Nice to meat you

Had a low-key Father's Day. Watched bits and pieces of the US Open. Napped. (See previous post.) Feted Dave. Don't think we feted him enough, though, considering how fabulous a father he is. Do over in the works.

The big event was dinner at my folks' house, about 30 minutes from ours, with my brother and his family. My contribution was three different tri tip steaks, which foodie me insisted on a tasting of.

1. Ikeda's. Ikeda's Country Market in Auburn is an institution. Bay Area families do povisioning there en route to the mountains and it's known for its hamburgers, pies and farm-fresh produce.

2. Draeger's Frank's. Draeger's is a high-end Bay Area grocery store chain and the first one opened in our 'burb this year.

3. Draeger's Garlic.

So the six adults and four kids who can talk all voted and of course, the tri tip most difficult to procure, Ikeda's, won in terms of taste. Frank's was a more tender cut of meat (but not as good as Fred's at Schaub's, at the Stanford Shopping Center) and the garlic one was not so good. We fed the leftovers of that to my folks' Golden Retriever.

Speaking of having dinner at my parents' house, my mom is a really good cook. I had no idea how good she was in the kitchen until I went away to college and started going home for weekends with my roommates. This picture is of my mom and my sister-in-law, Kristin, taken at my house last Thanksgiving. I have no shame now; when we have dinner at my parents' I bring my own Gladware and pack up the leftovers when I think my dad is not looking.