Morphine "Bought Myself A Steak"

For the last month or so, my Mother-In-Law has been ever-so-kind enough to pick up my two kids from their pre-school/daycare on Thursdays, and keep them for an overnight.

It's hugely fun for the kids, as they are often joined by other cousins, uncles and members of our extended/modern family.

And it's been lovely for my wife and I, because it has provided a little bit of space.  For one night a week, we're not rushing home to get dinner on the table.  Or fighting the long set of skirmishes that must be waged in the battle of "It's Time For Bed."  Or plowing through all that to remember there is still housework or work-work to get through before bed.

Last night, I reealllly got a taste of space, when my wife spent the night visiting her cousin.

I was home alone.

So what did I do?  I bought myself a steak.

My wife loves steak.  And over the course of our marriage (with some key instruction from Alton Brown), she has learned how to make a steak better than any restaurant I've ever been in.

But she hates London Broil.

Too tough, she says.

But the flavor, I say.

I never win that argument.

But last night, I didn't have to argue.  Not with my son about why he can't wear his Monkey pajamas, since they are inside the washing machine.  Not with my daughter about how the cat will not eat corn, so please stop trying to take it off your plate and throw it under the table.  And not with my wife about the pros and cons of London Broil.  (Not even with Mark Sandman---I don't like mushrooms on my steak)

I bought myself a steak and ate it in silence.

And that's as good as it gets sometimes.

Reverend Horton Heat "Eat Steak"

There's a song for every moment, an old friend of mine used to say. Which comes in handy around present-giving time.

Once, a couple of years ago, left to my own devices to find a birthday present for my brother-in-law, I just bought him a really nice, thick steak.

When I tried to repeat the feat at Christmas, my wife was horrified. "You can't just wrap up raw beef and put it under the tree. That's gross!"

So we got him something else. What it was, I can't even remember. What I DO remember is that after opening it, he said, "Aw, I thought it might be steak!"

Every birthday and holiday, my wife and I would go round and round. I would say, I really think he wants steak, and she would say, It is disgusting to give someone unrefrigerated meat.

We arrived at a compromise this Christmas, when we ordered steaks online, to be delivered to his home after the holiday. But that left the dilemma of what to actually GIVE to him on Christmas. Because it's boring to just hand over nothing and say "You're meat's in the mail!"

So I made a Steak Compilation CD.

Of course, it leads off with the Reverend song, the most direct Steak song I could find. But there are a few other good meat songs, from Primus and Jimmy Buffett and such. And for extra flavor, I threw in the audio from the good Wendy's and Outback commercials.

Because there is a song for every occasion, including meat-giving for Christmas.


Here are a few of the tracks I included in the steak compilation.