he is lucky that i love him

fact: one of ryan's favorite meals is beef and noodles.  his mom and grandpa cook it frequently and he loves it.  although i am more of a chicken and noodles girl, i also enjoy eating beef and noodles on occasion.  what i DON'T enjoy (at all) is the COOKING of the beef.  i'm not sure why, but the smell of the beef boiling nauseates me like crazy and i usually have to leave a house where it's cooking.

ryan's birthday is on friday, and he said what he really wanted was...wait for it...beef and noodles :-/  after allowing my stomach to calm down from the mere thought of the smell, i decided i would give it my best effort.  after a phone call to his mom for instructions, and secretly buying the ingredients at the grocery yesterday, today is the day. (we are babysitting for some friend's kids on friday as our end of a date-night childcare swap)

with my stomach as strong as i can make it, the meat is currently boiling away on the stove, and i haven't sprinted to the restroom yet.  i consider this a major success, even if it ends up tasting like crap.

UPDATE:  my stomach lasted until i had to remove all the fat from the roast, and took a turn for the worse.  i managed to keep everything that in my stomach that was originally there, but it was close.  i even managed to ingest some of this meal on a queasy stomach.  i'm far from a food photographer, but here is proof that i accomplished this feat today.

the icing on the imaginary (early) birthday cake, was that ryan had to go do a school project at a friend's house today, so he was gone the whole time i cooked this.  i'm certain he thought there was no way i'd attempt to fulfill his request, and was very surprised when he walked in the door to find his birthday dinner request almost complete.  if there was a contest for "most kick-ass wife", i'd say this pretty much clinches the victory for me :-P