Oh jeeze! Do I really want to do this? Might as well. Ornamental "pears". I will NEVER live that one down. I was really into making jellies and preserves at the time. My mom and I were "rambling" around in the woods when we happened upon what my mom said was a crabapple tree. But wait..I thought to myself, aren't crab apples a bit bigger than these things? I was never one to second guess my mom about things like this, so we proceeded to pick ourselves a "mess' of them. I assume you know how small these things are. We picked a gallon of them. I took them home, still having my doubts, and actually PEELED every single one. It was like peeling marbles. Then I cooked them. The longer I cooked them, the worse they smelled..not like apples at all, pears either for that matter. Then I made the mistake of tasting one. It was only then I realized what they were...my mom still laughs about that to this day.

When I was in the business, once in a while we featured "The Broke Man's Surf & Turf": This was an 8 oz. chopped steak cooked to the customer's preference, serve with warm crab imperial [you could use the imitation crabmeat]. It was pretty popular for Thursdays' and Saturdays' lunch. We used 85/15 ground beef. Any leaner and the flavor just wasn't there. If it had any more fat, it seemed to "stick" or "coat" the roof of the mouth and the teeth. I lightly seasoned the beef with some Worcestershire sauce, a drop or two of hot sauce and a little garlic powder. I added a little water to replace some of the moisture lost during the grinding process. I mixed everything pretty well. The crab imperial was drained crabmeat (Sometimes it was extra wet and I had to squeeze some of the moisture from the crabmeat.) Sauteed finely chopped onions, celery and green peppers. A little steak sauce and Worcestershire Sauce. JUST A dash or touch of Coleman's Dry mustard. Enough mayonnaise to bid everything together. Cook the burger to the customer's preference. About 1/2 way through the burger being cooked, shape about 4 oz. of the crab imperial in the same as the chopped steak. Then heat it in the oven. Make toast points. Serve the burger and the crab imperial side-by-side on the "inter-locked toast points on a heated platter. Serve with a few onion rings and/or sauteed mushrooms and onions. Thanks for asking your Q! I enjoyed answering it! VTY, Ron Berue Yes, that is my real last name! Sources: My wonderful family! Was in the Food and Beverage business over 26 years. "THE University of Hard Knocks" also known as ("a/k/a") "life's valuable lessons"

anything that wasn't toast :)