Steak Diane (Page 427)

• Date: Sunday, January 14, 2007 -- 10pm
• Location: Somerville, MA
• Kitchen: Matt's Apartment
• Fellow Chef: Matty
• Recipe Rating: B-

Matt was in a wedding a few months ago and after the wedding the groom sent Matt some steaks as a thank-you-for-being-in-my-wedding present. The steaks have been in Matt's freezer all this time, so we decided we should start consuming them! We chose this recipe because it was one of the few in The Book that was designed for the particular cut of meat we had. It wasn't a great dish though. Although it is very classical, I'm not a huge fan of this genre of thing: i.e. beef covered in beef sauce. It's a little too much for me. I much prefer a sauce that provides some contrast with the meat (e.g. the chimichurri we had on flank steak not so long ago). Matt agreed that this sauce wasn't at all interesting. It tasted fine, but it didn't add to the dish. We both happily ate our steak, but there are so many amazing steak recipes in The Book that I certainly won't make this one again.

One of my best friends just called to tell me that he received an extremely prestigious fellowship. What was the first thing I did once he told me? I started to cry. I don't know what's wrong with me. I have never been that person -- the person who can't be happy for the good fortune of those she loves. That's not me. But, tonight it was. It's not as though I don't think he deserves the fellowship -- he totally and completely does. And I didn't even apply for it, so there is absolutely no reason for me to react this way. I think I am just so on edge about not knowing where I will be next year that I am behaving totally irrationally. I am happy for him, and I feel really awful about the way I reacted. Oy.

To make myself feel better I am making some ice cream! Ice cream always helps.