NEVER JOB HUNT ON AN EMPTY STOMACH

I have been too busy to cook lately.  Finally, after months  (years, actually) of work and school and summer breaks and even more school, I seem to be finished.  Today I decide to go grocery shopping so that maybe, just maybe, my youngest and I can eat something that doesn't arrive in a box marked "pizza."

Out of the many tempting food offerings I manage to bring home, we decide that tonight is a steak tips kind of night.  This is good because I have been craving red meat for days now.  I start marinating the steak. believing it will marinate for about twenty minutes.

This is a great plan until my son gets a phone call.  The phone call is for a job interview tomorrow.  We need resume paper as I used the last of it up printing a cover page for one of my summer portfolios last year.  I turn the steak tips one more time then leave them soaking in the marinade.

We buy two versions of the professional resume paper, ultimately deciding that the 24-pound paper is much more practical and less desperate looking than the 36-pound paper.  We avoid the ivory and go for the white, but I also buy a package of blue stationery because it's on sale.

When we arrive back at the house, the steak tips have been soaking for over an hour.  I make green beans while the meat is broiling, and I put out salad and fresh bread with salted butter.  Dinner is, in a word, delicious.  I'm not entirely certain if this is because the meat really is that tasty, or if it's because I'm craving red meat, or if it's because I made the meal, or if it's because I haven't had a decent home-cooked meal in a while.  In the end, it doesn't matter - not a scrap of meat is left behind between the two of us.

Honestly, though, I thank the resume paper for the meal.  If it hadn't been for that Staples run, the meat wouldn't have tenderized for so long.  So, thank you, 24-pound paper, and best of luck with the resume printed out.  After all, one should never interview on an empty stomach.  That just seems like bad karma to me.