{"id":8312,"date":"2010-06-13T05:17:55","date_gmt":"2010-06-13T10:17:55","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/horizonsmagazine.com\/blog\/?p=8312"},"modified":"2020-07-21T11:48:47","modified_gmt":"2020-07-21T16:48:47","slug":"the-magical-frittata-and-the-coast-guard-boarding","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/horizonsmagazine.com\/blog\/the-magical-frittata-and-the-coast-guard-boarding\/","title":{"rendered":"The Magical Frittata and the Coast Guard Boarding"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"Mark<\/a>

Mark Tietig 1983 aboard La Calma<\/p><\/div>\n

A friend emailed me<\/span> a recipe for a frittata<\/a> this week, and Cousin heard me laughing when it came in.\u00a0 What’s so funny about a frittata?<\/em> he asked.\u00a0 A frittata is an unturned unfolded omelette, similar to a stovetop quiche, which is best served right off the stove.\u00a0 It has a wonderful creamy texture when eaten within moments of being cooked.\u00a0 If it sits too long, it is less tasty, kind of like cold scrambled eggs.\u00a0 Ugh.\u00a0 Why is that funny?\u00a0 The email came from a good buddy of mine, whom I went on a three month sailing trip with in 1983.\u00a0 Mark Tietig, now an attorney who handles civil rights cases, notably the “Topfree 10” in Florida, was blinded in a sailing accident in 1979.\u00a0 We met in 1982 and become fast friends immediately.\u00a0 An avid sailor before being blinded, Mark taught me how to sail and in 1983 we embarked upon what would be a three month sailing trip up the coast from Miami to Annapolis in his 33′ Cheoy Lee cutter rigged sailboat, La Calma.<\/span><\/p>\n

Accompanying us was a young English captain named Alistair.\u00a0 Mark had all sorts of neat navigational equipment that talked to him and gave commands out loud.\u00a0 He could tell what the wind was doing by how the sails sounded, and he could sheet them properly by the sound and feel of it.\u00a0 Mark’s German Shepherd guide dog Heath accompanied us as well, and he loved to sail.\u00a0 My job was to keep an eye on Heath and to make the meals for us during the trip.\u00a0 Now we come to the frittata…<\/span><\/p>\n

We spent half our time going up the Florida Waterway, which was fun like a train ride is fun, going along the back yard of people’s houses and estates, and checking out the local river life.\u00a0 But we’d have to motor up the Waterway and the sound of the engine muted all the sound of nature which was what we really wanted to be in in the first place, so we’d find the next inlet and head outside to the ocean where we could sail and heard the waves splash and the seagulls cry and the wind sing.<\/span><\/p>\n

One morning we were headed out of an Inlet toward the Gulfstream and I decided to make a big frittata for breakfast. The big joke was always what would prevent us from eating it right away, while it tasted best<\/em>?\u00a0 In the past, the interruptions had been phone calls or football games on tv.\u00a0 We had none of that now!\u00a0 We looked forward to a yummy frittata.\u00a0 Mmmmm, onions, ham, cheese, eggs, butter all coming together in creamy deliciousness.\u00a0 We could hardly wait.<\/span><\/p>\n

Just as the frittata is going into the pan, Mark calls me on deck.\u00a0 I see the Coast Guard boat approaching and Mark is smirking because yet another frittata is going to be eaten late. Even Heath is smirking.\u00a0 The Coast Guard guys step aboard and as Mark and Alistair answer their questions and show the documentation, I go below to tend to the frittata.\u00a0 So far, so good, but it’s gotta come out of the pan right now.<\/span><\/p>\n

I pop my head out of the main hatch and ask how many are eating, since this frittata WILL be eaten when it is ready, which is in about 60 seconds. I ask the Coast Guard guys if they could either be done right away, or else take a break with us so we can enjoy breakfast while it was hot.\u00a0 If they knew the delicate nature of my magical fritts, they would understand.<\/em> Mark agreed.<\/span><\/p>\n

They were done anyway, so they declined the offer of breakfast.\u00a0 Good dedication to job, I thought, since it smelled so yummy.\u00a0 We had our frittata on time.<\/span><\/p>\n

Military intervention or not, no one messes with Andrea’s frittatas anymore.<\/span><\/p>\n

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