I had chicken sashimi when I first lived in Japan. I thought they were joking and seeing how far they could get the dumb gaijin to do stupid things.
It was nothing to write home about. Once in a lifetime is enough.
The advantage of having a terrible cook for a mother is that I’ve eaten enough tasteless food that if my relatives were to cook something not up to my standards then I could manage to eat it.
It’s not like the OP is having to eat there daily.
If I’m making them on the grill, then the grill marks count as a sear. However, like hamburgers, I prefer my steaks on a flat cooking surface for maximum sear. And, yes, pink in the middle. (I actually do something called a reverse sear with steaks, where I bring them slowly up to about 115 internal and finish on a blazing hot pan or grill.)
If your steaks are brown inside after searing, you are doing it wrong.
Well, it seems like the OP is talking about browning steaks before he puts them on the grill. I hope not!
And I like my burgers slightly pink in the middle too. (Not TOO much, just a bit)
I came across this photo which I think is a good illustration:
https://old.reddit.com/r/food/comments/cu6g61/homemade_western_bbq_cheeseburger/