Fish tacos and critters in the night

For those who are curious, I seem to have survived my 'tweaked' back from the last post. It's still touchy and a little sore, but I've exercised it (walking) and rested it and I think it's on the way to being usable again.

But then to yesterday. A morning football game that overlapped lunchtime, so I followed my previous post by arranging a fun meal around it. That won't be possible for the next two games, both of which are evening games, but I think it's a good tradition for daytime games.

This time, I opted to try making fish tacos, which was a first for me. I've watched enough chefs on TV make them -- with various methods -- and learned that there's not "one" way to do it. So, I took what I've learned from all these and created something that worked for me.

I used snapper (actually, rockfish), soaked in milk to get rid of the fishy smell, then marinated awhile in simple olive oil, lemon, and spices like cumin, coriander and cayenne, plus S&P.  In future, I'll use much less cayenne, because it overwhelmed all the other spices.

I made some sriracha mayonnaise, and some avocado sauce with lime and yogurt, and a 'slaw' from cilantro, green onions, tomato strips (no liquid center, just the outside) and a piece of cabbage plant from the garden. The fish was baked at 400 for about 12 minutes (should have been less, but I got distracted). The tortillas softened in a hot skillet.  Assembly is simple: I slathered one sauce on either side of the tortilla, the put the fish in with the slaw on top. That's all there is to it. Aside from the excess cayenne, it was really good. And I have enough left for lunch today, which is always a great side benefit. I'll scrape some of the cayenne off before reheating the fish!

Had to laugh at myself last night as I lay in the dark listening to the radio, settling down for a hopefully good night's sleep. A critter landed on me, and came back over and over! This isn't the first time -- sometimes I see the culprit, often not, and unless it returns a second time I don't give it much thought. This one, I believe, was a small moth of some kind. Just before the first tickle on the skin I caught a shadow out of the corner of my eye. Later, on another 'attack' I felt a slight, cool wind from its wings before it alit. I jumped out of the bed twice, trying to escape the thing. I've seen spiders a couple of times in similar situations, and while I can deal with a moth on me, not so much with spiders. Eventually it went away and I ended up with nine hours of almost solid sleep! I have vague memories of wakening once, about halfway through, but I basically was out from 10pm to near 7am, which is remarkable for me. The frustrating thing is that I don't feel rested -- but then, I rarely do.

I feel an urge to get out and do something today -- I've been in this house/neighborhood too much for too long, am ready for a change of pace. But then, I'm too cheap to spend the gas to drive much of anywhere, so I guess I'll stay home.