Souflé Omelette and Demarcating the Internet.

My eldest is very competitive. Some say, too competitive. When she started her travel blog, Shallow Pockets Travel, I helped her out where I could. I learned a lot by the process. In fact, that is what prompted me to start this blog. My experience previously was restricted to our company blog.

For a time, all went along well. Eldest daughter (ED) enthused about her latest post and numbers of hits and so forth. I offered fatherly encouragement to her endeavor. Meanwhile, I quietly worked away cooking, photographing, writing and posting in my free time. All was well in our little blogosphere and in our home. Or was it?It would appear that there are more people out there interested in food than travel. My evidence for this is in the stats. While ED enjoyed some success with her travel writings, it just looks like more people want to read about my endeavors in the kitchen. Naturally, I offered my encouragement and assistance where I could. She has not taken this well. Things came to a head and her resentment spilled over recently when she announced that she was starting a food blog of her own

I had mixed emotions about this. Would she start competing with my blog? A blog that I write as a way of escaping from the world of commerce and competition. Would this move come between us? Would it become a source of rancor and discord in the homestead? Her first post was difficult to swallow even if the lemon meringue pie that she created was anything but.

I decided to take control of the situation and agree lines of demarcation with ED. I tackled this over some food. What better way to ease a difficult topic along than with Soufflé Omelette with Mixed Berry Compot? It is a very simple dish taught to me many years ago by my mother.

You will need:

• 4 eggs
• 250gms of mixed berries (frozen are perfect)
• A dash of Cremé de Cassis or Sirop de Cassis
• Butter for frying

Yes, you know what that is on the eggs. They are from the Wicklow Hunter who also keeps organic, free range chickens.

The frozen berries. It is a small pot, not big berries.

Put the berries and the syrup into a pot and reduce them down into a lovely jam.

The berries bubbling on the stove top. You got to love this shot.

Separate the eggs. Whip the whites into soft peaks.

Whip those egg whites. They deserve everything they get. Don’t show any mercy until they are in soft peaks.

Add a small amount of water to the yolks and whip them up a bit. Gently fold them into the whites.

Careful now. Fold the yolks in very carefully to preserve as much souffléness as possible.

Melt the butter in a medium hot frying pan. Add the egg mixture. Cook until cooked. The underside will be a rich brown colour and the soufflé bit will have set somewhat.

The only really tricky piece. Getting the omelette from the pan onto the plate.

Spoon the berry mixture over one side and fold over (like in the picture).

Berry mixture added and omelette folded.

Serve this beauty.

The soufflé omelette in all it’s glory. Don’t leave it like that for long.

Sorry, I just had to take this shot. The omelette is as delicious as it looks.

We resolved our differences. She is happy to leave me alone with my manly, meat focussed musings. I am very happy that she is cooking some wonderful deserts. Just so long as my stats hold up. Tell your friends. Please!

The proof of the pudding is in the eating, as they say.

Footnote of update: Eldest daughter no longer posts or supports her blog. So the field is clear for me to continue with this nonsense. She still pops around for an occasional omelette. So, that’s all good.