I sure do. Thanks.

I guess I need to tell Mr. Kipper I need to make some.

Mr. Kipper informed me that before I make halupki, I must make sv�čkov� for him, so it may be a few weeks.

Friend rice. I hated it. My brother loved it so I tried to palm it off to him.

Omg no wonder the Czechs are...amply sized. Steak in cream?

Send me some!

Every Sunday was "steak day" after church. I use the word steak loosely, as it started out that way at the store but by the time the meat survived the grill (or broiler in winter) it was beef jerky. Mom and dad both dislike any pink in their steak and mom's solution was to just cook it to death. The stuff was always so chewy that I'm pretty sure I wore out my jaw muscles trying to get it down.

For years growing up, I couldn't understand why people spoke of "steak dinner" as something desirable or why a whole restaurant would be dedicated as a "steakhouse". I thought steak was a terrible, horrible, cheap piece of meat that people ate because they couldn't afford better. Around age 12 I saw something on a cooking show about cooking steak to levels of done. I was intrigued! We ate at a restaurant not long after that and I asked for a steak cooked "medium-rare". Wow! It was actually juicy and delicious! What an epiphany!

From then on I insisted on monitoring my own piece of steak to make sure it was cooked properly.

Otherwise mom is a good cook...to this day she and dad still insist on over-well-done steak, though.

LOL! Yes, steak in cream, with dumplings, with cream! Served with whipped cream on the side.

I figured out long ago that most people that like their steaks well done don't actually like steak. They are just using it as a sauce delivery method. Like one of my relatives that pours at least 1/2 a bottle of A-1 over her well done steak - and doesn't see the point in ordering anything but the cheapest cut of meat.

At church if we have a cookout, I look to see who is grilling. If it's one particular person, he doesn't think a burger is done until it is brown all the way through with absolutely no juices left in it.

My grandmother cooked all meats until they were crisp. She did make the best gravy!

I will caution that some must, for health reasons, eat well-done burgers and meats.

Oh I know, that's why I said most. It's the ones that do it by choice that usually don't really like steak.

I hadn't thought of that but it does kinda make sense now that you mention it. My parents like to load up on lots of A-1. What kills me is, mom actually buys good cuts of meat, too - it's borderline criminal to ruin nice cuts like that!

The preperation of my Mom's infamous Christmas Lamb (any rawer and it would still be alive) has begun

That's rare (pun intended). I like it medium, but rarely ever even get any pink in it unless I make it at home. Assume you're speaking of leg roast...

While it's a common assertion, in my experience one can have a well-done steak or burger which is still juicy and tastes good; many cooks who prefer rarer haven't bothered to learn to do it (or select cuts for it) but it is absolutely possible.

Neither one should be dry (or, to my taste, "tough" although that is much more subjective than dry and some peoples "tender" is other people's "mushy".)

That said, my mother was NOT one of those people who could cook meat over direct heat and produce good results -- her pot roast and similar things were excellent, but her steaks and pork chops were on a good day merely bad and on a bad days downright cremated. And at that, she tended to pick thinner cuts that ought to be easier to do well done properly.

With a tip to Christmas. Mrs Milepig's mother would always "start the stuffed turkey" the night before for an hour or so. Oven to the fridge, and then "finish it off" the next day. The middle, where the stuffing was, never got fully cooked and each year the entire family was laid low. They just all assumed they'd over eaten. To this day I can't face stuffing.