I cooked my first omelette today. Of course, I've cooked hundreds of imitations over the years, but inspired by Julia and Julie, I went out and bought a new frying pan and butter and eggs, and tried to do it the way J&J did it.

I layered in a couple slices of smoked fontina.

So, here's a question for you. Where did omelettes originate? If you said France, you'd have responded the way I did. But, according to Wikipedia, they are believe to have originated in Persia.

Meanwhile, our Chinese neighbor slaughtered a chicken today. It was loud, scary, and reminded me of my years in Afghanistan. Pretty much every animal was cooked after being fresh-killed, because we had no refrigeration.

They'd turn the animal toward Mecca, which was to the west from Central Asia, and slit its throat.

Sometimes, the dying bird escaped the grasp of its killer, and ran around the yard for a bit. Thus the "running around like a chicken with its head cut off" cliche. I had to go halfway around the world to learn it is true.

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