Taking My Time...

Last night I went to happy hour with one of my dear friends at this awesome little bar called Boheme (you know… like the song in Rent “La Vie Boheme”??). There I had some of the best sangria of my life… seriously… I would like to learn how to make sangria. Perhaps that can be the theme of a future blog post.

But that’s not the point. The point is that because I was at happy hour, I got home late and had to rush to make dinner because I have a sweet husband who gets cranky when he’s hungry. We’ve been on a taco kick lately… not the nasty hard shell tacos you find at Taco Bell but the authentic Mexican tacos that you put on warm corn tortillas and garnish with fresh lime.

Since Anthony gave up all meat except seafood for Lent, I decided to try this great Baja Fish Taco recipe I found in my latest Cooking Light magazine. Since I was in such a rush, I didn’t really read through the recipe thoroughly beforehand and just started making the tacos.

Let me say this, the fish was amazing. The seasoning was great, they were cooked perfectly, and we got two beautiful tilapia filets for only $2.37, which is a sweet deal. HOWEVER, the sauce that went with was horrific. Truly horrific. I’ll spare you the details, but basically it had waaaayyy too much raw onion and jalepeno in it. I swear I followed the recipe exactly, but our eyes were still burning from the fumes even after we threw it in the trashcan. It was so bad. Cooking Light, I love you, but what happened here??? That needed to go through many more runs in the test kitchen.

So here’s the moral of the story. If I had taken the time to read through that entire recipe and soak it in… then I probably would have recognized that a sauce made of sour cream and raw onion would not taste good… and I would not have made it. (I am of the opinion that tacos don’t need a special sauce any way. A little chopped cilantro, fresh avocado, and lime juice is all you need. It is a truly magical combination).

This happens every time I try to cook in a hurry… it never turns out. I hate to start this blog off by admitting to a cooking failure, but I think it’s a good lesson to learn. I’ve really only been cooking for about a year and it has been such a wonderful discovery for me. It is creative, it’s therapeutic, and it’s a beautiful way to show love. I love the self expression and satisfaction of creating a lovely meal that others enjoy. That only happens when I breathe, reject my anxiety, and take the time to truly enjoy the cooking process. It’s almost as if God knows that the art of cooking is supposed to be therapeutic, supposed to be enjoyed and shared and relished in… not rushed and hurried and stressed over like the rest of our crazy lives. So when you don’t give the art its due attention, He slaps you upside the head with a bad meal and says “no, do it the right way”. Ok, maybe it’s a little dramatic to bring God into it. I’m just trying to make a point, people. Cooking is supposed to be fun, not stressful.

From now on if I don’t have the time, we’re eating cereal for dinner. It’s not worth the defamation of this wonderfully fun craft.

Here's the link to the great fish tacos with the terrible sauce:

http://find.myrecipes.com/recipes/recipefinder.dyn?action=displayRecipe&recipe_id=50400000110429

(And now I've done what I said I wouldn't do... write a ridiculously long post. Blast.)