Subsitute Cook

While Sweetie and I were dating, while we were still learning about each other, I might have mentioned that I liked to cook.  Cooking is part of daily life, but there is no law about enjoying it.  So maybe I stretched the truth a bit...I was trying to put my best foot forward.

Alright, truth be told, I don't mind cooking and I do enjoy preparing certain dishes for my Sweetie.  Thank goodness he is not a picky eater.  One day early in our marriage, he suggested I fix cubed steak for supper.  I nodded, but didn't pursue it.  I had never fixed cubed steak.  It reminded me of lunch rooms and thick, greasy gravy.  And what exactly does "cubed" mean?  It sounds like a math problem and math was not my strongest subject. Is it three times removed from steak?  Or, is it pounded three times with that funny kitchen hammer thing?  I don't really know...

He persisted, asking again and again for cubed steak.  So I finally confessed and said I had never fixed it and had no idea how to cook it.  "Fry it," he explained.  "Umm, I don't know how to fry and anyway, it's not very healthy," I said.  He continued to request it.  I continued to resist.

About four years ago when we lived in the mountains, a friend gave us some venison cubed steak.  It sat in our freezer for awhile until Sweetie finally offered to fix supper.  I agreed.  He would do all the work, what ever it involved.  I would watch and learn.  I was skeptical.  Sweetie didn't really know his way around the kitchen, just straight through it. From the chair in den to the fridge, then back.  A bee-line.

Sweetie did an excellent job.  I really liked it and was pleasantly surprised, but I still didn't add it to the grocery list.  A few months ago, one our cousins here at the lake gave us a package of beef cubed steak from a great butcher shop in Baldwin County.  Sweetie offered to prepare it.  I let him and again, it was delicious! 

Cousin Edward gave us another package of meat the other day.  Isn't he just the nicest second cousin ever?  Cubed steak.  Yummy.  Since Friday is one of my work days, Sweetie offered to fix supper last night.

 Sweetie in our tiny kitchen, frying the cubed steaks. 

Presley, sitting on the edge of the kitchen, wondering what the hell he is doing in there.  You can't see me, but I'm sitting in the arm chair with my glass of wine, watching and learning.

Oh, by the way, it was really delicious with whole grain rice, reduced fat gravy, and steamed green beans!