When you’re at the beach you don’t realize you’re hungry until you’ve stripped off your wet, sandy bathing suit, taken a shower and then sat down.

And then by that time, it’s too late . . . you’re RAVENOUS.

For us, the grumpies start to appear and nobody’s happy until they’ve eaten.

That’s why we like to cook in our little condo. I usually leave the beach early to get the meal rolling and then head off the “grumpies” before they appear.

See how that works?

This gorgeous photo is a steakburger meal we prepared one night. But it’s not just ANY steakburger. It’s got Vidalia (sweet) onions in the beef. And boy do they flavor that beef!

Some of us like to make them into cheese steakburgers (like the one above), but that night I preferred to make mine an onion steakburger with no bun marinaded in Teriyaki sauce. I’m crazy about the stuff. Those yummy onions mixed with the marinade brought out the amazing flavor of the burger. I just plain didn’t need a bun.

Everybody was happy because they got to make theirs however they wanted it.

And those grumpies I mentioned? They stayed far away that night. Well played, if I do say so myself.

So, we’re back in the real world after a wonderful visit to Florida’s Gulf coast. It was well worth all of the wondering and worrying and ultimately the decision to keep our plans.

The area was beautiful and people seemed genuinely happy to have us there. That’s always nice, right? To have people happy you’re there?

We always like to cook in our little rental when we travel there because we like what we like and — well — we’re kind of picky.

As I’ve done for the past few years, I had an order of some of my faves sent to me there and let me tell you we were not disappointed.

Isn’t it beautiful?

The first meal we cooked was an all-beef franks extravaganza. Can’t go wrong with that, I say.

We were like Burger King — you could totally have it your way. Plain, ketchup, mustard, spicy mustard, relish, cheese . . . anything.

We cooked these babies on our trusty George Foreman grills indoors. The place smelled so good!

Cooking for a bunch of hungry vacationers sort of makes you well-liked. And I liked earning my place at the top of the food chain (so to speak) every night. It makes everyone happy when Mama’s happy.

More scrumptious meals from our week later!

Would ya look at that gorgeous egg on top of that dreamy, juicy steak?

Amelia Levin over at the LA Times gives us the head’s up on some “unusual” cuts of steak you could try this 4th of July.

Now, you love steak, so you may be familiar with most of these already. Us aficianados usually are in the know. But there may be one or two you don’t know much about.

So, check out her list here.

And let me know if you’ve found a new favorite!

Photo courtesy of Bill Hogan/LA Times.