Cleaning Squid and Other Complaints
Yesterday, my mother asked me to clean some frozen squid to be cooked for dinner. The instructions came through my little sister, who asked me to remove the "mata" (eyes) and the "plastic" (the cuttlebone). So I did that, gingerly gorging the eyes out of the half-thawed cephalopod with a small knife, and pulling out the sliver of cartilage with cold, clumsy fingers. My mother came home a few minutes later, peered over my shoulders at my blinded squid, and started laughing.
"You don't need a knife for that!" she said. "You'll end up cutting yourself."
And then she showed me what she wanted removed.
"But that's the beak!" I protested indignantly. "The mouth!"
"Whatever, that's what I was taught as a little girl: alisin yung mata. (Remove the eye.) And that's it."
The beak! The beak! The eyes are those two big obviously eyes on the head. Come on. I'm not exactly an expert on squid anatomy but a beak is a beak and an eye is an eye.
My dad assured me later that he does remove the lens of the eyes because they're tough, and that I was doing the right thing.
"So you don't remove the beak?" I asked, puzzled.
To which my dad replied that he doesn't usually remove anything at all because he's too lazy to do so.
=___=
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In other news, I need a change in scenery. I need a new job. I'm tired of vacillating between short-lived satisfaction and the apprehension of thiking I'm too stupid for this. It's not smart to change jobs right now, however, because of the economy and all that. Besides, I think I'll wait out till the other family members decide where to go next.
---
Also, I cannot not say anything:
Oh, Hinata.
"You don't need a knife for that!" she said. "You'll end up cutting yourself."
And then she showed me what she wanted removed.
"But that's the beak!" I protested indignantly. "The mouth!"
"Whatever, that's what I was taught as a little girl: alisin yung mata. (Remove the eye.) And that's it."
The beak! The beak! The eyes are those two big obviously eyes on the head. Come on. I'm not exactly an expert on squid anatomy but a beak is a beak and an eye is an eye.
My dad assured me later that he does remove the lens of the eyes because they're tough, and that I was doing the right thing.
"So you don't remove the beak?" I asked, puzzled.
To which my dad replied that he doesn't usually remove anything at all because he's too lazy to do so.
=___=
---
In other news, I need a change in scenery. I need a new job. I'm tired of vacillating between short-lived satisfaction and the apprehension of thiking I'm too stupid for this. It's not smart to change jobs right now, however, because of the economy and all that. Besides, I think I'll wait out till the other family members decide where to go next.
---
Also, I cannot not say anything:
Oh, Hinata.