Andrew 41-
You've got it correct. If you could choose which engine will fail, you'd always choose the upwind engine. You have lots more rudder to use to keep it rolling down the center. We have a saying in 3 engine ferry operations, "Good engine, good wind. Bad engine, bad wind." You don't want to tempt fate by taking off with an inoperative engine on the upwind side.
Pablo K-
You might try this exercise the next time you're in the sim. Set up for level flight at say, 10,000 feet in the landing configuration. Gradually let the airspeed decay to stall speed (not stick shaker)while gradually reducing to idle power. Note the speed. Now, do the same thing again, but once you get behind the power curve, gently increase the thrust to max power. You'll probably find that you can maintain level flight at an IAS 10 knots or more slower than power-off stall speed.
PS- usually when John Farley speaks, pilots listen.