Not a success

So - not the most successful of ventures, but then I knew it would be doomed to fail.

Today I tried my dose of red meat. Oh my goodness not a success. When out I quite like fillet steak. It transpires what I actually like is the taste of chargrilled cremated fillet steak and goodness knows what I bought, but it tasted of …. Well meat actually.

It was horrid

There was not a bit of fat on it (well there was but I cut that off)  but whatever I did to it turned it into something you could repair shoes with (well platforms as it was very thick!)

Anyway – the bottom line is that it went in the bin. I forced a bit of it down but it was tough and I really really didn’t like the taste. I remembered why I was a vegetarian!

I couldn’t even give it to the cats as Kira is allergic to beef. Oh yes, she is all mine LOL

Anyway – photo of the day – a waste of money!

 

I have a new page to share today which was super quick and simple. I made if for the weekly challenge on UKS and I actually managed to do a paper page mid week because it really was quick and simple and when I finally stopped work last night there was nothing on TV.

 

The photos are incredibly poor quality and I actually can’t believe I am going to say what I am about to say. They were digital photos printed off in 2001 on a poor quality printer and poor quality photo paper and put into a non acid free album. I was not a scrapper then so once I had printed them off badly and put them in a sticky album that was going to destroy them, I then deleted the files!

I have so few photos of any use from that trip as I just wiped the memory card when I thought I had done with it. And now, that horrifies me.

Anyway, I removed them from the album and I have scraped them for the California album. I remember watching the seals for ages – though I also remember the smell was awful.

The pictures are very grey because, well let’s face it … it was August in San Francisco and it was cold, grey and foggy.

I do remember though, the weather cleared and we wandered through all the little touristy shops on Pier 39. After browsing we decided it was time for dinner but every restaurant – and there were a lot – was primarily a fish and seafood restaurant. Back to the vegetarian again and two people who don’t eat fish at all. It wasn’t looking good.

Anyway, we carried on right to the end of the pier and right at the end was a restaurant called North Beach Pizza and they sold …. Pizza! Yey. We had a table right by the window and the views over the bay were superb. A lovely Irish girl served us (and was very chatty even telling us that she was working illegally and had no green card!!!)  So I really wanted to add the page to the California book.

Today I am thankful for

• Dairylea in the fridge as I had that with my salad instead of the leather.

My 1 minute devotion calendar today has the following

I was about to go camping through northern California with two former college friends and catch up on one another’s lives. Sharise was a high school teacher, soon to be a department chairman, and Anna was an actuary with her own secretary. I was working in a bookstore for little above minimum wage. I liked my work, but it was not exactly a career I was eager to share with my more successful friends.

So I began practicing how to present my job to them. God, help me find a way to . . . well, not lie exactly, but make it sound like I’m doing better than I am. There was a lull in the line at the registers, so I mentally practiced. I’m in retail. Nah, true but too vague. I’m in management. (Well, I did manage the carts of books to be shelved!)

Suddenly, I was interrupted by two customers. Behind the cash register was a very expensive boxed Batman set that attracted a lot of attention from collectors. So when the boy, about ten years old, asked what was in it, I handed it over gingerly and warned, “Be careful. It’s a collector’s item: an action figure and a graphic novel.”

He opened the box and immediately his freckled face fell. “Oh,” he said, “it’s just a doll and a comic book.”

I had to laugh. The child had cut right to the chase. Call it what you will, it was a doll and a comic book. And call me what you will, I was a bookseller. My friends had liked me in college for myself, not for my grades or career plans. And they would like me now, whether I was president of the company or president of nothing!

God, if there is something in my life I’ve been “fancifying,” then for today, teach me not to turn a comic book—or bookseller—into something that it’s not. Let me enjoy and be proud of who I am in Your eyes.

—LINDA NEUKRUG

 

Comments

[Dawn Cheshire]

Sorry to hear you had such an awful time with your steak! My husband and I love steak so I cook it all the time so have it down to a fine art now. We don't eat steak out now as even if you order it Medium it's still overcooked and tough for our liking!

[JaneH]

Sorry about the steak but one thing I know: you HAVE to have a little fat in it or it will be tough as boot leather! I always look for a nicely marbled piece of meat and the fat (marbleing) is what makes it tender (and gives it flavour). Take it from a Texas girl who knows her beef!!! Don't give up.... it's really very good for you.

[Ladkyis]

....and don't ever put salt onto the raw meat because that dehydrates it and makes it tough. I rarely eat red meat now as all meat makes me itch, especially poultry and beef. Just remember that soya contains ALL the amino acids needed to eat healthy. The only vegetable that does contain them all. So you could have a butternut squash burger with green soya beans and home made vegetable gravy... my mouth is watering thinking of it.

[Barb in AK]

So sorry to hear about your steak!
I have never been able to cook a steak that has flavor or tenderness--no matter how much I pay for it or what cut it may be. I have to go out to get a good steak. And go out for one, I did tonight. I went to Outback. That is my second favorite place to get steak (and I'm a very well done, no pink, no juices kind of gal).
My very favorite place to get steak is at a local restaurant (not a chain). So if you ever come to visit me, I'll take you there for the BEST steak ever :-)
You are so sweet to share your daily devotion, so I will share a YouTube video that I saw on another site.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hkNzRjXK3hc&feature=player_embedded