My best friend lost her dog a year ago. Charity and Buckley had an extra special connection that was obvious to anyone that met them.  Buckley was a gorgeous greyhound. he was gigantic, even by greyhound standards; he was white with a brindle patch over one eye, and soft ticking throughout his coat.  And eyes that would melt even any non-dog lover's heart.

This should be illegal. Or at least frowned upon. Not that it would stop me.  ; )   A few months ago, I made Julia Child's Daube de boeuf with a borderlaise sauce; beef braised in red wine and stock with carrots, leeks, bacon, and garlic, and finished with a red wine reduction, from scratch veal demi-glace, and butter; I didn't eat it all, and so I froze a few servings of it for future use.  Only I forget to go back to my freezer for leftovers, because I like making new things, and so the beef in borderlaise kept getting pushed around, but never taken out.

I stopped at the exotic meats butcher up the street recently, specifically for duck legs, but I wanted to also pick up some free-range grass fed beef. (I knew I should have never eaten the grass fed burger at the food truck gathering a few months ago, I think I am now spoiled about the quality of my food!!) Actually, my intent isn't just on grass fed, it's also about hormone and antibiotic free, but mostly about the free-range part. While I won't stop eating meat, I do believe that I should pursue more humanely raised food sources as long as I have the means.

I love waffles. I rarely eat them, mostly because I have reactive hypoglycemia, which means that roughly three hours after eating waffles with sugary maple syrup, I'll have a terrible blood sugar crash that leaves me shaky, dizzy, headachey, tired, and insanely hungry again. Apparently, I am one of those lucky people who produce too much insulin in response to eating sugars and high-glycemic index foods, even though I have normal blood sugar levels otherwise.

My last sous vide flank steak cooked for 24 hours, and didn't quite hit that tenderness that is a hallmark of sous viding. This time, I left it in for an extra day, and pulled it out after a full 48 hours at 134 degrees. The result?