Sailor Stan

Curry - Yukkkks! My wife has always appreciated my apetite and openness to trying just about anything. I was raised in the mid-West by parents who were raised on farms. Interestingly, my mother cooked much more than beef, potatoes, corn and green beans. We had lima beans, okra, greens, spinach, califlower, brussel sprouts, broccoli, beets, navy beans, kidney beans - just about any and all vegetables were part of our everyday fare at the dinner table. She cooked beef in its many forms; including tonge. We ate lots of different pastas with different sauces. We had fresh chickens (we'd go down to Grandma's and she'd wring the neck of a nice roaster that got too close to her at the wrong time - fate!?). Mom would also prepare pork chops and pork loins and sausages from a small independent butcher close to my grandparents farm. We would also go out to restaurants for more exotic stuff like lobster and bisques and local catfish and other specialty fare. Wow, as I'm sitting here thinking about all the eating experiences of my youth and I'm so thankful to my parents for exposing me to so much diversity!!!!! Thanks Mom and Dad. This foundation has served me well and I have been able to try lots of new things all over the world as I've traveled. BUT!!!!! There has always been one taste that I have never been able to enjoy or appreciate......... CURRY. My wife says curry is a variety of spices and that she can't understand why I don't like it nor will I go anyplace that serves it. She loves curry-based dishes. We have a picture of an absolutely gorgeous luncheon dish prepared by the restaurant on top of Tabletop Mountain outside of Johannesburg, S. Africa that she claims is the best curry meal she's ever eaten; I wanted to eat at a different table. She says I should try different curry dishes to see if I can develop a taste and appreciation for the spice. It seems there is a great deal of the world that eats curry dishes in many forms. I'm open to any suggestions someone might have.

May I also suggest going to the source. In the late '80s I used to annually charter a boat out of Luddington, MI, for a day of truly great fishing. Best time of year was in mid-August and the catch included King Salmon, Coho and Lake Trout. And the size of the fish - we're talking invite over the whole church! Four of us would catch our limit of six fish each. After the first mate cleaned the fish at the dock, we would each take home enough ziplock bags for a year's worth of one fish meal a week. My wife and daughters learned to love salmon. We were big grillers, and learned to leave the skin on the fish, allowing us to flash grill the fish. Often we would soak the fish in various sauces before grilling and the skin allowed the fish to remain intack on the grill. Long story short; there's nothing like the experience of catching salmon and taking them home for a wonderfully fresh meal!

Rachael, what a beautiful omelette! One thing I've found with my "mid-western" omelettes is that it's best to precook the additives before adding egg. I used to whip my eggs and add them to the pan first, then throw in the peppers, onions, mushrooms, bacon, cheese, etc. I found that after folding the omelette, I too often ended up with what looked like uncooked egg in the middle. It's hard to know if it's uncooked egg or excess moisture from the 'cold' additives. To overcome this, my "brutish" effort is to saute all my ingredients (except the cheese) in the pan first and then add the whipped eggs to the, now warmed, ingredients. This seems to allow the egg to absorb more heat more quickly. I next sprinkle on the cheese and 'flip' over in half, allowing a brief amount of time for both sides to cook through. Having the additives precooked and warm allows for faster cooking of the egg, lessoning the need to cook longer and eliminating the 'browning affect'.

Wow, the purity of it all. Maybe I'm too mid-Western but I recently started a "South Beach" diet and substituted my oatmeal, Starbuck's muffins and multiple breakfast bars for a "loaded" 2-3 egg omelet loaded with chopped green, red and orange peppers, portabella mushrooms, onions, low-fat shredded cheese and some small slices of Canadian bacon. While this is indeed a meal in itself, I think it is the "fluffed" nature of the eggs that gives it such a palatable texture. I'm not sure how sustaining a "pure" omelet would be. But on some future warm and gloriously sunny Sunday morning, I will try the "pure" approach and gain a better appreciation of warm, fluffy egg (French style)!