Filet Mignon

August 13: National Filet Mignon Day

Happy “month-aversary” to Highlander and Islander! We were married on July 13, 1996, so every 13th of the month since then, we have commemorated our “I do” date in some way. With a high national divorce rate, unexpected death or other misfortunes in life, reaching a monthly milestone for a wedding anniversary is a blessing!

We encourage the engaged couples whom we sponsor at our church to create a tradition and take time out of their busy schedules to FOCCUS and REFOCCUS on each other by observing month-aversaries. Celebrations can range from simple to sophisticated—anything that reminds them often of their vows to each other (for ideas, we recommend a book we got when we were engaged: 1,001 Ways to Be Romantic by Greg Godek). We pray that our fellow married couples continue to express their love for each other daily, weekly, monthly and yearly.

Since our August month-aversary coincides with National Filet Mignon Day, we splurge on a special steak for a cozy home-cooked dinner using our simple George Foreman grill. We do not eat steak very often (yet we currently live in cattle country!), so this month-aversary meat makes this a doubly special day!

Recipe

Ingredients

• 2 five-ounces filet mignon
• 2 strips of bacon
• 1 tablespoon of olive oil
• pinch of dried rosemary
• sea salt
• fresh ground black pepper

Directions

Wrap a strip of bacon on the side of the filet mignon. Secure with a small toothpick. Repeat for the other steak. Brush both sides with olive oil infused with rosemary. Sprinkle with salt and pepper. Let the seasoned steaks sit at room temperature for 15 minutes. Preheat the grill.  When the grill is hot, place the filet mignons on the bottom of the metal plate. Lower the cover and press on the steaks. Cook for three or four minutes for medium (more or less time for rare to well done). Remove from the grill and serve on individual plates. Garnish with a sprig of fresh rosemary (optional).

Notes

• Thanks to the RRVG family for the George Foreman grill that they gave us several Christmases ago. VG were married on July 7, 1996, in India—just a week before us! For our fifth wedding anniversary, we celebrated jointly in New Jersey and in New York City. RR are their twin son and daughter.
• UPDATE: On November 13, 2010, we got a big gas grill for our backyard. It is our 172 month-aversary gift for ourselves and an early Christmas present from Islander’s parents! Now we can properly grill filet mignons for future month-aversaries! Mahalo, Mommy and Daddy!