Fish Tacos with Pickled Peppers & Apples

Fish Tacos

The kitchen isn’t quite yet restored. The pot rack went up Sunday, finally, and while it looks mostly complete (sans the microwave sitting in the middle of the floor), there’s surprisingly a lot missing. Our tea balls have yet to be discovered. For the time being our evening tea *gasp* must be standard tea bags rather than loose. Most of the pots have been found, though the colander is still MIA. I bought some yogurt the other day, but the fantastic granola we brought home from Vermont is yet to be found. It’s a work in progress. I’m hoping Sunday I’ll have lots of time to organize. My husband will be away playing Dungeons and Dragons (yes, he’s 30-something and still plays; if you don’t know what it is, trust me, it’s better) so I will have the day to myself. Writing, decorating and still unpacking.

Our diet has gradually shifted from 100% to about 50% takeout. I can’t tell you how much I crave normalcy. And the meals we do cook have been simple, though still creative. Tonight was my first attempt at fish tacos. Something I’ve loved for years (I can’t get enough from Ho’Brah a few blocks south), but never attempted on my own. In my eyes, a good taco is simply a complementary blend of things, wrapped together in a corn tortilla. Protein, acid, crunch, sweet and salt. And a little bit of heat is a given.

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Sauteed Zucchini Over Pasta

Zucchini & Pasta (5)

This simple meal has comforted me in both kitchens home and away. When my friend and I backpacked through Europe after college (wow, almost a decade ago…) it because a staple of our diet anytime we had access to a kitchen, whether it was the communal “kitchen” of a hostel or our own apartment for the week. It was a dish that made us feel normal. For a few moments, we weren’t dirty travelers living our of our backpacks for the next 10 weeks, having picnics of bread, fruit and cheese from the local Aldi and saving up for real restaurant dinners when we could (not that it wasn’t great!). But it was the moments when we had access to a kitchen that were magical. When we could pretend that we weren’t moving every few days, but grounded, just for a few days. We dined on pasta, salads, soups and occasionally some chicken or beef. The meals were always simple as we had a limited pantry to work with, but somehow the zucchini over pasta was always a favorite.

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Healthy New Year Resolutions

LemonHerbTenderloin

It’s Monday, January 7 and that means the official kick off of New Years Resolution diets all over the world. Or at least for me. Why start now, and not January 1? Well, usually New Year’s day is still full of unhealthy eating. Plus you have to get back to work…anxiety…yada, yada, yada. Plus New Year’s Day was a Tuesday. EVERYBODY knows you start a diet on Monday. Why? I have absolutely no idea. It’s just the way things are, from the beginning of time. If nothing else, it gives you a few more days to pig out on those leftovers, right?

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