Grilled Tuscan steak with fried egg and goat cheese, bib basil and mint salad with Parmesan crostini, poached pears in honey, ginger and cinnamon syrup

"Oddly Good" was the response to the steak with egg. I grew up in Venezuela and we love to put fried eggs on everything from spaghetti to arepas so I don't see it quite as "Odd" as my American born SM.  I used grass-fed organic rib eye (2 pounds $35) and ass I opened the parchment wrapping a stream of blood splattered on my white dress and unto the floor (I know I have no business wearing white while cooking). I won't forget to wear an apron after the kitchen and I looked like a CSI crime scene. After being a vegetarian for so long, it still freaks me out to see the blood flowing from the package of food we are supposed to eat. Tofu does not bleed. I cleaned up the mess, prepped the meat with salt, pepper and the Herbs de Provence which seemed to have lavender in it. I have actually been to Provence to see the beautiful lavender fields which only bloom once a year in July. The french bees attacking us while trying to take our splendorous pictures were an unwelcomed surprise.

 I then grilled the meat  for 8 minutes on each side. They were still too rare and had to be grilled a few more minutes. The kids thought they were too chewy and preferred the baked tenderloin (toss).  I am realizing that is is all about the prep. My process of cooking usually goes like this: Pick recipe, buy ingredients, get home, place all ingredients on counter, read first recipe step one and quickly realize I should have washed, squeezed, cut, chopped ingredients ahead of time before getting to the required step. It holds up traffic and makes it very stressful (It's my own version of  Food Network's Chopped where they get they ingredients and have 10 minutes to make a gourmet meal). My 8 year old daughter helped me and I think I would still be cooking if it were not for her help. I also need to get organized and read the steps ahead of time. I am a very, VERY linear thinker and like to go step by step. This cooking thing might be of help in multitasking and planning ahead.  The Bib salad had a lot of different flavors that really worked together (Mint, basil, and fennel which I had never bought before and was not even sure if you used the white bulb or the greens). The dressing was healthy simple olive oil, lemon, salt and pepper and everyone enjoyed it (keep). The Parmesan butter crostini were delicious but a bit too crunchy and next time I would bake for 10 or less minutes (I was worried someone was loosing a tooth that night).  I had never cored a pear or split a vanilla bean to extract the seeds so that was fun as well as the delicious smell of cinnamon sticks and ginger. The pears needed more than 20 minutes to soften but it was time for bed (school night) and the liquid never thickened to syrup but remained a watery mess. The taste of alcohol was too strong for the kids and not strong enough for the adults (school night). I used regular white wine and maybe the Moscato would have worked better but we will never know because it is a "toss".