Fish Tacos!

I made this for dinner using the fish I'd caught a couple of days earlier:


--FISH TACOS--

1 lb. fresh fish fillets
salt and pepper
olive oil

1 dozen corn tortillas
vegetable oil or butter

Salsa - make or buy a mango salsa
1 ripe avocado

cabbage (or iceberg lettuce)
cider vinegar
salt

1) Prepare salsa

2) Prepare the cabbage and avocado. Thinly slice the cabbage and put in a small serving bowl. Sprinkle with cider vinegar (about a Tbsp.) and salt (about a tsp). Mix in the vinegar and salt. Peel the avocado, remove the seed then chop and reserve for later.

3) If wished heat the tortillas. One method: put a skillet to medium high heat then using a small amount of oil or butter tend the tortillas for 1 minute flipping as needed. Remove the tortilla and place them folded on a plate. Another method: microwave on a paper towel for 25 seconds.

4) Cook the fish using a skillet set to medium high heat using a small amount of olive oil (2 tsp). Fish cooks very quickly and foodies recommend the fish to remain barely translucent. For thinner fillets this means perhaps only one minute per side. When done, remove to plate and sprinkle with salt and pepper.

5) All of the ingredients are ready! Let the diners assemble their own tacos.

6) Also suggested is a white sauce ala San Diego. Anywhere from 2 Tbs. - 1 cup of mayonnaise blended or stirred with one small can of diced green chiles.

7) Other assembly add ins: sliced red onions or especially San Diego authentic would be sliced radishes. Lime juice squeezed across the top of the finished taco is also strongly recommened.

We enjoyed this meal though it was not as savory as those we've ordered in restaurants. Healthwise, that might be a good thing! We would be willing to make these again.

Dad & Judy; Taco Milagro

Yesterday Dad, Judy and their granddaughter Taylor met me at Houston's Taco Milagro. They were going to have Taylor with them for a couple of days while her parents moved from Kingwood closer into town. Anyways, it was my first time to dine at Taco Milagro and I was looking forward to it as it is a star-rated restaurant in the Houston Chronicle and I've rarely been disappointed when a restaurant has been so rated. Taylor was kept busy pitching pennies into a pool located in the outdoor dining area. This restaurant is known as a great people watching spot. A person had brought their dog which always raises my ire. If I'm asked to not smoke in an outdoor dining area I'll abide by that, but at the same time my expectations are that such people whom have made this demand will in turn refrain from bringing their dogs into an eating area!

Anyhow, the food was really good as I tried Dad's recommendation of the chile rellenos. These are two peppers stuffed with cheese, dried fruit and pecans and then sauced with mexican type salsa. Unique, and very good though look out for the acid-stomach that may ensue! Dad was treating the various salsas as though they were tequila shots!

It was a quick visit but very enjoyable and I'm glad that they had called to invite me. Mai had wrapped our Christmas gifts intended for Dad and Judy which I gave to them as we parted. They had a card for Mai's birthday and also their Christmas letter which they gave to me. Very warm weather for this time of year, about 80 degrees.

Today, I went fishing off the Quintana jetty near Freeport. I keep forgetting the turnoff (SH 523) so the drive takes an extra 20 Minutes. I bought both live shrimp and fresh mullet. The shrimp were to target whatever might be biting while the mullet were going to be used specifically for redfish. It was foggy which was not something that I was expecting though the sun was still able to provide some warmth. During the winter it's better to go in the afternoon in hopes that the fish will become more active with the increasing warmth. This is especially true if there are rocks (that's what a jetty is!) or a shallow flat of mud bottom, the darker colors are able to capture more heat.

The operator of the bait camp told me that the morning's catch had been some pompano and whiting. Pompano is great tablefare so I was hopeful. Of course, the morning had featured an incoming tide while the afternoon would have an outgoing one and fishing is generally better on an incoming tide rather than an outgoing one. Still, my plan all along had been to take advantage of the warming afternoon sun. I left the bait camp and drove to the intracoastal canal hoping that here the water would remain in its incoming mode because inland waters will have delayed tide action. Nothing here so I continued on to the Quintana Park jetty; the jetty stabilizes the mouth of the Brazos River. A fellow coming off the jetty related that fishing was slow though he'd managed to get a couple of sheepshead

I continued down the jetty to about 50 yards from the shore line where I threw out a couple of lines. Fresh mullet was soaked on the bottom while live shrimp was fished under a popping cork. No bites though I did break a rod when the bottom soaking line's hook got fouled amongst the rocks. All fairly discouraging. Finally, a sheepshead struck the live shrimp and I landed an 18 incher. As the day progressed I landed 4 more to make for a limit ranging in size from 15 to 18 inches. All were caught very close to the rocks on a small treble hook. Sheepshead are difficult to clean but make great table fare. It takes a sizable sheepshead to get a worthy fillet and my catch was marginal in this regard. The Texas legal size is 12 inches.

Here is a link to a picture of a sheepshead though it fails to show its prominent dorsal fin that cause some inexperienced fishermen to call them angel fish.

http://C:/Documents

Mai's Birthday!

Today we celebrated Mai's birthday! I gave her nicely scented Vera Wang parfume that also came with some body lotion. This is so much better than the SAS shoes which she had mentioned as a possible birthday gift. Vera Wang parfume is really nice! Also, I gave Mai a nicely decorated chocolate circus birthday cake. While we did not eat it in one sitting, we certainly won't have a problem with finishing it in the near future!

In this post I've attempted to copy the URL of a post I made to Chron.com

http://forums.chron.com/n/pfx/forum.aspx?tsn=1&nav=messages&webtag=hc-world&tid=58

Apparently, it worked! Upon further review, this has not been successful. I'll try to fix!
I paid attention more closely to the URL that I was pasting and it now works! The initial http// was showing up twice which made the address nonsense.

This is experimental as I'm trying to create a photo link (I have my fingers crossed!). This is a link to one of my favorite flower shots:

//www.dloan.photosite.com/Album8/Flowers_2_0003.html

The link is successful! Wow!

*** White House Chocolate Cookies Chip ***
- makes about 70 cookies -

Molasses keeps the chocolate chip cookies chewey for more than a day. It also gives them a more intense brown sugar flavor than Toll House-type cookies. These cookies are baked @ 400 degrees for a good reason: high heat browns the outside while keeping the inside moist and almost gooey. Don't overbake these, or they will overbrown on the outside and dry out on the inside.

- 3 cups plus 3 tablespoons all-purpose flour
- 1 teaspoon baking soda
- 1/4 teaspoon salt
- 1 cup (2 sticks) unsalted butter, softened
- 1 cup granulated sugar
- 2/3 cup packed light brown sugar
- 2 large eggs
- 1/4 cup molasses
- 1 tablespoon pure vanilla extract
- 2 cups (one 12-ounce bag) chocolate chips
- 1 cup chopped walnuts

1) Combine the flour, baking soda, and salt in a medium mixing bowl.

2) In a separate bowl, cream together the butter, granulated sugar, and brown sugar until thoroughly combined. Beat in the eggs, molasses, and vanilla. Stir in the flour mixture until just incorporated, then stir in the chocolate chips and walnuts. (I did this all by hand though the original recipe would instruct us to use the paddle attachment on an electric mixer. I assume the usage of the electric mixer stops when we are asked to incorporate the flour mixture.) Place the bowl in the refrigerator and allow the dough to chill for 1 hour. This allows for easier handling later.

3) Preheat the oven to 400 degrees. Line several baking sheets with parchment paper.

4) Drop heaping tablespoons or #40 ice cream scoops of the dough 2 inches apart on the prepared baking sheets, flattening them slightly by hand. (Ball of dough may be placed next to each other on parchment-lined baking sheets, frozen, transferred to zipper-lock plastic freezer bags, and stored in the freezer for up to 1 month. Place frozen cookies on prepared sheets as above, and defrost on the counter for 30 minutes before baking)

5) Bake until just light golden, 8 to 10 minutes. Cool the cookies for 5 minutes on the baking sheets before using a metal spatula to transfer them to a wire rack to cool completely. Chocolate Chip Cookies will keep in an airtight container for 2 to 3 days.

Western Thirst

This photo was taken for a company contest showing myself or other family members enjoying products manufactured by my company. I used a professional grade Kodak 200 speed film and had the camera tripod mounted. I wanted to capture background detail too, so the shot was taken at F19 and fill flash was employed. It took about 2-1/2 hours to get this shot as I had to hike for a mile and then scout about for a suitable location. I had a lot of fun shooting a goal-oriented photo. Slight disappointments would include the eye shadows and the front jacket shadow. I tried to minimize a dull sky.