Who guessed I was on deadline last week? You're so smart. That and I was tired enough each night to fall asleep during whatever program we happened to be watching at 9:15. It's pathetic, really, but it's absolute proof of karma. I remember mercilessly mocking my own parents for falling asleep in front of the television. Silly, short-sighted girl. Given my overall tendency toward mild narcolepsy--I owe so many of my college and grad school professors apologies for catnapping in their classes that I'd have to start writing the apology notes right now to finish before I die--I should have known the Sleepytime TV Sandman would come to get me sooner or later. And I'm still trying to decide whether my falling asleep during 24 indicates that I will be toddling off to bed at 8:30 by the time I'm 40 or that Season 6 is just not living up to my expectations. Hard to say.
So we had some big fun at our house last night. Last week, when I was preparing our weekly grocery list, I happened to ask Connery if he would like anything specific for dinner. "It has been a while since we had any fish," he noted. So long a while in light of my irrational hatred of fish, I thought to myself, that the 12th of Never comes to mind. Still, I wanted to be a good nutritional role model, so I asked him what kind of fish he had in mind. "Fish sticks? Tuna fish?" I asked hopefully, imagining a skillful concealment of my own chicken strips with a rampart of for-show fish sticks.
"I was thinking of steelhead," he intoned.
What? All I know from Steelhead is that our lovely and talented friend Robin runs Steelhead Studios. You mean you can eat a steelhead? Can I fry it up and serve it with potato salad? Most importantly, who the hell is teaching him these things?
Turns out steelhead is a kind of salmon, available via overnight express for the low low price of just $74.99. Or, you know, it would be possible to sub in the Atlantic salmon at $3.99 per fillet at Albertson's. Unsurprisingly, we went for Albertson's (which is, by the way, the grocery store with the worst new slogan ever. Albertson's is now CRAZY ABOUT FOOD! What marketing genius thought that up?). Anyway, I bought the salmon fillets yesterday, and Chip prepared them masterfully with a fresh herb crust finished off with white wine. They looked delicious and tasted...well..a lot like fish. I told Chip that he had prepared the least bad fish I'd ever eaten, which he did not take as a great compliment, even though it was absolutely meant in that spirit.
And what of our budding gourmand, Monsieur Connery? He was cajoled into taking a single bite and then spit it out. So much for the sophisticated three-year-old palate. Next time he mentions how I am depriving him of his essential fatty acids and Omega 3s I'm pulling out the Mrs. Paul's. And I'll have some chicken strips.