Happy New Year!

 Gotta be better than the last one. Or, you know, maybe not.

Happy New Year!

Maybe like this:

Maybe more like this:

Whichever way it went last night, Happy New Year.

Happy New Year!

Resolution Number 1: Post more. Last year was the lowest number of posts for a full year in the history of the blog. Just awful. Time to fix it. Hope you saw something like this last night:

The fireworks, I mean. If you saw writing in the sky, you probably had too much to drink.

Happy New Year's, y'all.

I'll try not to make any loud noises

Happy New Year, Eff You nation! Hope you made it through the festivities intact, or none too worse for the wear, anyway. I'm sure there aren't any really serious hangovers out there. My readership is far more erudite and well-behaved than that. Certainly none of you looked like a human version of this last night:

Of course not. Anyway, Final count for posts in December was the highest in the history of the blog with 72, easily topping June 2014, which set the previous high at 62. Viewership for the month also was solid, coming in fifth overall in the history of the blog. So thanks to everyone who has come by, keep coming and bring your friends. As you ease out of your hangover, I will ease you into the new year with some soothing music to help your aching head:

I just made some loud noises, didn't I? Sorry about that.

Don't forget to get your New Year's deals here

Remember, if you shop Amazon through the widget to the right, Eff You gets a little cash and it costs you nothing. So check out these tech gear deals:


Shop Amazon - Tech Accessories Year-End Deals

Don't thank me, just shop through the Eff You widget. Thanks, and Happy New Year!

I got all the Christmas food porn you can handle

I promised you Christmas food porn, and I am delivering -- sort of. The recipe for a green bean casserole that I used -- and documented with photos because it was a first-timer -- sucked, so I won't be posting the photos and instructions. Also, I got a little caught up and missed a few end-time photos on the tenderloin. Having given those mea culpas, we will now continue.

The centerpiece of any dinner, especially Christmas, is the main entree. In this case, it was a slab of tenderloin, seasoned according to the recipe of an old friend of my late mother-in-law's. The friend was a caterer who gave me only after I swore myself to secrecy to protect her proprietary information. Since she has since passed, I feel like I can now share the recipe. So here it is.

You will start with a 3-pound (or so) piece of tenderloin, which you will lay out on a large piece of aluminum foil:

You will be rubbing this sucker with a tablespoon of thyme, so you should probably get some time and grind it, so it rubs better:

Take the thyme, rub it all over the tenderloin :

Now, mix a teaspoon of white pepper, 1 tablespoon of seasoned salt, a teaspoon of garlic salt, 1/4 teaspoon of oregano and a teaspoon of salt:

Pour the seasoning evenly over the tenderloin:

Roll the tenderloin around on the foil to pick up all the seasoning, and rub it around on the tenderloin to spread it evenly. And for God's sake, remember, it's a tenderloin. Don't get too excited. Just make sure the seasoning is thoroughly distributed:

Yeah, that's a Diet Coke can. It was 9 am on Christmas Eve. Even I can't start drinking beer that early. Anyway, wrap that sucker in the aluminum foil:

Refrigerate that thing until it's time to cook it on Christmas Day.

Is it time? Cool. Take the meat out of the refrigerator 2 hours before you plan to put it in the oven . Put the beef in a roasting pan, sprinkle it with a teaspoon of salt, add 1/4 cup of of worcestershire sauce and 1 cup of water to the pan/ Preheat the oven to 400 degrees, cook it for about 35 minutes for rare to medium rare. Depending upon the thickness of your tenderloin, it likely will take longer. Yes, I missed the photos of this part of the cooking, but I was up to my ears in people and other food prep. So sue me. Anyway, the meat eventually looks like this:

We also had mashed potatoes (no photo), a sweet potato casserole, green bean casserole and corn pudding:

I baked some bread that turned out pretty good:

And here's a plate with a sampling:

Anyway, it was great. Come New Year's, we'll have the black-eyed peas, so there's that to look forward to. Try the tenderloin for you next special occasion. Not a cheap piece of meat, but well worth it. Bon appetit, Merry Christmas and Happy New Year.

Boxing Day haiku

Having been shut down for next week, I am desperately trying to locate work so that I can either jump to the new job for good, or at least make some money next week. The results? Haiku time:

Unearthly silence
Greets my efforts to search for
Gainful employment.

Here's hoping for a Happy New Year.

Happy New Year, and keep coming by; Update!

I just wanted to thank all of you for a wonderful year at Eff You, and I hope you'll keep coming by in 2014. We lost a blogging friend at Romeo Alpha Foxtrot, but I seem to have gained many new readers, so the year had its ups and downs. I wish all of you the best in 2014.

Stay safe, if you drink too much tonight, sleep where you are or take a cab, and if you can't do that, live by my motto: for God's sake, don't get caught.

Update: Just to avoid confusion, Romeo Alpha Foxtrot, who commented on this post, is not dead. His blog is, though, and the site is gone, along with all it's cool pictures and commentary. I didn't mean to make it sound like he was no longer among the quick, but I did mean to convey that I miss his blog.