Tonight, for dinner, we ate steak so juicy and succulent that it made me gasp aloud in pleasure. And then it made me shout to the heavens, HOW can ANYONE be a vegetarian?!
Of course Jay agreed. There’s NOTHING like a really good steak. It’s divine, utterly.
Which is funny, because overall I’m not much of a meat eater. In fact, it’s been said that I’m rather skeptical of meat. I do NOT touch raw meat (ewww!) and at the slightest hint of fat or gristle run screaming for the hills (by “hills” I mean bowl of cereal as replacement dinner).
HOWEVER, I can justify my position, I assure you.
I believe that there are two categories of meat:
1) awesome and delicious meat, which is perfectly cooked, flavored, and seasoned
2) nasty, awful, no-good, very bad meat
THERE IS NO IN-BETWEEN.
The only thing worse than a so-so steak is mediocre chicken. And the only thing worse than that is bad pork. Gristle, fat, slightly “off” odor and I am OUTTA there.
So I’ve been asked why, given the above, am I not a vegetarian.
Here’s the thing. Every once in a while you get a piece of meat that is sooo good, so drooling out the corner of your mouth, clean your plate and then lick it, wish it was never gone DELICIOUS that it makes all the scary stuff before that worth it.
And no offense to you veggies out there… my sis is one and I respect your choice. In fact, my life would be much simpler… much LESS STRESSFUL… if I just went over to The Green Side.
But then there’s that steak…
***
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xo Jen
June 19, 2007 at 1:43 am
I have to say I agree with you. I don’t understand sometimes why I am not a vegetarian because when I think about meat and where it comes from I want to puke but I do love those good steaks!
June 19, 2007 at 2:37 am
Yum, don’t be fooled by the tofu, we eat plenty of good meat over here too. And yeah, nasty meat is, well, nasty.
June 19, 2007 at 2:59 am
I hated red meat until I got pregnant the first time. I craved red meat. Obviously my body needed the iron. Since then I’ve become a steak freak! I can hardly eat ham though. I can’t stop thinking about the fetal pig I dissected in nursing school.
June 19, 2007 at 3:01 am
I am laughing at this post because I was thinking this same thing last night. I’m not a huge meat eater (mostly just chicken) but the men in our family have recently taken to smoking ribs, brisket, chicken, you name it.
As we bit into my brother-in-law’s unbelievable ribs last night, I mourned for those people we call vegetarians. :-)
June 19, 2007 at 3:55 am
The best steak ever? Ruth’s Christ Steakhouse. Expensive? Yes, but the food is to die for!
June 19, 2007 at 4:26 am
I feel exactly the same! We had mediocre steak tonight, and I just couldn’t eat it. It wasn’t worth it, and the memory of our last succulent yumminess was too fresh.
June 19, 2007 at 5:21 am
Mmmmmmmm….now I’m hungry.
June 19, 2007 at 11:16 am
I agree with you too! Everytime I get a piece of meat that isn’t perfect, I consider never eating meat again. It makes my stomach turn. But like you, a really good piece of meat (esp. a steak or a perfect burger) makes me drool and want more!!
I have noticed that as I get older, the icky meat thing is showing up more and more. Is it b/c meat is getting ickier? Or b/c I’m getting more picky? I dunno.
June 19, 2007 at 1:25 pm
We tried a new steakhouse last weekend. Sullivan’s Steakhouse at 3rd and Colorado. Holy heaven, it was just amazing. Expensive, outrageously so, but we had a gift card. The cajun ribeye that Knight ordered was divine, as were the crab-stuffed shrimp that I inhaled.
*swoon*
June 19, 2007 at 2:51 pm
Mmmm…steak! The BEST slab of beef I’ve ever had was a free-range, dry-aged steak from TallGrass Beef. I thought I’d died and gone to heaven with the first succulent, melt-in-your mouth bite.
I don’t eat red meat very often, maybe 2 times a month, but when that craving starts, there is NO denying it!
June 19, 2007 at 3:36 pm
I love me some dead cow.
June 19, 2007 at 3:46 pm
Aged Ribeye, cooked to perfection with a side of avacado salad…ohhhhhhhhhhhhhh
June 19, 2007 at 4:10 pm
So you never cook meat? if you don’t like the feel of it?
I don’t really care for it myself – but I would die if I didn’t eat meat, because man I hate vegetables ;)
June 19, 2007 at 4:32 pm
HAHAHA. As apparently the only vegetarian here–at least so far–I can say that A. I’m not offended, and B. You don’t understand me, but I sure as heck don’t understand you! Dead cow? Really? That speaks to you? Ummm…. and I’m the weird one? hahaha. Okay!
June 19, 2007 at 5:32 pm
As long as someone doesn’t give a little chat about slaughterhouses, feed, and all that goes into our beef right before my steak I’m fine with it!
June 19, 2007 at 8:49 pm
You forgot another good reason to not be vegetarian: cheeseburgers!
June 19, 2007 at 9:19 pm
My sister is vegan and I absolutely respect that but I’m right there with you. I don’t love all meat but then there is that “steak”.
June 19, 2007 at 10:21 pm
Yup, I’m with you. I culd probably give up a lot, but if I had to go without that perfect steak (or burger!) forever, I couldn’t do it!
June 19, 2007 at 10:24 pm
You replace it with a bowl of cereal? After Kellogg’s caved to the anti commercial nazis? shame!
I lurves a good piece of meat too. Steak too! hehe
June 20, 2007 at 2:57 am
hear ya!
June 20, 2007 at 9:27 pm
You and I are in complete agreement on the whole meat thing….love it when it’s juicy, tender, tasty…..gristle makes me literally gag….blech!
June 23, 2007 at 4:19 am
As soon as you said “but then there’s that steak…” and I immediately thought of The Old Homestead Steak House. If you ever have a chance to go… do it. Don’t even think twice. Their petite filet mignon is to die for. There’s one in NYC… and one in the Borgata in Atlantic City. And I think they just openned one somewhere in Florida. We asked… and they said they were planning a couple more locations. Now I feel the need to schedule a special date night in NY just to have steak!