Fat Tuesday

From the Latin: carne vale = goodbye meat or farewell flesh. From the French: Mardi Gras = fat Tuesday.

Not that I will begin any fasting or penance tomorrow on Ash Wednesday--those Catholic days of my youth are long gone. But I do still like to celebrate historical and liturgical holidays anyway. Check out this article if you want to explore the origins of Mardi Gras  -- http://www.ehow.com/about_6318429_fat-tuesday-history.html

For Don and me, Mardi Gras was steak and chocolate cake. For nutrition sake, I added brocolini sautéed with garlic, a salad and strawberries with dessert.

I'm not sure where I learned this technique, but when I pan-fry steak, my method is to turn it constantly every 20 seconds or so. A nice char begins to develop after a few minutes and I can easily control the cooking until it reaches the rare stage that we think is best.