Happy birthday, Plei!

Oh, and my aunt, and I didn't mail her card. Oops.

I did, however, mail my father's card AND it got there in time, so that's good.

Had a fabulous weekend, marrying off my best friend. It's annoying that I have to work tomorrow.

Fuck. I have to work tomorrow too. Life sucks.

On the upside, I just had a great steak for dinner -- lovely recipe, Cook's Illustrated. Now, I often have chicken broth, the real stuff, around, but it also called for beef stock -- I usually make chicken broth off roast chicken -- when do people make beef stock? Or do y'all buy? What brand?

That's definitely a meal I'd serve company. But ... sexy company, because the cut of meat cost $13 all by itself. And really, if I cook that for a guy, he'd better put out.

Happy birthday, Plei!

Happy father's day to all of the Buffista Dads! There is some good dad-age going on around here.

I will be in LA in just three days. Muy emocionante.

What did you do with the steak, ita? With an expensive steak, I pretty much just season and grill it. Although it has been recommended to me to stuff some bleu cheese in the middle first.

Pleides! I hope that you've had a happy birthday.

And PBS in Chicago is showing a Miss Marple with Joanna Lumley as Miss Marple's friend who brings her into the investigation and Jack Davenport is supposed to be in it but hasn't shown up yet and Simon Callow is a police detective.

I was surprised because EW seemed to think that Mystery would be showing a Dectective Lynley mystery this week.

What did you do with the steak, ita?

Cracked peppercorns pressed into one side of it, cooked in a skillet pressed down on by a cake pan. The sauce was the nummy bit -- chicken (and theoretically beef, but I had none) stock with cream, brandy, a shallot, butter and lemon juice or champagne vinegar.

Fucking awesome.

Ooh, that sounds yumola. You need to get some bones from your butcher to make the beef stock. Or, you know, just buy some.

What brand is good though? I gave up on buying chicken stocks, and really never gave beef stock any thought past Oxo (which isn't OXO).

I should also get a butcher. The guys at the supermarkets here -- they're all more quasi-butcherish than I'm used to from MI, but as a result, I haven't seen any standalone butchers that aren't ethnically targeted.

But then I might find goat.

Who am I kidding? Too many stores, never going to happen.

I can't say I've ever actually bought beef stock, so I dunno. Or if I did, it was probably College Inn, because that's the chicken broth I buy?

I was surprised because EW seemed to think that Mystery would be showing a Dectective Lynley mystery this week.

We have two local PBS stations, and one is showing Miss Marple, and one is showing Lynley.

I couldn't get into the Marple last week, when it was the other station, and I just can't buy the guy they chose as Lynley. Or the woman who plays Helen. The only one I like is the chick who plays Havers.

The Veronica Mars pilot is being rerun on UPN right now, though. Here, at least.