by the FCC.
2. Adopt the “Bill and Keep” option for billing IP service providers. Under a bill and keep option IP carriers would be treated in a similar fashion as wireless carriers. There would be no charges for originating or terminating traffic as each carrier would recover their network costs by billing their customers/end users.
3. Make the changes immediate and avoid having an interim period where reform is done in steps. This would allow for carriers and investors to have confidence in making decisions to expand, improve or otherwise invest in their businesses.

The VON Coalition accurately points out that the FCC will impose unnecessary costs and rules complexity if the IP carriers have to differentiate voice traffic from other information services. In the case of Unified Communications users have the ability to intermingle voice with information applications. Users are able to do this dynamically. Therefore, it would be very difficult to identify and label VoIP traffic differently from the underlying and supporting applications and services.

The need for reform is accepted by all parties. We need to be both patient and perhaps a little bit anxious regarding the result.