Burger Burger STEAK

Could the weather get any more perfect?  Maybe, but 67 degree nights and 85 degrees days are pretty much in the perfect range for me.  Too bad I'm not enjoying it outside.  The bang bang nail guns and the mariachis have me holed up on my comfy couch.  Thank goodness they do not work on weekends.

It happens that I'm exhausted this morning.  It was a late night, followed by a puppy dog that just would not go to sleep.  He woke me up time and time again, tapping me on my shoulder.  Dogs should talk.  I can read a horses mind easily, but staring into the eyes of a puppy elicits nothing.  

After a horrible night of no sleep, and feeling awful since I ran two miles yesterday ... literally ran most of it this time ... I'm in SORE mode, and I'm grouchy.  Come to find out this morning at 3:30, he was just thirsty.  He went straight to his bowl and pawed it LOUDLY.  Sure enough, it was empty.  I filled it, he drank for five minutes, then went to sleep and now here I sit wide awake.  

I'm happy to report that no lungs were hurt in the last running endeavor .... in fact, my breathing was great ... it was my legs that gave out this time.  That means I'm on the up and up.  Hitting the stairs to the second floor office of the Elks building is a piece of cake now!!

So let's get on to the fact that my diet died before it even got started.  RATS!!  I forgot I had ordered Hello Fresh.  This is the SHOULD BE picture of lunch.  A sweet chili Thai burger with sweet potato fries.  I skipped the fries because they didn't turn out good last time, and after all, I'm on a diet.  

Who knew that mayo, green onions, soy sauce, ginger and garlic would make a good burger spread.  Certainly not me ... nor would I ever think to put sweet chili sauce on a burger.  The burger is good lean meat (I made three patties out of a package for two) with a little soy, ginger and garlic.  Toast the buns, plop on the sauce, the burger, some sweet chili sauce and smother it in crispy onions.  NOT the ones that were just recalled.  

This was AMAZING in my book.  Yes, almost better than Habit Burger!!  I will definitely try this one again.

Here's my tip of the day.  It's hard to cook for just one.  You end up with all these leftovers which make their way into the freezer, then get tossed six months later.  Here's the solution.  I took that huge jar of creamy spaghetti sauce, split it up into this rubber container and froze it.  Then I wrapped it in Saran Wrap and ziplok bags before putting it back in the freezer.  

Need a quick meal for one or two?  Cook some pasta and drop one in the pot.  Now I won't be throwing away all that food or half bottles of sauce.

Yeah, I'm on a diet and everything was about food ... the entire day!!  I did spend some time staring at my wall of roses.  They are now twice this size.  I'm considering tearing them all out and planting something else.  What, I don't know.  Anyone have an idea for a mostly maintenance free thing to plant?  There are so many of these that neither the gardener nor I can keep up.

I did think about letting them grow wild and make a wall across the entire back yard, but maintenance free calls my name.  These have to be trimmed up at least twice a year.

In no time it was THAT time again.  Back to the lodge for Cattleman's night.  I definitely had second thoughts about this one since there was to be NO meeting afterward.  It's hard to stay home on a night when you can wear Levis!!  AND we always have the best steak on Cattleman's night.  Considering I'm a "cattleman", I had to go.

I arrived to find the raffle tables full of goodies, but this one caught my attention ... and everyone else's too.  We sold over $2,500 dollars worth of tickets, most of them hoping to win the kids bike.  Grandparents are like that!!

I helped sell dinner tickets, which ended up costing me $40.  It's okay, it's a donation, and it was my fault the darn charge card machine (like the mini infernal machine) voided a sale after the customer was gone.  It's only money, right?  

This time I got smart ... I asked my friend to grab a plate for me while I stood in line and collected tickets, because some times they run out of food.  Five folks tried to get through with no ticket.  Three of them found it, I made two go buy them.  The old "don't you TRUST me?" thing just doesn't work for me, even if you have been a member for 24 years.  Sorry, not sorry.  

Well I'm sorry I didn't get a good picture of the best ribeye steak served this year at the Elks Lodge.  I could tell the second I saw it that it was PRIME beef.  You could almost cut it with your fork.  I already ate half of it ... so much for the diet ... and still brought home this huge piece.  

And so ended another nice day.  I'm sure I gained two pounds.  It was a false start into the diet world. Maybe today will bring better results.  Maybe ... okay, probably not, but I'm going to try.