Retro-food: Hamburger Steak with Fried Onions

Ahhh, Valentine's Day!

A simple day that Hallmark and the chocolate companies have turned into a hazardous minefield for lovers, potential lovers, would-be lovers, friends.... And everyone else.

I just spoke to my mother.... She's upset because only one person sent her a Valentine's Day card: a girlfriend of my sister.

She wasn't expecting any from a mysterious someone in her life.... Just the children, grandchildren, nieces and nephews... And all the 'greats' thereof.

What that has to do with Valentine's Day only Hallmark can tell you.

Hallmark: with a card for everyone, from everyone, for every occasion.

To the mother of my friend's sister's husband: Happy Valentine's Day.

To the nephew of my boss's ex-wife's step-daughter's husband's brother-in-law on the occasion of the death of his parakeet: My Sincerest Sympathies.

To the Powers That Be at Hallmark: My eternal gratitude that you have not expanded to France.

Valentine's Day is not a big day chez nous.

I explained it all 2 years ago, here - in a nutshell how does one celebrate the anniversary of a spectacular break-up?

As it turns out, we do married just fine; we failed miserably at living together.

That, of course, is not true of everyone.

We became friends with another couple (back when we lived in Minnesota) who had recently started dating each other after a rather nasty divorce - from each other.

The dating went well, they remembered why they had fallen in love in the first place.

They moved in together and that went well. Whatever problems they had encountered when married seem to have disappeared.

After a few years had gone by, they re-married. It was a small, quiet ceremony and all of their friends were thrilled that they were firmly 'back together'.

They divorced, again, less than 6 months later.... This one nastier than the first.

Had they just lived together they would probably still be together.... Unlike us...

As long as I'm tripping down memory lane, how about some retro food?

I grew up in a very small town with very limited employment opportunities.

My mother, my sister and I all worked at the restaurant at various points in our respective lives.

When one works in a restaurant one eats in said restaurant and one gets bored with the food in said restaurant.

This was a favorite stand-by - not on the official menu.

Consider this restaurant comfort food. (I did say this was a small town restaurant, remember)

Cut the onions into thick slices. Fry them in the butter and oil in a large skillet until well browned and starting to crisp around the edges. Move to the side.

Divide the beef in half and very gently form 2 large patties. Do not press together. To be honest, all I did was cut the packaged beef in half.... Add patties to skillet and fry until done to your liking. We like medium rare, so it was 2 minutes, flip, 1 minute.

Top with cheese and cover briefly to melt.

Top with onions, pour yourself a beer and eat.

Dead easy, not gourmet, not healthy.... Delicious!

We can't always be good.