Cook & Be Merry in the June 2010 issue of the Easy Reader Beach Magazine was devoted to Summer Salads. I showcased the luscious Fiesta Fruit and Avocado Salad from Grace-Marie’s Kitchen at Bristol Farms, and my very favorite and difficult to photograph Potato and Green Bean Salad with Goat Cheese Dressing. Also included was a recipe for these amazing Orange Chile Croutons that could be used with my salad. It was still cold outside, usual Southern California June weather, but I wanted to present recipes that could be used when it finally warmed up and we fired up the grill. Little did I know that it wouldn’t warm up at all, except for a couple days at the end of August. Oh well.

The reason I am now posting about the June Beach Magazine is that the dish I made today, and was going to photograph, was a dismal failure. So I had to dig up something else to post about. I was going to write about some Crispy-Coated Oysters with a Remoulade Sauce. I didn’t want to make massive amounts of oysters, so I bought the jarred ones in the iced seafood section. The jar was 8 ounces, so I figured there would be 7 or 8 oysters. Wrong. There were 4 huge egg-sized humungoes. I already had my flour, beaten egg and panko in bowls, so I decided to slice each oyster into three pieces. Bad move. They were already slimy to begin with, but after slicing they were just disgusting. But I persevered and got them all breaded. I browned them in olive oil and they really looked nice and golden. I had made the Remoulade the night before, so I was ready to give them a taste. Well, I couldn’t get past their texture to actually taste them. Cooking them had not eradicated their slime-iness. I didn’t even get out my camera.

The moral of the story is: one can have gone to culinary school, but that doesn’t mean anything. Failures still happen.

One of my commenters for the Twirly Lemon Cookies post said they wished they could have seen me in my first chef’s coat. I found some photos from that time period that were taken of my class at a banquet we cooked for a hundred people. This photo actually appeared on the front of the UCLA Class Catalog the next semester. Our banquet had been a great success and we were all very happy. I’ll be posting about that class in the future. I am in the front row on the far left.

Well, since I’ve got you here, my captive audience, I might as well show you what my living room looks like. Those are my cookbooks. With all that reference you would think I could come up with a recipe for oysters that works. lol.

I have some interesting things to post about coming up. September is going to be a busy month. I recently went to Ford’s Filling Station, Ben Ford’s restaurant. He’s Harrison Ford’s son and he was at Campanile for a while when I was doing my cooking internship there. His food is incredible.

Sunday, September 12, I’ll be at Rosti Tuscan Kitchen in Encino for a pizza making contest.

Saturday, September 25, is the Viking Food Blogger Boot Camp in Baldwin Park put on by Patti Londre of Worth the Whisk.

Sunday, September 26, is the Lobster Festival at the Seaside Lagoon in Redondo Beach.

And somewhere in there I’m going to be eating, interviewing and photographing at the Porto Fino Inn’s signature restaurant, Baleen, in Redondo Beach.

So I guess one failure isn’t the end of the world.

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