Dinner with Family

A good end to a tough day is a great meal. An even better end is a great meal prepared by someone else - which is exactly how my day ended. After dealing with multiple, expensive car repairs, I was not in the mood to cook anything beyond a t.v. dinner. Luckily, we were invited to the in-laws' house for a home cooked meal.

Tonight's treat began with beef tri-tip roasted slowly on the grill. My father-in-law, griller extraordinaire, turned on one side of the grill, put the three pound tenderized roast on the other side of the grill and closed the lid to let it cook. After an hour the meat that came out was so tender that it required only a butter knife to cut, so juicy that it needed no sauce whatsoever, and so perfectly seasoned that I wouldn't even consider breathing a speck of salt or pepper across it. I've never had a piece of beef like this before. (Seriously, tonight I was glad I'm not eating vegetarian.)

To accompany this beautiful main course, we had grilled corn on the cob (one of my summertime favorites) and scalloped potatoes. Surprisingly, the potatoes came from a box, but I couldn't tell! My mother-in-law said the secret to making this Betty Crocker side dish is to add real butter (rather than margarine) and use the stove-top preparation method, but turn the heat down and cook the potatoes slowly for much longer than the box says. If I had known boxed potatoes could taste this way, I would have made them years ago. The spuds were tender, the sauce was thick and rich. They went quite well with the juicy beef.

Chocolate pudding topped off the whole meal. While simple, the richness of dark pudding brought the event to a satisfying close. Yes, the pudding was fat-free, sugar-free instant, but in recent years instant pudding has come a long way. To get the most out of that little box and a carton of milk, it is best to whip the pudding with an electric mixer for quite a while. This ensures that no small granules remain to give it a grainy texture. Of course, a healthy dose of whipped cream on top helps too. (The guys don't just put a small, rounded dollop. They use the spray can to create a spiral that covers the entire surface of the pudding, thus defeating the fat-free, sugar-free, guilt-free attributes of the dessert.)

The evening culminated in a cup of vanilla decaf and a round of Euchre (which my in-laws won by a landslide). When it was time to go we left full, relaxed, and thoroughly satisfied - better than we'd felt all day.