An American Institution: The Shower

Not the one where you get wet: the one where you go to someone’s house and give presents to a bride- or mother-to-be and everyone’s a bit awkward. I’ve never come across this phenomenon in any other culture, and frankly it freaks me out a bit. People seem not to know what to say, and so silly games are the obvious solution.

Nevertheless, I’m going to a shower tomorrow night, the first social event with my new colleagues. One of the vets is having a baby soon. I figured I’d put aside my distaste for one evening, and Numenius is hiding in Spanish class. I know nothing about babies or what to buy them so I volunteered to make a card which has an otter mother/baby theme. (The mother has done a lot of epidemiological work on sea otters.)

I’ll be taking a Spanish omlette-tortilla espaola-to the potluck.

Tortilla Espaola

3-4 large potatoes, diced
1 onion, diced
4-6 eggs
cooking oil to deep fry and good olive oil for second frying
salt

Fry the potatoes and onion in a lot of oil for about 20 minutes until the potatoes soften but don’t brown. Remove from cooking oil, strain.

Beat the eggs with a fork until frothy. Add the strained potato-onion mixture and stir, salt to taste. (This can be set aside for a while if needed.)

In a smallish rounded frying pan (straight sides are best, 8” wide or so) heat about 2 tsp good olive oil until hot but not smoking. Test by placing a drip of egg in the oil; it should sizzle immediately. Pour in the egg/potato mixture and agitate the pan slowly in a circular way. Cook on high, agitating, until the sides are cooked. Place a plate upside down on the pan and turn the whole thing over; slide the cooked omlette back into the pan. (I always do this over the sink first time round. It should be browned on the bottom in spots but not overcooked.) Repeat this process as many times as you like depending on how cooked you want the eggs.

Can be cubed for appetizers or sliced like a pie. It goes very well in French bread, sandwich-style. Great hot, even better lukewarm.