frying vs. saute'ing (see~i can't even spell it)

After coming home from a very busy day at the office, wouldn’t it have been nice for ed’s bride of 21 years to have a hot dinner on the table for him? Yes, you say, that would be wonderful. It would, really, but Thursday nights daddy works late so at our house it’s pancakes, cereal or, in this instance, mac & cheese (which, according to Kraft, is a perfectly sufficient food for an entire meal…who am I to question?!!). I knew he’d like something hot so I was going to put the extra flank steak on the grill from the previous night (that he had very lightly grilled so jake could take it to school and still have it edible). He usually calls before he leaves work so I can at least have something for him or call something in for him to pick up on his way home, but when he walked in the door and said, ‘sorry I didn’t call…is there anything to eat?’, I knew this wouldn’t be his dream dinner. I asked him if he wanted me to start the grill or fry the steak for him.
Ed: no, you can just saute’ it
Me: huh?
Ed: just put it in a pan with a little butter
Me: ah, fry it
Ed: no!
I was on the phone w/traci at the time and she cracked up.
Traci: put him on
Traci: Ok mister, what’s the difference?
Ed: big difference!
Traci: What do you do to an egg?
Ed: fry it
Traci: why not saute’ it?
Ed: the difference is the consistency of what you’re cooking.
Hysterical laughing…
Traci: tell him to stop being such a snob and eat his fried steak!

He ate it…on white bread (gasp!) I guess when you mix a midwestern country girl and a proper jersey guy both parties have a lot of learning to do ;)

Ps-I microwaved his corn on the cob…this leads me to a whole other cooking conversation, which I’ll save for another time.