DON'T TELL ANYONE ABOUT THIS

I'm going to tell you how to make a great burger. But, of course, there must be suspense before denouement.

Just a week ago I ate my first French fry of the new decade. Yes, it was good, but surprisingly not great.

You see, I'm in a constant losing battle with my weight. As 2010 rolled around, I vowed to take off some excess. I make progress. We have visitors or an outing of some kind and I gain. My last meal at Brio's, a great Italian restaurant saw me devour bread and crackers and fried tomatoes smothering in some tasty cheese sauce, 8 (I counted) lamb ribs topped with Gorgonzola, spinach soaked in some oil, and a small creme broulle for desert. Total caloric count--a zillion.

But back to my vow and fries. Potatoes and pizza are killers for me. So I decided to skip the fries. Until In-And-Out--nothing frozen; always made fresh--seduced me. As good as their burgers are, they're not perfect. Neither are their fries, but I don't know how to make/cook a perfect fry. So I keep tasting in search of that perfection. But having gone 6 weeks without one, I had sorta lost the desire. At least that's how I explain my satisfaction for the fries but not mouth water drooling.

Now about that burger. Well, I see I've run out of room and time for this entry. A friend called late last night (8:45 PM, if you can believe it) and cancelled a golf game for today. The rest of us are still playing, but I have to call the golf course and tell them so we don't get charged for Dave who will think of us all day and how his draw would have outdriven all of us on every hole where he connected.

Tomorrow I'll get to the burger.