One Perfect Burger, One Slightly Past Well-done

She’ll probably say her burger is overdone.

She’ll probably be right.  She prefers a burger well-done, and I worked so hard to get it well-done (and still leave mine medium rare) that the smoke detector complained.

The corn was perfect–microwaved in their husks for 4 minutes an ear, the husk and silk slides right off, as she taught me from a cooking demo at the market. Each ear perched on a crouton of toasted whole-wheat bread, perfect for applying butter to the kernels. The green beans were steamed and then tossed into the cast iron skillet to pick up a little extra flavor from the juices left behind by the burgers.  The tomatoes came from the CSA; they just need slicing, though a little salt and pepper is not gilding the lily. The sweet potato fries were a bit of a cheat; I ran to the market to pick up the ground chuck and a sweet potato, and realized that the market’s outdoor grill was still open, so I picked up a serving of their really good sweet potato fries to share.

It’s a darn fine burger: 80-20 chuck (the store’s “naked” variety, no antibiotics), formed into a loose patty with a little chopped pepperoni pressed inside. Maybe that extra moisture will keep it from going past well-done into something else.

She slept through dinner, is what it comes down to.

I can’t blame her.  She was up at 4 AM, painting and waiting for the movers. (I had worked late last night to get things ready here, then slept in ’til almost 7.)  After everything was delivered to its proper place, she took a well-earned nap.  But the nap seems to be extending, and that does not bode well for a dinner plate that is staying warm in the oven.

Here’s a “before” picture, in case things don’t look so good when she gets around to dinner.