I think our steak dinner was my husband’s favorite birthday gift this weekend. The iTunes card, shirts and Wii games did not quite live up to the allure of meat on a grill.

Hey, can you blame him?

The grill really got a workout this weekend.

We like them kinda crispy on the outside sometimes.

These babies also got the Tabasco Worcestershire sauce treatment and that stuff is just as good on steaks as it is on burgers.

Needless to say, we needed a cool glass of ice water before bed that night. We had had some spicy fare. But it was all worth it.

Now, it’s back to work and real life. No more birthdayland/long-weekend days.

But . . . there is one more steak left over in the fridge to make the weekend last just a little bit longer. I might have to arm wrestle my husband for it.

Labor Day was a happy day at our house. The burgers were smoking (literally) and we swam and played all day long.

It’s these kinds of days that we live for. We’re relaxed, the kids are having fun and everything can wait until tomorrow.

Food plays a huge part in the happiness of our household. If we’re well fed, we’re a happy bunch.

If not . . . look out.

So, there are always well-laid meal plans on days like Labor Day. We make sure that’s in place and everything else just seems to work itself out.

We had a few friends over, we discussed our alma mater’s humiliating loss this weekend in football and we mostly were thankful to be gainfully employed and living in the greatest country on the planet.

We talked about our friends in Louisiana and the Gulf Coast and how we were glad most everyone left before Gustav got there.

And in their honor, we made our burgers nice and spicy with this . . .

Holy mackerel! That’s Tabasco Worcestershire sauce on the left. Yup, it’s spicy. But we’re all about keeping our Louisiana brethren in business. It’s our little way of helping out.

Then, we took those spicy burgers and put pepperjack cheese on a few of them. Yow!

Now that’s good stuff if you like ‘em hot and spicy. If you don’t, we’ll make ‘em with something a little more tame for you. We aim to please.

We were thoroughly satisfied with our great work and we patted ourselves on the back. And this was just lunch! Tomorrow, I’ll show you what we had for dinner . . .

I hope you’re having a great Labor Day weekend. We are.

(And if you are still reading this from New Orleans — please, please go north. Like now.)

Basically, we are having a festival of meat here with our family to celebrate a little time to kick back and share the foods we love.

Yesterday we had spaghetti and meataballas with my parents and we all left quite full and satisfied.

Meat always makes everything better. And we used this ground beef with the onions already in it. I love it because it eliminates a step – and that makes me happy.

Today, we are grilling burgers for lunch and steaks for dinner. Hello, meat! Welcome to my stomach!

My husband’s birthday was this weekend and we decided to wait to celebrate it tonight when relatives are gone and kids are in bed. Peaceful. And meaty.

We can’t wait. Enjoy your Labor Day and stay safe!