I was in Target this week and THEY HAVE HOLIDAY STUFF OUT ALREADY.

Christmas. Hanukkah. You name it. It’s out.

And I’m still getting over the fact that it’s not summer anymore. I’m slow.

So in honor of the tradition of starting the holiday season WAY too early, I give you these . . .

They’re earrings! And they’re so versatile.

Truly the perfect gift this holiday season.

Your favorite aunt can wear these BBQ T-bone danglers to work, to the movies, to a Bar Mitzvah, anywhere!

But get ’em now before they’re all snapped up!

I know I’ll be wearing them to my husband’s office holiday party. Wait, I want him to keep his job . . .

. . .  on second thought, never mind.

Photo courtesy of storesense.com.

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!