. . . well, Dena.

It doesn’t have quite the same ring to it, but it’s reality.

I saw the movie Julie and Julia and I found myself really, really hungry the whole way through it. The cooking and the recipes and the talking about food nearly put me over the edge.

My tub o’ popcorn just wasn’t doing it.

So I decided I’m going to be more adventurous and work my way through a rockin’ cookbook I have — Julie and Julia-style.

That’s the cookbook. Inside are gems like Steak Teriyaki, “Poor Man” Steak, Fuzzy Navel Steak, Sunday Night Steak, plus pork, seafood and chicken recipes, too. And sides. Lots of sides.

I HAVE to experiment with these, if not just for the names.

Now, I’m a real person with kids, a husband and a job and stuff.  So . . . I don’t see myself working my way through the cookbook every night for a year like Julie did.

God bless her. I don’t have the stamina.

BUT, I’ll be cooking a bunch of these and I’ll share my photos and thoughts with you. Hint: the “Fuzzy Navel” one involves orange juice.

Cool!

Have YOU ever done what Julie in the movie did? How did you survive it? And are you better for it?

Let me know — and happy cooking!

These pork ribs are welcome on my table any day.

They’re St. Louis-style ribs which means they’re pork and they aren’t slathered with BBQ sauce – yet. We took care of that ourselves after we cooked them.

They came to us (we had them delivered) cryo-vac sealed and packed in dry ice. I put them in the refrigerator to thaw overnight and then cooked them the next day. I took them out of the packaging, wrapped them up in foil and placed them in the oven on about 335 degrees F for a little over an hour.

They were already marinated in a mix of spices and the smell of those ribs in the oven was almost too much! My husband and I kept peeking our heads in there to get a bigger whiff.

These puppies were divine. Tender, flavorful and so, so easy.

This was as easy as making a frozen pizza. But I got much bigger props than I do for my $1.89 pepperoni special.

I got these ribs from my fave — KC Steaks. The quality is always unbeatable and they do all the hard work for me.

Seriously, that’s the kind of partner I need in my life.

Sometimes I’m feeling saucy and I want to experiment with flavors and sauces and techniques. I want to try a new recipe or perfect an old one.

Other times, I just want a great steak, but I don’t want to spend a whole lotta time on it.

For those times, I like a preseasoned steak. You know, where someone has done all the heavy lifting for me.

I just put it over a flame and suddenly I’m a brilliant chef!

This baby is an already seasoned garlic and herb ribeye. I can totally see the flavor spilling out on top of it.

Okay, I’m hungry.

I’m thinking this weekend might be a preseasoned weekend. How about you???

Photo courtesy of KansasCitySteaks.com.