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I woke up too early this morning, with a bit of a rumbly in my tumbly. Unfortunately (or perhaps fortunately), I have no one to blame but myself.
I also blame the Food Network. I've been watching it too much, and that part is my fault. But everything looks so easy and so tasty that I want to try something different every day. That doesn't work well, though. I should get good at something before moving on to something else. As it is now, I get one mediocre meal after another.
Sometimes I'll just run across a recipe and tell myself that I have to try it. I'm the proud owner of two beginner's cookbooks, which I often read for pleasure (much the same as I enjoy watching the Food Network programs that feature recipes I'll never, ever try). That's how I got it into my head yesterday that I had to have steak in cabernet sauce.
So of course I had to buy both steak and cabernet, but at least there weren't a lot of extraneous ingredients like bay leaves and dill weed to buy. It was pretty basic and simple, which is the way I like it. The fewer steps the better, although I'm getting quite a collection of herbs, which I try to use up once a week before they spoil.
Steak in cabernet sauce. You know what that means, right? Some wine for the steak, and some for the cook. And then some more with dinner, and a little after-dinner glass to top it off. I don't drink often while I'm alone, and I didn't buy the most expensive wine on the shelf (not that I could have tasted the difference). But I maybe should have used better judgment. The trouble was, my judgment was a lot better before I started drinking.
Plus, I overcooked the steak. I thought I was being so careful, leaving it in the skillet for much less time than it said in the recipe. Six minutes per inch of thickness? I wouldn't have had anything left but a brittle piece of charcoal. At least the sauce turned out okay, if a little runny. It didn't reduce quite as much as I expected.
Anyway, I knew I was drinking too much wine, but for this one time I didn't care. Not until I got up this morning dizzy and nauseous. That'll teach me. Until the next time. | 
