Fish - Wild, Decorative, Delicious
WILD
The Blue Gill are FINALLY coming back to Lake Elizabeth. I noticed increased numbers of fry this weekend when I buried Foster in his little paper boat on Sunday (an entirely different story altogether), which made me happy. I know the majority of patrons couldn't care less about the health of our natural ponds, lakes, and other waterways - especially since so many of them have commented on how pretty the koi are and how they wish there were more of them (*sigh*) - but to those of us who do care, this is a welcome rebound. The koi and catfish are still there in alarming numbers and the Blue Gill fry are currently just the right size to be perfect turtle fodder, but I think the numbers are high enough that they will eventually rebuild the school. Let's cross our fingers and hope they come back for good!
DECORATIVE
I'm afraid we haven't been keeping up on our aquarium as well as we should, but luckily we have some pretty sturdy fish. The surprise is that some of the sturdiest fish are the Neon Tetras, a species of fish that I have had historically bad luck keeping alive. This particular school appears to be much less delicate and is very few missing members, if any (they're small and fast, so counting them is a little harder than you'd think). Our Rasboras are also doing well and seem to have maintained their numbers. Unfortunately, we've lost 2/3 of our Cherry Barbs and both of our Dwarf Gouramis have died - RIP Dempster and Rand. Don't know how many Otocinclus we have since they're largely nocturnal and don't appear to like being observed by humans; they hide extremely well and we'll probably never know exactly how many we have unless we tear down the tank for some reason. The last time we tore down a tank was when we upgraded to the 44 gallon tank from the 35 gallon tank. At the time we thought we had 4 Otos, but in reality we wound up with 7! Camoflauge really works!
DELICIOUS
I think I need to make some more Fish Cakes. They're really yummy and they toast up well in the toaster oven. They're really easy to make, too:
[1] Bake up some boneless fish fillets in the oven. I like salmon, tilapia, or cod, although I've also skipped this step and just used a can of cooked tuna (although the fishy flavor is a little stronger with the canned tuna). You could probably use canned salmon as well, but make sure you get the skinless and boneless canned salmon because fish cakes with skin and spine pieces in them is rather unappetizing in my opinion.
[2] Boil an equal amount of potatoes (1 pound potatoes for every 1 pound of fish) and mash them up. I tend to add butter and milk to the potatoes just like I would if I were going to eat the mashed potatoes by themselves.
[3] Chop up some parsley and some dill to mix in to the potatoes; exactly how much is up to you.
[4] Time to get your hands dirty! Add the fish to the potatoes and herbs and mix (read: squish with your fingers) into a heavy paste-like consistency. If it's too wet, add some panko bread crumbs to soak up the extra moisture.
[5] Make small cakes about 3 inches or so in diameter, half an inch or so thick, and coat them with panko bread crumbs. If you have the right consistency and moistness, you shouldn't need an egg wash to make the bread crumbs stick.
At this point you can either bake the cakes in the oven, pan fry them, or deep fry them. I like deep frying them because they stay moist inside and don't soak up too much oil; after all, you only need to fry them long enough to make the outside crispy because everything in the cake is already cooked. Baking might be healthier, but they do wind up being a little drier overall, especially after you reheat them. Pan frying has to be done at a lower temperature than deep frying, so the cakes will suck up more oil if you're not careful about how much you're using to begin with.
When using canned tuna, I also throw in parmesan cheese to temper the strong flavor of the tuna, although you could probably also use cheddar or any other cheese that floats your boat. A dry cheese will help soak up moisture, though, so your bread crumbs will stick nicely and your cake won't fall apart in the fryer (we actually had a batch that were so moist inside that they disintegrated when they hit the hot oil!). You can freeze the cakes and they'll last for several months. Serve with grilled asparagus or fresh steamed green beans. You can also make sandwiches out of them or serve on top of a green salad. YUM!
OTHER
I'm taking a new fish-based prescription medication called Lovaza. It's essentially really super-concentrated fish oil that's had all the mercury and other contaminants removed and hopefully it will help lower my triglycerides. Of course, Carl and I are working on changing our eating habits so that we won't have to take stuff like this but if this helps us achieve our goal a little quicker, I'm all for it. I won't take other cholesterol-lowering drugs, like statins, for instance, but this seems to be more like a dietary supplement with very minimal side effects, so I'm OK with this for now. Going to get back on the wagon after Faire is over and work on losing the last 20-25 pounds over the winter, so maybe this will be a short term thing.
The Blue Gill are FINALLY coming back to Lake Elizabeth. I noticed increased numbers of fry this weekend when I buried Foster in his little paper boat on Sunday (an entirely different story altogether), which made me happy. I know the majority of patrons couldn't care less about the health of our natural ponds, lakes, and other waterways - especially since so many of them have commented on how pretty the koi are and how they wish there were more of them (*sigh*) - but to those of us who do care, this is a welcome rebound. The koi and catfish are still there in alarming numbers and the Blue Gill fry are currently just the right size to be perfect turtle fodder, but I think the numbers are high enough that they will eventually rebuild the school. Let's cross our fingers and hope they come back for good!
DECORATIVE
I'm afraid we haven't been keeping up on our aquarium as well as we should, but luckily we have some pretty sturdy fish. The surprise is that some of the sturdiest fish are the Neon Tetras, a species of fish that I have had historically bad luck keeping alive. This particular school appears to be much less delicate and is very few missing members, if any (they're small and fast, so counting them is a little harder than you'd think). Our Rasboras are also doing well and seem to have maintained their numbers. Unfortunately, we've lost 2/3 of our Cherry Barbs and both of our Dwarf Gouramis have died - RIP Dempster and Rand. Don't know how many Otocinclus we have since they're largely nocturnal and don't appear to like being observed by humans; they hide extremely well and we'll probably never know exactly how many we have unless we tear down the tank for some reason. The last time we tore down a tank was when we upgraded to the 44 gallon tank from the 35 gallon tank. At the time we thought we had 4 Otos, but in reality we wound up with 7! Camoflauge really works!
DELICIOUS
I think I need to make some more Fish Cakes. They're really yummy and they toast up well in the toaster oven. They're really easy to make, too:
[1] Bake up some boneless fish fillets in the oven. I like salmon, tilapia, or cod, although I've also skipped this step and just used a can of cooked tuna (although the fishy flavor is a little stronger with the canned tuna). You could probably use canned salmon as well, but make sure you get the skinless and boneless canned salmon because fish cakes with skin and spine pieces in them is rather unappetizing in my opinion.
[2] Boil an equal amount of potatoes (1 pound potatoes for every 1 pound of fish) and mash them up. I tend to add butter and milk to the potatoes just like I would if I were going to eat the mashed potatoes by themselves.
[3] Chop up some parsley and some dill to mix in to the potatoes; exactly how much is up to you.
[4] Time to get your hands dirty! Add the fish to the potatoes and herbs and mix (read: squish with your fingers) into a heavy paste-like consistency. If it's too wet, add some panko bread crumbs to soak up the extra moisture.
[5] Make small cakes about 3 inches or so in diameter, half an inch or so thick, and coat them with panko bread crumbs. If you have the right consistency and moistness, you shouldn't need an egg wash to make the bread crumbs stick.
At this point you can either bake the cakes in the oven, pan fry them, or deep fry them. I like deep frying them because they stay moist inside and don't soak up too much oil; after all, you only need to fry them long enough to make the outside crispy because everything in the cake is already cooked. Baking might be healthier, but they do wind up being a little drier overall, especially after you reheat them. Pan frying has to be done at a lower temperature than deep frying, so the cakes will suck up more oil if you're not careful about how much you're using to begin with.
When using canned tuna, I also throw in parmesan cheese to temper the strong flavor of the tuna, although you could probably also use cheddar or any other cheese that floats your boat. A dry cheese will help soak up moisture, though, so your bread crumbs will stick nicely and your cake won't fall apart in the fryer (we actually had a batch that were so moist inside that they disintegrated when they hit the hot oil!). You can freeze the cakes and they'll last for several months. Serve with grilled asparagus or fresh steamed green beans. You can also make sandwiches out of them or serve on top of a green salad. YUM!
OTHER
I'm taking a new fish-based prescription medication called Lovaza. It's essentially really super-concentrated fish oil that's had all the mercury and other contaminants removed and hopefully it will help lower my triglycerides. Of course, Carl and I are working on changing our eating habits so that we won't have to take stuff like this but if this helps us achieve our goal a little quicker, I'm all for it. I won't take other cholesterol-lowering drugs, like statins, for instance, but this seems to be more like a dietary supplement with very minimal side effects, so I'm OK with this for now. Going to get back on the wagon after Faire is over and work on losing the last 20-25 pounds over the winter, so maybe this will be a short term thing.