Cooking aboard or outdoors

It's hard to complicate French toast, even when I'm in the mood to play chef.

But one thing I've learned is to add a quarter cup of flour to the basic mixture of a cup of milk and three eggs. And instead of just dipping the bread and tossing it into the frying pan, I let it soak until it swells up to a ridiculous size, and needs to be carefully lifted out with one or two full-sized spatulas.

I used to eat French toast soaked in syrup, like flapjacks. But nowadays I usually just slather it with butter and call it good.

Don't get me wrong. I'm not an anti-sugar crusader; I just don't have the sweet tooth I had when I was younger. But occasionally I'll sprinkle a little cinnamon sugar on my French toast after it's buttered. And I've been known to drizzle just a tad of honey on it, or add a teaspoon or two of honey to the egg mix.

 

I gotta agree with you Troy savoury is the way to go.

I've enjoyed what must be the worlds most expensive French toast up in the Dandenong mountains right here in Victoria.

A very think crustless slice of toast done in the usual way with egg and milk and little else but topped with crispy parma ham and a drizzle of golden syrup.

It was unusual enough and a serious smack upside of the head taste wise... to give me a culinary boner.

Oh, I must apologise. I've been uploading food **** as I can't. No matter how small the file size, it simply won't upload.

 

Sounds good. Although I might opt for a sprinkle of dark brown sugar over the golden syrup.

And regarding the connection between your salivary glands and erectile functions? Too much information....

 

Chuckle... "I have a culinary boner" was first used by a contestant some years ago on Bravo's Top Chef. They even sold a T-shirt on their website with this phrase on it. I understand it was a top seller.

 

we are sensitive macho types here.
Morals as sharp as barbed wire and minds just as narrow.
Missionary position ONLY!
The woman NEVER on top!
My dad always warned me, "Don't f--k UP!"

 

I thought it was you. I heard a Chinese whisper that you were up to some crazy project concerning a cook book and a film of some type. Is this true?

You will forgive me gentlemen. Many years ago, James, not yet a man, entered my restaurant in Spain and asked me to boil a raw egg he had arrived with.

With a few other things from his backpack including tinned tuna he then assembled at salad nicoise on a plate he had helped himself to.

I was astonished! Asking me to boil an egg and borrowing a plate were unusual but an amusing moment in an otherwise dull day. The salad however, was truly astonishing! I was impressed.

Do you recall what you said to me when I offered you a job in my kitchen?

 

Guy! No way! You're into boats now?

Good God... So many years ago, but yes I remember. "If a can of tuna tarted up like a ***** impresses you old man, I will already have done my best work for you".

Years later and out of that jurisdiction, I can now confess that I was so sort of cash and still days away of flying out that I stole every ingredient that went into that dish from the market a few streets away.

It's funny how one can recall word-for-word, words you regret uttering.

I'm laughing aloud and have to explain distant but fond memories of Spain, the beach, and your restaurant to my better half as I type this.

You have no idea how often I think about that afternoon and what might have been, if only you had asked me into the kitchen to cook a real niçoise salad.

And to think some 20 or more years later I'm returning to cans and jars to prepare a cruising helmsman's cookbook.

What the F**K did you put in the sangría? I recall waking up on the sand under a hot mid morning sun day after day, still incapable of walking a straight line.

Chinese whispers? How did you find out what I was up to? The world can't be that small, can it?

PM me your number, we have so much to catching up to do.

If you start sharing stories with these fine folk about my time at/under your bar or in your kitchen/on your kitchen floor thanks to your sangría... I will have to harm you!

 

This is a story I think worthy of telling.

James became an amusing story told at the table for years after his departure from Spain.

I returned to England for the christening of my grandson in 2006. Sitting in front of the telly one evening, I see James. I think James, the court jester and talented cook, has become an actor.

Retiring to the Netherlands and finding myself with too much time on my hands, I return to cooking as a personal chef.

For these last three months I have been cooking in a large resort villa on a small island within Indonesia. This home is being rented by Australians. Some type of business workshop I think.

During service I overheard the guests discussing someone with tattoos and later I saw a picture of James among papers left in the dining room. More tattoos but definitely him.

I signed up to this web site to see if it really is you finally using your talent.

I must ask how many times can an Australian backpacker pop up on ones radar? So yes, it is a very small world.

I don't need to wish you luck. I looked back though your posts and again I am impressed. Not easy cooking anything on a moving boat that presents well.

 

Oh what a gay day ducky, Suns shining --dosnt it make you want to skip and frolick.

To get back on topic with some serious cuisine I found Asda do a wonderful pot noodle in UK last week in curry flavour called a Bombay bomber. A little bland but can be spiced up with some HP brown sauce and pepper.

A good little tip for the bed sitters with mere coffee making facilities.

Oh' and a good place to dip your old crusts. I personally don't cut my crust off the slice but many' men ' do. When I say men I don't mean Arnold Swatz ****** type men.

I believe Liberace always cut his crust.

Just imagine sitting out watching the sun go down dipping your crust in your friends pot noodle looking down from your bed sit at the carnival below. It could bring a tear to the eye.

 

OK ... I'm squeeging tears here with the back of my hand, from this Readers Digest miracle of people connecting across multiple oceans, continents, lifestyles, decades, etc. Can we get back to recipes now?

 

Bugger! I still can't upload images. I wonder if there is a upload quota. Would anyone know?

 

Your account shouldn't be hitting an overall quota; if the new image is very large (over a couple thousand pixels in width or over a couple MB), please try resizing it down a bit and try uploading again.

 

Hi there moderator,

Thanks for the suggestion. It was the first thing I tried. Resized to bring down a 5mp image to about 880kb as a jpeg. Still no go.

A speed test confirms a near to perfect 1000kbps upload speed. I can upload the original 2mb+ images to Facebook and Blogger within moments.

You might be right, I've not dumbed down the resolution.

Thanks.

 

I'm off to Dinagat to meet up with Guy. Rather strange to be booking a flight rather than flying myself (I did think about it though).

I've still not yet figured out this upload nonsense, so I'll have a serious backlog of awesome food **** when I do. I'm rather annoyed as uploading a basic pic should not be so difficult.

See you guys in a week or so depending on how drunk I get.

 

Frosty.
Some years ago on a ship I sailed, the entire galley crew was gay. And ONLY the galley crew. That they did the cooking upset some of the men. At our nightly poker game one night, some were bitterly complaining, and I remember one old hand from Tennesee, with about a 30,000 watt twang accent said, "Wall Hail! Ah don' care WHA'Z they duz long's they washes their hands!"
I take NO interest in what other folks do behind closed doors. Not any of my business.