Friday, February 22, 2008

A fishy quandry

I love to cook - and I have quite a few signature dishes. I receive rave reviews any time I fix ribs, meatballs, pizza, boxed cereal...no one pours milk like I do!

I cannot cook fish. It is a tragedy really. I do have one good recipe for salmon but that's pretty much it. And I've tried everything. Tonight I had two fabulous pieces of Mahi Mahi tuna. It is fatty and meaty which means its pretty tolerent of fools like myself so if I overcook it, the fish does retain some moisture.

So I gave it a good rinse and dunked it in milk to let it soak. (gets rid of the 'fishy' taste / smell) Any fish that has been wrapped in plastic more than a day gets that fishy smell and its just nasty. I then pulled out my jelly roll pan and greased it up.

Lying out the fish, I lightly coated it in butter then Old Bay seasoning, Louisiana Spice (its a brand) garlic and a dash of salt and pepper. I then sliced an onion very thin and laid that on top along with some thin sweet pepper strips. It looked very pretty - I was quite pleased with myself. (did you notice I forgot the lemon?)

Popped it in the oven and baked it for about 15 minutes - it was smelling good.....and it had little flavor at all. I could taste the garlic and a hint of the butter but that was it. I have no clue what went wrong, am I supposed to coat the fish in seasoning?

Yes ma'am, I'd like some fish with my seasoning...

What gives???

Signed,

Disaster in the Kitchen

Thursday, February 21, 2008

I've lost my brain...

if found, please return to J.C. Wilder as she is looking for it...when she remembers its missing that is.

Took Mom to the doctor this morning. I mentioned that she was ill a few weeks ago on my blog. She was diagnosed with pulmonary fibrosis and stenosis of one of her heart valves. This doesn't have much to do with my brain which is MIA, but it is a follow up to an early post so there you go.

I took her to the two doctors, heart and lung guys, then shot off on a trip to NY. Somehow, in the furor of packing, flying, coming home etc, I seem to have completely forgotten exactly what the lung doctor told us to do. What I remembered was to pick up an oxygen sensor for Mom to wear overnight to test her oxygen levels while she slept. So yesterday I picked up the machine and all was well.

CHECK!

This morning I take her to the doctor and I handed in the machine. They downloaded the information to check her stats and voila...she never turned it on. Yep, she put on the machine, slept with it all night and failed to turn it on.

Yes, at least I come by my craziness honestly.

So the nurses and Mom and I laughed about it. I had explained to Mom how to put it on and she missed the part about the little button on the top.

Then, the next nurse comes in to ask about the breathing test.

What breathing test?
The one that was scheduled for Monday at the hospital down the street from you.
Blink.
I wasn't aware of a breathing test...

Yes, I forgot to take Mom for a breathing test appointment. So she forgets to turn on the machine...I forget to take her for another test.

Sometimes it doesn't pay to get out of bed.

Wednesday, February 20, 2008

Gorging Myself...

Today I am gorging myself on Project Runway (www.bravotv.com) I just love that show. In high school I created most of my clothing because we were financially challenged - not to mention that it was a great way to express myself creatively.

Keeping in mind that it's been about 24 years since I've created a garment, Project Runway has inspired me to pick up my scissors again. A few months ago I picked up some fabulous fabrics with the Romantic Times conference in mind. So here it is, eight weeks until RT and I've yet to even pick up the bag of fabric. So here is my challenge, I bought materials to create a duster, and two shirts. If I can create one new look for RT, I consider myself a winner.

Think I can do it? :)

Tuesday, February 19, 2008

Home Again

I returned home late Thursday and I'm glad to be here. What is it about stretching out in your own bed? It's the closest thing one will come to finding perfection in life that's for sure.

NY was great fun and I can't wait to return. I injured my knee walking to the theatre to see RENT but it was worth it. Seeing that performance was worth both pain and blood...except I didn't bleed. But if I had, it still would've been worth it.

At the end of the performance the staff of the Nederland theatre directed me to walk down some back steps and voila - ended up backstage. LOL! I was able to meet a few principals of the show and thank them for their most excellent job they did. It was brilliant.

But now I'm back in Ohio...no theatre here. (sigh)