Son of Timatollah

Salad from a bag, with added celery, radish, and green pepper. Add cheese, croutons, and bacon bits or artificial substitute thereof. Toss with Italian dressing.

Baked potatoes. Coat the potatoes in olive oil the rub 'em in margarita salt. Bake at 450 degrees F for 1 hour. My brother Ray taught me that one. They are really good that way.

Pepper steak: Put a couple of tablespoons of peppercorns in folded up wax paper, then get out the hammer and smash 'em up good. Then smush them into each side of some nice steaks -- New York strip is my choice, but rib eyes are good, too. Cook in a medium-hot skillet in several tablespoons of butter with one or two tablespoons of cooking oil added. About four or five minutes a side, depending on thickness and degree of rareness desired. Then deglaze the skillet with 1/4 cup bourbon and a couple of tablespoons of water. Pour over the steaks. This is from the Fannie Farmer Cookbook.

Rolls. Okay, these were Pillsbury frozen sourdough rolls.

Red wine. A Merlot. I know that is about as red as you can get. That is about the extent of my wine knowledge. That, and avoid White Zinfandel.

We will be having cheesecake with strawberries later.

I wanted to have shrimp as an appetizer, but in hindsight that would've been extreme, especially given how full we are pre-dessert.

No occassion.

Life is good.