eat meat.

i skirted around it long enough, but i couldn't escape it forever. i finally made my first steak dinner after marriage!! i know....what's the big deal? at this point, i've made fish, chicken, veggies, pastas, soups, stews, casseroles, etc. what's a measly little hunk of meat? well. a lot...but i finally made it and now i can say rib-eye steak is a part of my repertoire.

i'm not a picky eater, by no means. i am sometimes embarrassed by my junkyard appetite....by my unhealthy desire to eat hamburgers everyday (burger&fries are my comfort food - carl's jr. and red robin are my top picks). still, a girl's got her standards :). red meat is one of those things i'm really picky about when i eat it - it can't be too dry, it can't be dripping. i don't like my meat drowning in blood, in butter, or sauce. it has to be tasty, sprinkled with a good seasoning. annd, i have no confidence i can whip up something top-notch restaurants can't even get right sometimes.

voila! ahh! i'm sosovery sad i lost the link to the recipe - but this is a rib-eye steak with bourbon sauce (cheap bourbon-parsley-beef stock-heavy whipping cream and....?? darn!), garlic mashed potatoes (yukon gold potatoes-heavy whipping cream-garlic-salt-butter), and steamed veggies (salt-veggies-water).

rib-eye steak with bourbon sauce: i was shooting for medium rare but the steaks ended up medium. a teensy bit too dry for my taste, but the sauce did wonders juicing things up. the sauce made every bite savory. i could only eat half because it was too rich, but tim chowed down =).

garlic mashed potatoes: they were just alrite, nothing amazing. in my opinion, mashed potatoes taste best when they're creamy + soft. mine were chunky & a little too starchy. this is in part, i know, because i got lazy when i was smushing the potatoes. these were more like smushed potatoes. the flavor - good. texture - not so bueno.

steamed veggies: you can't really mess these up.

overall? a very educational meal. i learned a little bit about potatoes (let them boil until they're practically falling apart - they'll be moist & the mashing will be so much easier!) and a little bit about meat (searing it on one side adds a crunchy, tasty layer - on a stove, cast iron pots or high-temp skillets achieve the best steak!).

still, my unfailingly generous husband gave this meal a 4!