Once upon a steak dinner

So a few times throughout each day, either Shulamith or I will turn to the other and say, "Remember that steak dinner?" And we both pause. We pause just for a second, make eye contact, and sigh, "Oh yes!"

Back story, it's not wise for pregnant women to eat under-cooked meat (or cold lunch meat or sushi) because pregnant women are 20 times more likely than the rest of us to develop Listeria, a disease that is very bad for unborn babies and can lead to miscarriage, preterm birth, and a host of other undesirable outcomes. Now Shulamith wouldn't touch sushi with a 10-foot pole, but she really loves cold meat sandwiches and even more, medium-rare steak.

So every pregnancy, she yearns for these two things; what we can't have, we always want most! After every delivery, in addition to other delicious food, I always bring her a steak dinner. And it's always good, and she's always grateful, but with her first two babies, it was never perfect. One time, though I ordered it medium rare, they cooked the steak until it was nearly well done, defeating the entire purpose of eating it (well-done steak pretty much tastes like leather). The other time I think we had eaten a late lunch and weren't hungry enough to fully enjoy the meal.

But this time. Oh. My. Goodness.

Our last night in the hospital, we ate an early lunch and refrained from eating much else all afternoon. At about 9:00 p.m., after the rush of the day was behind us, I went out to Longhorn and ordered us each a Flo's fillet. Let me just say here that I very rarely (pun intended) get the fillet. My dad is now frowning down from heaven because he definitely taught me better. "Terrianne: Always get the fillet!" But at Longhorn, the fillet costs $10 more than a sirloin steak of the same size, and the sirloins are very, very good., so I usually get that (sorry, Dad.)

This time. though, we splurged and got the fillet. It was pretty much life changing. I don't know what more to say about it than that, but I struggle to remember a better meal. Why is that, though?  Could it be because

•  we waited until so late to eat that we were both ravenous?
•  we were both walking zombies by that point, after two nights of little Theodore doing his job as a newborn so perfectly and refusing to sleep much at all?
•  we were in a hospital room, where the food delivered three times a day is so disgusting I don't think even Gerald would eat it?
•  the smashed potatoes and fries (Shulamith) and Caesar salad (me) were the perfect sides to complement a perfect steak?
•  we somehow managed to choose a window of time in which we were left in peace, without doctors, or nurses, or vitals checks, or medication, or shift changes, or malfunctioning monitors, or those poor souls who deliver that disgusting food?

I don't know. I don't have an answer, and I don't need one. For now, the memory of this steak dinner is enough. It was special for both of us, Shulamith, because it was her first steak in nine months, and me because the following day we left the hospital, and I went back on my eating regimen with no breaks for the next five weeks.

Once upon a steak dinner....it was epic.