Happy Father's Day!

Happy Father's Day to my Dad, and to all of the rest of you Dads out there! May this Father's Day be better than last year's and not as good as next year's.

My wife and daughter wanted to take me out to breakfast this morning, and while that might have been quick and convenient, I told them I would rather make breakfast for them myself. My culinary skills won't get me on the next Top Chef, but I know my way around the kitchen when breakfast is on the agenda. Of course, the menu only consists of pancakes, eggs, sausage, bacon, and occasionally hash browns. But when it comes to those items, I wield a mean spatula.

My brother introduced me to the ease with which breakfast can be made during the Summer fishing/camping trips we occasionally made to the High Sierra Mountains in Central California. Breakfast was simple and occasionally included some of the Rainbow Trout we had caught the previous day. The contents of the breakfast menu I serve at home has changed a bit but I remember those Summer trips every time I heat up a skillet for eggs and pancakes.

Our Dad made sure that we took fishing gear on all of our family vacations. As we were motoring across the Western U.S. he would sometimes stop when the road passed over a stream and we would jump out and throw a line in the water. I only recall catching one fish on those unscheduled fishing breaks (there's a reason they call it fishing, and not catching), but it was a ton of fun regardless.

So Happy Fathers Day to all of you Fathers out there.

Especially my Father.