Fish Tacos

The fish man at the grocery store convinced me to get a couple of Mahi fillets and said they were GREAT for fish tacos! I'd never cooked Mahi before but because it was Fish Friday (buy one get one free) I decided to go for it!!! And boy o boy I am glad I did. These are probably the best fish tacos I've ever had. The type of fish really makes a difference and Mahi is an excellent choice! I used a marinade recipe from a brochure at the seafood counter and made my own "slaw" topping and special sauce. You've gotta try this one!

Ingredients:

• 1/4 cup olive oil
• Juice of 1 lime
• 1/4 cup cilantro
• 1 1/2 teaspoons ground cumin
• 1 tsp chili powder
• Mahi fillets
• 1/2 cup sour cream
• Roasted red peppers - about 1 tablespoon chopped (from a jar)
• lime zest
• Iceberg lettuce
• Alfalfa sprouts
• Carrots
• Raddishes
• Avocado
• Raw red bell pepper
• corn tortillas

FISH: In a small bowl, combine oil, lime juice, cilantro, 1 tsp cumin, and chili powder. Place fish in shallow dish and pour marinade over fish. Let stand 30 minutes.

Remove fish from marinade and place fish on broiler pan sprayed iwth non-stick cooking spray. Broil 4 inches from heat until fish flakes easily. (Tip! While broiling, open oven to first notch (so it stays open by itself. This helps prevent fish from burning and smoking up the entire house but does not effect cooking.)

SAUCE:

In a small bowl, combine sour cream, more lime juice, more cilantro, remaining cumin, roasted red peppers, and lime zest and salt and pepper to taste.

SLAW:

I chopped up iceberg lettuce very finely and added alfafa sprouts, finely chopped carrots, radish, avocado, red bell pepper. Squeeze some lime over the top and add a pinch of salt and pepper to taste. Mix up gently as to not squash the avo and ta da!

Break up fish and divide among tortillas. Top with sauce and slaw and DEVOUR!

Bulbous Freak

This is what happens when I wear flats that are open on top...BULGE CITY! I am praying to the shoe gods that I won't be stuck in "sneakers" for the rest of my life. Gym shoes wreak havoc on my cute outfits.

Sneak Peek

I've been slow to post lately, but we've been REALLY busy! Work has been insanely busy and surprisingly our social calendar has been filling up lately! But, really, we've been making progress on home projects!! Whooppee! 

Steve has been very busy crafting beautiful window sills and trim for our guest room and office. It all came about when we decided to replace a few old windows with new ones and the installer suggested we put in new window sills prior to installation of the window. So Steve went to town, grinding off the old sills (not really even a sill - just drywall and texture stuff), and quickly learned that grinding off drywall makes LOTS of dust. The entire office was covered with a layer of dust. So for the next room he built a bubble around the window to work in. Even then there was dust everywhere. The new grasscloth wall paper was caked - Steve spent quite some time vacuuming off the dust!!  Finally, when he got to the window in the living room, we bubbled off the window and then double-bubbled the entire living room! This took an entire night to prep..we had to remove everything from the room, tape up the plastic with a complete seal and then we put textbooks down on the bottom of the plastic so that the dust wouldn't creep up underneath and spread throughout the house. Phew! All that work for about 5 minutes of grinding. 

All of my patience is paying off because Steve's sills and trim are GORGEOUS! Absolutely gorgeous!!! He isn't quite done so this is just a sneak peek before my official before and after photos :) 

Enjoy!

Friday Favorites - Oryx and Crake

One of my favorite books of all time is Margaret Atwood's, Oryx and Crake.  I first read this book junior year of college for my english class and fell in LOVE. And the other day I was out of things to read so I dusted it off and read it again!

This book is a futuristic take on the everyday lives of Americans, from the eyes of one character, Snowman. But, it isn't sci-fi and outlandish. It's actually a story that could come true and in fact, many times I would stop and reflect on the similiarites between this futuristic chaos and the world as we know it today. Think Fahrenheit 451 but instead of banishing books, this story wipes out the human soul and devastates science. Snowman's story is one of fighting through the artificiality of his old life and learning how to cope with his new, more solitary life among the Crakers. If you want to read about the effects of cross-breeding pigs and racoons (Pigoons) and rats and skunks (Rakunks), you should read this book! And if you think chicken nuggets are gross, how about chiki-nobs?!

Everyone should read this book! It is a serious page turner!!! Let me know if you want to borrow it!

Love Letter Sunday

I always have a difficult time throwing away notes and cards when there is something sweet written inside. I love that most of these letters are HAND written when these days handwritten letters are so rare. I've been stashing these gems for years and I've decided to showcase them here on my blog for all to see. These thank you notes, birthday cards, valentines, postcards, and my personal favorite,"letters just because" are so special to me and I hope you enjoy reading them.  

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Apparently, I'm the shit ;)

 

Friday Favorites - Hooky bobbers

One of my favorite little details in the house are these cute little hooks that we got from Cost Plus. They add the perfect touch of color and fun to an otherwise boring laundry room/pantry. 

Isn't it Ironic?

Last year at my "Favorite Things" bridal shower, I received a gift from a woman who's favorite thing was a battery operated screw driver. She said it makes life much easier if you have some handy tools to hang pictures and do chores around the house that normally you'd have to wait for a man to do. Since being a home owner, I've learned that home projects, whether they are simple tasks like hanging pictures or big events like installing windowsills, take time. Too much time. Much more time that I am comfortable with. But, I never try not to complain too much because its usually Steve who has the tools and the muscle (and usually the brains) to get the job done. But Sunday I was determined to hang up some decorations that had been sitting sadly on the bar just begging to be hung! I'm a pro at hanging things with thumbtacks and tiny nails, but this called for something more heavy duty. And then I remembered my fancy schmancy screw driver from the shower and I got to thinking about how I can use MY tools to get the job done! Ah ha!

The screwdriver came in that awful plastic packaging. You know, the kind that is IMPOSSIBLE to open! Yeah, I know you know what I'm talking about and I can bet that you probably just winced in horror at the thought of the last time you attempted to open one.

Now it gets good, trust me.

So, right next to the screwdriver package is my "Ladies Mate" - my very own personal toolkit. Hammer, nails, tape measure and lots of other useless stuff. But, lookie here! A box cutter! Nearly new! This should do the job!

I am slicing and dicing the plastic and need just one more tiny cut before I can even attempt to pry open the package. And that's when it happened. The blade flew off the plastic and directly into my left index finger. I took one look at the cut and knew it was BAD. Like, worst cut ever! Like, you could see my finger's innards! Must. Apply. Pressure. IMMEDIATELY!  Go directly to Steve, do not pass go!

Yeah, sure, now I am in dire need of a MAN to help me out. Even more, I needed a MAN to help me open that damn package ten minutes ago! Instead, my ladies mate and my super cool screwdriver and the words from the lovely woman, "you don't need a man!" went whirling through my head and I convinced myself that I could do it! I am determined to get things DONE. I am woman!!

I calmly, I got up and grabbed a paper towel, wrapped it around my finger, walked outside, and gently called out, "Oh Billy! I think I have an emergency here. I think I might need stitches." That's right, no exclamation points, no high pitch squeal, no CAPS LOCK. How weird is it that I was as calm as the morning sea? In fact, as I was walking outside, I kept telling myself, stay calm, do not freak out, breathe. And then my brain was like, "umm hello, are you serious? Where's the tears? Where's the screams? Why isn't this hurting?? Why are you being so calm? Who are you?" Seriously, I was pretty freaked out that I wasn't freaking out. So not me.

I get to Steve and he takes one single look and says, "let's go!", grabs a bazillion paper towels and jumps in the car. Off to the ER we go! Turns out I didn't need stitches after all. Pretty lucky huh? Just a tetanus shot and some dermabond (prescribed by hot doc!). Yep, skin glue! Which also means I cannot get my finger wet for a week. Here we go again...

In summary:

1. I need Steve. I am so happy to have him and I am so lucky that he enjoys doing projects in our house to make it beautiful.
2. I am also glad to have my handy Ladies Mate and that cool screwdriver, but from this point forward I will ask for help when I need it!
3. Do not use a box cutter to try to open those stupid plastic packages!!!
4. Rebel against said plastic packages and refuse to buy items wrapped in them!