No News is....

....just me being lazy. :)

So a quick update and keeping with the laziness theme I will be doing bullet points.

• We celebrated Frodo's 16th birthday earlier this month. Can't believe my baby boy is 16!
  
• A few days later we found out my mom has bladder cancer. Surgery went well and they seem to have gotten it all. She is doing fine right now.
• I  took a trip to Florida with TK. He had a conference so I tagged along for the free hotel (and basically free airfare as I used my voucher from my cancelled trip this summer) and hung out by myself at Disney World. Best vacation ever and very much needed!
• I started back to school!  I am taking World Literature and Government. I have an associates degree in nursing and am a licensed RN, but would like my BSN or some other bachelors degree eventually so I am working on my pre-reqs for that.
• In between all of that I am working hard on my soap business trying to promote it and get more customers. I'm afraid I might have to start kidnapping people and forcing them to stop by my store. :) (Shameless plug)
• And drum roll....I think I am about to have a period...all on my own. My breasts have been sore for several days. This is monumental. I haven't had a real, non drug-induced, non loss-induced period since 2011 I believe. I keep touching my boobs to make sure it's real. Not my boobs...those are definitely real...my pain.
  

That's it for now! Hope you are all well...I've not been so good at reading blogs lately either..yup...laziness. :)

Love...

Steaks and Games

We rang in the new year at home. We three. TK and I cooked dinner together. Steak. YUM!

Growing up I hated steak. Ugh! Seriously hated. Loved hamburgers and other meats, but steak was just nasty. What I actually found, once I moved to Sweden, is that I didn't hate steak itself...I hated "well done" steak. A nice medium rare steak with a bit (okay a lot!) of Bearnaise sauce and "pommes" as the Swedes like it, became my favorite dish! It was on my short list of things I missed the most about Sweden. Steak I could get here, but steak just wasn't the same without and beloved Bearnaise.

The Quest began. The dried mix was ok, but didn't have that wonderful buttery tang to it. So a few years ago, TK, who cooks nothing more than a microwaveable dinner or pasta took it upon himself to learn how to make Bearnaise sauce from scratch. OH HEAVEN!!  We tried steaks a couple of times but just couldn't get that same yummy restaurant taste, but on New Year's Eve I went on a research trip around the web. That night I achieved the perfect restaurant steak.

I wish I had  taken a photo without the sauce to show the awesome sear I got on this delicious steak.  But let me assure you it was orgasmically good as was the sauce! Ah! What a great way to say goodbye to 2012.

At midnight we toasted with champagne and went to bed a bit later.

The first is always Game Day in my family. Not bowl games though, but rather board games. We gather at my moms and play, laugh and eat the day away.  Literally. We were there from 1pm until almost midnight!

My mom laughing so hard she had to hide her face.  

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My tips for the perfect pan fried filet:

• The most important tip is room temperature steaks.  If they are cold, the cook slower and end up tougher. Never pull a steak straight from the fridge and slap in the pan or on the grill. 
• I seasoned mine with sea salt and cracked black pepper
• Start with a searing hot sillet. Cast Iron is preferred, but I used a regular skillet and it was fine.
• Add a couple of tablespoons of oil. 
• Put the steak in and leave it alone for 2.5 to 3 minutes. Don't touch it! 
• Turn steak and leave it alone for another couple of minutes.
• During the last minute, throw in a couple of tablespoons of unsalted butter and baste while the steak continues to cook.
• If you like your steak medium rare as I do, you are done with cooking. Take steak out and wrap it to let it rest for at least 10 minutes. Very Important step! Resting redistributes juices making a more tender steak.
• If you like it more done, you can finish it in a hot oven for a couple of minutes. 

This is not an exact science so you may have to play around with the times and temps, but it will give you and excellent seared on your steak.