So we went to a lovely restaurant to celebrate my mom’s birthday this weekend (Hi, Mom!). I, of course, ordered a steak — ribeye with a garlic mushroom sauce to be exact.

And this time, instead of my safe bet, the baked potato, I went for the steak fries. Pommes frites, as the French call them.

Or are they just French fries?

I must admit, I felt a bit uncouth ordering them. I mean, this is what I eat when I’m forced to spend an afternoon at McDonald’s. Don’t get me wrong, I LOVE those fries, but this was a nice, fancy meal. Should I have ordered fries?

They were well presented on a plate with a black folded napkin and sprinkled with parsley on top. And the flavor was out of this world.

But I just felt kind of cheesy. Is it just me?

Now, I’ve eaten at some lovely restaurants in France and they have these same scrumptious potatoes there. Hence, the name French fries. Yeah, I knew that. But have we fast-foodized them so much so that I feel goofy ordering them in the kind of restaurant where they got their start? Even if I ordered them with a ribeye?

See that photo above? It came from a Pommes Frites fan page on Facebook. Yes, there’s a Facebook page dedicated to these babies.

It has over 58,000 fans. Do they seem embarassed?

Um, no. What do you think??

58,000 fans (and counting) can’t be wrong . . . right?

Photo courtesy of Facebook.com/pages/Pommes-Frites.

I was craving meatloaf.

I know, it sounds weird, maybe kind of twisted. And it’s SOOOO suburbia.

But I wanted meatloaf.

It’s been really cool outside here and meatloaf is the perfect warm-you-up dinner.

And my husband couldn’t agree more. Heck, he benefits when I have beef cravings.

I think I had been dreaming about it — which is why I made this picture look kind of dreamy around the edges. Like the meatloaf is floating on a cloud.

Who wouldn’t want to see meatloaf floating on a cloud?

All right, I saw some hands. If you raised your hand, you’re dismissed. The rest of us will discuss how I make my meatloaf.

I use ground beef with onions already in it. It’s scrumptious. Then, add a cup of Italian breadcrumbs, oregano, salt and pepper to taste. Mix in an egg to to help it form the loaf.

Lay bacon strips over the top of the loaf and bake at 350 degrees F for just under an hour.

Oh, the smell is heavenly. The onions, the bacon, the oregano. You can smell it all. FOR AN HOUR.

It’s almost torture.

But then, just when you think you can’t stand it any longer — it’s ready to eat.

It was a dreamy evening scarfing down dreamy meatloaf with my dreamy husband. It was almost like an episode of Mad Men, only without all the yucky stuff on Mad Men.

Hooray for meatloaf!

. . . well, Dena.

It doesn’t have quite the same ring to it, but it’s reality.

I saw the movie Julie and Julia and I found myself really, really hungry the whole way through it. The cooking and the recipes and the talking about food nearly put me over the edge.

My tub o’ popcorn just wasn’t doing it.

So I decided I’m going to be more adventurous and work my way through a rockin’ cookbook I have — Julie and Julia-style.

That’s the cookbook. Inside are gems like Steak Teriyaki, “Poor Man” Steak, Fuzzy Navel Steak, Sunday Night Steak, plus pork, seafood and chicken recipes, too. And sides. Lots of sides.

I HAVE to experiment with these, if not just for the names.

Now, I’m a real person with kids, a husband and a job and stuff.  So . . . I don’t see myself working my way through the cookbook every night for a year like Julie did.

God bless her. I don’t have the stamina.

BUT, I’ll be cooking a bunch of these and I’ll share my photos and thoughts with you. Hint: the “Fuzzy Navel” one involves orange juice.

Cool!

Have YOU ever done what Julie in the movie did? How did you survive it? And are you better for it?

Let me know — and happy cooking!