A simple classic

Being on break is nice albeit a wee bit boring. Rick laughs at the fact that I get bored so easily which is even more frequent since I quit smoking. Luckily, it gives me more time and more opportunties to spend evenings with Rick. I think it adds to the love-hate relationship with being in school. I miss the days (and nights) of last summer when things like tests and clinicals the next morning didn't stand in the way of our spending time together and not to mention how annoyingly stressed out I'm sure that I am during certain times of the semester. I love him even more for putting up with me.

All that being said, this week Food Lion had t-bone steaks on sale at a ridiculously good price. Rick's mom had given him this wonderful (but kinda stinky) dry rub for steaks a while back, and we were more than happy to break it out twice this week for nights on the grill. It is a mixture of two different types of rubs, and when I find out the brands, I will edit and add them here so everyone can enjoy it, too!!!

Earlier, I confessed my fear of gas grills, and this week, that fear became a reality. Nope, the grill didn't blow up on us, but a poof of flame did leave Rick's right arm with quite a few less arm hairs. I'm not sure what happened with it, but he survived, and I have, once again, become a little timid around the grill.

To go with the steaks, I decided to go with the perfect pairing...potatoes. I opted to do mashed potatoes both nights. Usually when I make mashed potatoes, I do them the way that my Grandmother Elliott did and add onions to them, top them with cheddar cheese, and then bake them. We call them Nanny's Mashed Potatoes. This week, however, I didn't feel like dealing with the onions so I went for traditional mashed potatoes. The key to making perfectly fluffy mashed potatoes is to use a hand-held mixer. I used to torture myself and use a potato masher, but it never gave me the consistency that I craved. I do, however, start out the the masher before using the mixer. I just think that it's easier to mix with the mixer that way. Another thing that I did this week was to add heavy cream....evil, I know! I had bought it to make tomato basil crab bisque, and I figured that I wouldn't miss a couple of tablespoons. I also added a little bit of low fat milk as well so that I wouldn't use as much of the heavy cream. They turned out wonderfully!! I apologize for not having pictures again, but trust me, it was great!!!