Week 2: Monday: The Fish Taco Rejection

I'm just going to stop trying to post breakfast and lunches unless I actually make them, because really I tend to miss breakfast and eat out for lunch, and my family doesn't do a sit down breakfast or lunch. We mostly scavenge. (Also, I didn't post on the weekends because my mom only 'hired' me to 'work' on weekdays.)

DINNER: Fish Taco
Last week I'd picked up a few free recipe cards at the supermarket, and my brother saw the fish taco recipe. He picked it out specifically and said that he would eat them if I made them. So Monday afternoon I was extremely excited and I got my dad to go with me to Albertsons to get fish.

1/2 lb flaky fish, such as mahi mahi or grouper used fish sticks and packages of frozen cod
cumin, salt, and pepper to taste
6 inch corn tortillas
chopped lettuce
chopped tomato
Sauce: 4TBsp mayonaise : 1 TBsp salsa

Putting together a taco should be pretty self-explanatory. The main issue is cooking the fish. The fish sticks are easy, because you can just microwave them or put them into a toaster oven. The frozen cod requires cooking.

1. Defrost in sink
2. Season with salt, pepper, and cumin
3. The directions on the card said just to cook it 3-5 minutes on each side. I figured it was just a few drops of oil on a pan, and the fish on the pan. I thought that's what my dad meant when he asked me if I knew how to fry things.

How to fry things:
1. Get a pot tall enough to contain most of the spitting oil.
2. Pour half an inch to an inch of oil in the pot. Heat oil until it starts to bubble.
3. Beat eggs in a bowl, spread corn starch on a plate.
4. Cut fish into strips, dip into eggs, then cornstarch and lower slowly into the pot of oil.
5. Let cook for about 3 minutes, until the fish changes color.
6. Use chopsticks or a spoon with holes to fish out the fish and place on paper towel lined bowl.

The fish tacos turned out pretty well, even though ordinarily I wouldn't have eaten fish tacos. Dad said they were good too. Mom and Brother ate some fish sticks, then made Ramen.

A Day Filler

I was milling in front of the television one day when my mother said: You need something to do. How about you cook meals for family?

Me: Really?

Mom: Yes.

Me: YES!!!!!!

Mom: I'll give you a budget of $40 a day, and you figure out what to cook for breakfast, lunch, and dinner.

Me: $40? That's kind of a lot.

Mom: Well...seafood can be expensive.

Me: Okay. I GET TO CONTROL THE FOOD!!!

So this is how, a few days ago, I came to be in charge of cooking for my family. I'm not saying this pridefully, as if an eighteen year old cooking for a four person household is some kind of revolutionary genius. In fact, for a summer-after-freshman-year-in-college, friends-all-having-jobs-or-activities, jobless me, this is really the main motivating factor for doing something productive. That, and chauffeuring my brother (but classifying that as 'productive' is a bit of a stretch).

I figure that with me being marginally productive, I should try to double it and type up the scribbled/copied (from the internet) recipes, how I altered them, and any problems I came across. Just in case any of my peers (or anyone else) gets a budget and a cooking mandate from their mother.