Sunday, April 22, 2007

Look at Both Sides

Okay, so I bought this nice steak for today's dinner, since it snowed yesterday in the morning, and I call that still winter, right? Red meat is great for warming the body and soul.

I heat the frying pan just so, then unwrap the steak and plop it in. It sizzles so nicely, and the aroma is delish! Yum! My mouth is watering, I tell you.

So I wait the right amount of minutes to get a great start on the first side, then I get out my special two-tined fork to turn over the steak. A jab in the thick part, and I'm ready to flip the wrist.

Yikes! What on earth is that in the bottom of the pan? I peer at it, disbelieving my eyes. Yes, there's a black thing stuck to the pan. Ick! Immediately I know what it is. That blood-soaker thingie they put underneath meat to make sure it looks great in the tray. You know, no one will buy a bloody steak!

So there I am, holding a steak on a fork in one hand and the handle of the frying pan in the other, lifting the pan off the heat so that soaker pad won't get any hotter. Now what?

I lay the steak down (you don't want to know where) and use the fork to remove the pad and dump it in the garbage. Great! There's a burned-on, white residue in the pan. Who knows what noxious chemicals are sitting there, waiting to kill me?

If I were 35 years younger, I might be dancing around the kitchen, squealing, "Eeeekkkkk!" But I'm not. I've reached the ripe old age of, but that's immaterial. I'm older, okay?

I'm hungry, I have a steak lying--somewhere, and I want to cook it. So now I have to clean out the pan of noxious chemicals and begin the cooking process all over again. I wash the pan (sizzle, sizzle), scrub, wash again, use a paper towel to make sure any residue is whisked away, then put the pan over the fire once more. I pick up the steak with the fork, and now I'm cooking with gas. Yes, I am. The meal is rescued, the steak is wonderful, and my tummy is satisfied.

Lesson learned: look on both sides of the meat before you plop it into the pan!

Wednesday, April 18, 2007

History Tag

Josi Kilpack tagged me for this history game. How cool is it that I'm now known by one name, like Cher, and Madonna, and ... I don't know who else. Anyway, I'll tag five other peeps when I'm done.

1. Go to Wikipedia and type in your birth date only - without the year.

March 12

2. List 3 events that occurred that day:

515 BC - Construction is completed on the Second Temple in Jerusalem.
1664 - New Jersey becomes a colony of Britain.
1987 - Les Misérables opens on Broadway.

3. List 2 important birthdays: I knew about Liza Minelli, but I didn't know how many other actors were born on my birthday. However, I've picked:

1947 - Mitt Romney, Governor of Massachusetts
1948 - James Taylor, American musician

4. List 1 death:

1985 - Eugene Ormandy, Hungarian conductor (b. 1899) I always enjoyed his conducting.

5. List a holiday or observance: There aren't many holidays on March 12, but since I live in the pines, I chose this one:

Arbor Day in People's Republic of China and Taiwan.

Now I get to tag five other bloggers:

Keith Fisher of LDSWritersBlogck
Janette Rallison
Serene Baker
Heather B. Moore, the co-queen of next year's LDStorymaker Writers Conference
C.S. Bezas

Saturday, April 07, 2007

American Idol

Is it just me, or is this year's lineup the strongest bunch of performers American Idol has ever had? I'm really impressed with seven out of the eight who are left. I wish Chris Sligh hadn't been voted off, but I think he'll still go somewhere with his music.

Go Melinda Doolittle!
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