Jim Charles

I only have 11 tomato plants in, 7 rutgers and 4 cherry, but I have maybe 100 plus green and ready by the 4th.

I know its boring with no picture, but a Mexican chorizo chopped and 4 eggs scrambled up and thrown in a jalapeno and cheddar soft taco.

Wow, you did win the lottery, but if you were my wife I'd be watching you a little closer around the meat dept.

I grew up just south of Kenosha in Winthrop Harbor. I left at 18 and never went back. My favorite Wisconsin fish was the smoked fish we'd pick up while driving through Door County, more than 50 years ago. They would wrap it in waxed butcher paper and my brother and I would inhale it as we drove along.

A crab cake isn’t a real crab cake if you have to use any more than a very small amount of whatever to bind it. At least here with our blue crabs the best are with lump meat and you don’t squish them like a baseball and I use some of the finer meat to help bind them with a little egg white. The secret is to put them back in the refrigerator for an hour or so to let them set up after you make them. If you skip that part they’ll fall apart. I cook them in nothing but butter and only turn once. For the people that only want to taste the filler I have no suggestions other than your eating the wrong thing, or the wrong type of crab, or whoever is making them doesn’t really know how to make them.

Putting the clams in anything other than sea water will just kill them and if you don't eat them right away your going to get mighty sick. You mention clam strips and they are ocean clams and very large and tough. They are cut in strips for that reason. We get our own clams in the bay and eat them within minutes. We keep a grill attached to one of the rails on the boat and toss a few on to roast them in their own juice. 99% of the time we just take the little silver dollar sized ones and open and down them. The entire clam is eaten there is no cleaning to do other than scrubbing the shells before cooking, if you want.

Of all the shows on cooking that I watch faithfully, Colameco's is by far THE best. The guy has the experience, personality and knowledge to make this a very entertaining and informative program. I'd feel very comfortable hanging out in his kitchen here in Jersey.

This time of year when we can't go crabbing and get our own and there is none in the freezer we buy it at BJ's in 1lb. containers.

Oysters…nothing that isn’t already there. Clams we toe or rake up and eat on the back of the boat when they’re 20 minutes out of the water. With them I like fresh grated horseradish.

You’ve obviously given a lot of thought to preparing not only an inventive menu, but also one that most should really enjoy. Given your restrictions I think you’ve come up with a winner. My hat is off to you…good luck.

Retraction

For those not yet familiar with the trials and tribulations of how our older generation are eating and living let me offer my experiences. My mother and father were great lovers of food and a lifetime of gourmet magazine and a room of cookbooks. When they reached there 80’s they moved into an assisted living facility where they had their apartment and their food provided in the dinning room. It’s a beautiful place and it started out at about $40,000 a year for both. Now after 7 years and my father, now a widower, pays $47,000 a year just for him. The food is fairly creative and passable. Only two weeks ago we reached another milestone and he is going to have someone make sure he takes his medicine and takes care of normal hygiene…an additional $7,000 a year. One would think that you could have your own personal chef for that kind of money. God forbid you don’t have a very sizable nest egg when your time comes, and it will come. If you’re going to be living on Medicaid you can expect the type of menu being discussed here.

Being a “senior” of almost 64 I can’t relate to your problem of dealing with such a negative view on our eating habits. I assure you that I’m just as adventurous as the next person when it comes to food. My father of 89 continues to enjoy great food and I just prepared his favorite, osso bucco, last week. Don’t sell the old folks short.

Since the last child went away to college some 16 years ago we have had our little tradition. We have a very simple menu that is simple and requires little effort. I get the best fillets I can find and 4 lobster tails. Nothing more than a Caesar salad, baked potato, melted butter with lemon and a very good bottle of wine to accompany the entree. Just a nice quiet dinner by candlelight in the dinning room. Oh yea, my wife always wants to watch the Barbara Streisand (can’t even spell her name) new years eve dvd, but I’m going to hide it this year.

Why not keep them alive in the frig till Monday and then do them in?