Yesterday my husband and I had something to celebrate, so we went out for a nice dinner, just the two of us. Outback Steakhouse is a remarkably Type O friendly place. It was in stark contrast to my birthday dinner last summer.

I cook roast, lamb, and chopped steak quite often. I fix London broil and round steak. But because we are a mixed blood type household I rarely grill top quality steak. It somehow doesn't seem right to buy an expensive cut of meat and eat it by myself at lunch. So, when my husband takes me out, I order steak!

Last summer I kept hearing great things about a popular steakhouse. The food was supposed to be fabulous and moderately priced. We went there for my birthday dinner. Three things raced through my mind when I opened my menu. Nothing was my idea of moderately priced. There was very little for my Type A husband to eat. A potato came with everything - and there were no substitutions.

We sat at our table uncomfortably sipping our water. My husband didn't want to be the first to say leave because it was my birthday. I didn't want to be the first to say leave because he was being sweet to bring me to such a nice place. Finally at the same moment we said, "Let's go." We drove to a seafood restaurant and had delicious fish with steamed vegetables. It was well prepared and well served. It was a lovely evening, even if it wasn't steak.

I got on the phone yesterday morning and started calling restaurants, cheerfully asking what substitutions were available for potatoes. When Outback Steakhouse said "sweet potatoes," I stopped calling. That was where we would go.

The salad was mostly iceburg lettuce, which was a little disappointing. But they had no trouble bringing me extra virgin olive oil instead of dressing. I had a nice steak with a delicious sweet potato. Broccoli or steamed mixed vegetables were other choices I could have substituted or the potato. My husband had a pasta dish with chicken and rye bread.

It was a good night to celebrate, and a very good steak.