Before 7 pm...

[evilhippo]

I actually left work at 5:30 today... and took a lunch break. (The break was a mistake. I need to replace my cell phone, and ended up ogling the Palm Pre and trying to justify the purchase. It's $200, but it's very pretty and the phone plan itself is only about $30 a month more than mine now, and includes internets. But... yeah. Considering how much more I'll be spending on my apartment, I can't imagine being so weak-willed as to end up with a smartphone at this point. Unless my job strips away the last bit of sanity I have... which, considering I've worked 13 hours of overtime since last Tuesday, is actually kind of possible.)

Lollapalooza is already gumming up traffic downtown, and so I didn't actually get back down to Hyde Park until well after 6 anyway, but, on the plus side, I took the museum bus all the way down to 57th and walked up the lake shore trail, which afforded me a prime view of some kind of boating debacle that required two firetrucks, an ambulance, the coast guard, and a helicopter. I really, really wish I knew what happened. No explosions or fire, though there was a strong burning smell in the air for a little while.

And I made dinner for the first time since like, Pitchfork. Cornmeal-breaded tilapia with mango-pineapple salsa, and some beans from my back porch. It was good, because it was an actual meal, but I really need to figure out how to make fish actually good. It wasn't bad (in fact, it was in the top five fish dishes I've made this year), but I either overcooked it or over-breaded it, because it was far too dry. Someday... someday I will figure this whole cooking thing out. Or at least the part of it that involves preparing fish so it doesn't suck.

And yeah... this entry is kind of entirely pointless, but I'm trying to waste time until the stomping from upstairs stops. Then, I am going to bed so I can joyfully face another day of law-clerking. Woo.

Comments

[rainbowgirl28.livejournal.com]

Buy better fish than Tilapia, then it will taste better!

[evilhippo.livejournal.com]

I've had terrible luck with most other kinds of fish... do you know anything as hard to screw up as tilapia that's a better fish? Salmon has been pretty easy for me, but I don't like it enough to make it often.

[rainbowgirl28.livejournal.com]

The fresher the fish the better it usually tastes, so you could see what people catch locally.

Maybe invest in a deep fryer? We loved the one we had until it broke, and we haven't gotten a new one yet. Or maybe George Foreman it? Or chop it up after you cook it and mix it with rice/veggies/sauce so that you don't taste the fish as much :)

[evilhippo.livejournal.com]

Oh man, now you've got me searching for fishmongers around here. There isn't much caught locally, since the Great Lakes are both kind of polluted and pretty strongly regulated, but now that you've got the idea of real fresh fish in my mind...

I'm definitely a fan of hiding the fish in other dishes. I've done that with most of my less-successful experiments.

A deep fryer would be so much fun, but I worry that having a deep fryer in combination with my rather sedentary desk job would spell disaster for my health. (-; I'd be all "... Banana? Pancake batter? Breakfast!" and that'd be the end of me living past thirty.

[rainbowgirl28.livejournal.com]

Lukas and I (well mainly me) have been eyeballing the George Foreman deep fryer ever since our last one broke. It fries it and then (if you want) it spins the food rapidly causing the excess grease to spin off.

It's still deep fried food, but it gets rid of the stuff that you might dab off with a napkin (which I always do and Lukas hates). Only works with firmer foods.

Maybe when he gets a few paychecks at this new job...

[lisiche.livejournal.com]

Did you bake it? That could be a problem. I've found baking fish dries it out super quick. Grilling or pan-frying can leave fish much much more moist and able to withstand accidentally cooking it too long.

My dad came up with this fabulous recipe for salmon involving three spoons of lemon pepper to one spoon of minced garlic and at least half a stick of butter in a frying pan on low/medium heat. And it's so hard to mess up, because since salmon's usually thick the worst you do is make the outside too crispy.

[evilhippo.livejournal.com]

Yeah... I did bake it. I try to avoid pan-frying as much as possible, because I always make a mess and destroy things. (Keep in mind I'm also incapable of making hamburgers in a pan.) I do need to use the grill before summer's over, though... Hmmm... And now you've made me hungry for salmon. Darn you. It's breakfast time!