Posted on tumblr because I couldn’t figure out how to post a video here. Less than 30 seconds long, though, and worth the click if you like cute dogs behaving in cute ways. 🙂
Someone suggested Shadow for the new dog name. It would have been a good name, because he follows two steps behind Zelda like a little black shadow to her slightly bigger white body. Instead he’s Bartlebee. He’s doing okay. I think I’m probably going to perpetually worry about his health — he’s a wheezy little guy, snores horribly and has times when he sounds as if he’s choking on snot. (Sorry to put that graphic into your head.) But he’s peaceful and happy-go-lucky and has been quick to pick up new house rules.
In other news, R is in Seattle. I miss him horribly. Not going to dwell on that, because it will make me sadder, but oh, I miss him.
But my friend C has moved in, so my nest was not empty for long. C likes to cook, even more than I do, and we are having amazing meals. C is fond of slow cooker foods wrapped in tortillas and I’m fond of grilled foods wrapped in tortillas, so we’re mostly eating interesting tortilla concoctions: Korean pulled beef with cabbage and carrots, buffalo chicken with blue cheese and celery, jerk shrimp with avocado and tomato. All wrapped in tortillas. C picks the healthy whole-grain kind, but I’m finishing up the flour tortillas. I’ll probably switch to whole-grain when I run out of flour and see how that goes. I’m eating healthier but I’m also eating more, so any nod to fewer calories is probably a good idea.
Anyway, I keep saying I should take pictures and keep not remembering, but I do want to remember this dish. On Friday, we made fish cooked in parchment paper. We took the fillets (swai, a fish I’d never tried before), sprinkled them with salt and paper, added a couple of thin slices of lime, some small pieces of zucchini, carrots, and green onions, cilantro, and a little olive oil mixed with wine, and folded them into parchment paper envelopes. Baked in the oven for fifteen minutes and it was so, so good. Really easy and fast, absolutely healthy, plus the only dirty dishes were the knife and the cutting board. Ha. It wasn’t even expensive. The fish (to feed four( cost less than $5 at the fish market. Totally worth making again and again–although C and I were already talking about all the possible variations. I want to try it with tomatoes and olives, and then with lemons and asparagus, and even though I’m not a huge pepper fan, I think peppers and onions and some Season-all would probably be tasty. So many options!
Hi Sarah, good to hear from you. The video of Zelda makes me smile. Very cute! Change is a funny thing – good and bad at the same time – moving on to a new phase in your life. The fish sounds good – how do you know how long to cook it? Last time I tried, the fish was not cooked thru the first couple of times I checked it and it seemed kind of painful. And I never heard of pulled korean beef, let alone thought of wrapping it in a tortilla! Although I have had a couple of chinese dishes in little flour tortillas, hmm. Something to think about trying.
We have been a bit shaken up down here. My sister in Chicago says if you live on a fault line you have to expect earthquakes, but I have been here since 84, and nothing as freaky as this has happened. Random events that you just have to ride through… The worst bit is waiting for the next one that may or may not happen.
I lived in CA for fifteen years or so and never experienced more than a minor quake but friends who were there for Loma Prieta in 1989 tell me that the aftershocks are the worst part. And waiting for another one to hit would be so stressful! I hope it doesn’t happen, but I’d be stocking up on bottled water, I’m sure.
As for the fish, I think you need to cook it at a hotter temperature oven than I would have expected. I usually think 350 or 375 for baking, but we had it at 425. The time, though, should depend on the thickness of the fillet. It could be as much as 25 minutes for a thick fillet but ours were pretty thin. (Also, the fish was still really moist, which made it a little hard to tell that it was done, but it was.)
Zelda is one of the cutest basketball players I’ve seen.
I love things wrapped in tortillas. And I love the slow cooker. Not fond of fish,though. Wish I was cause it’s supposed to be good for you.
Glad you’re having some company through the R move. How is he doing?
Every time I talk to him, it’s about the college application process. He’s trying to get everything done in August and wow, it seems so much more complicated than it was when I was applying. But he’s trying to qualify for scholarships, too, so that’s part of it. He doesn’t school until September, so I hope he’ll start having more fun then!