Dinner Menu: Pan-Fried Steaks, Mushrooms with Thyme, and Garlic Mashed Potatoes

"Any of us would kill a cow, rather than not have beef."

Steak is one of my favorite things on the planet.  After finding this cooking method, I will definitely be making it more often!  This is a great menu for any weekend night.  The dishes complement each other very well.

Payasam

"Seize the moment.  Remember all those women on the Titanic who waved off the dessert cart."

Payasam, or kheer, is a milk-based Indian dessert.  Unlike most Indian sweets, it doesn't have that terrible cloying sugariness.  One of my favorite childhood desserts.

4 cups milk (the more milkfat, the better)
1/4 cup small tapioca pearls
1/3 cup sugar
1 tablespoon unsalted butter
1/3 cup purple or golden raisins
1/3 cup cashews
6 cardamom pods
Pinch saffron

One-Minute Omelettes

"We plan, we toil, we suffer - in the hope of what?  The title deeds of Radio City?  A trip to the moon?  No, no, no, no.  Simply to wake just in time to smell coffee and bacon and eggs."

I used to reserve omelettes for weekend mornings because of the extensive chopping of vegetables and meat.  That changed when I saw a Julia Child video where she made an omelette in a shorter time than it takes me to spell omelette.  The technique takes a little getting used to, but the moist, fluffy eggs are something special.