After my day at BMC, I dropped by Phoenecia. I promised my parents that they don't have to wait so long to get the groceries from there. I was buying our usual staples and the ingredients for fried fish. I called Daddy to ask him if he prefers filets or the whole fish. He didn't have a preference. Since Phoenecia had a small quantity of filets, I opted for the whole fish. I bought 6 beautiful Branzinos (Meditterranean Sea Bass), finished my shopping and headed home.

Let's take a step back:. Ammo Tarek had mentioned earlier this week that he ate fried fish that his wife made. Althought it isn't a common dish we make at home, I suddenly craved fried fish. That night, mommy had already made dinner, so we saved it for Friday night.

I made it home and that's when Daddy decided to tell me that he's never cleaned a fish before. Uh oh... I bought the fish fully intact and it was going to be a feat for two novice to accomplish. It took about an hour to clean 6 fish. Luckily, Daddy took care of them. I worked on the taratour, side dishes and the dredge, consisting of flour, cayenne pepper, and salt. Our sides were fries, eggplant with tomato paste, garlic and onions, and a salad.

By the time the fish finally went into the dredge, Talal and Fabienne had arrived. They watched the finishing touches. We fried the potatoes first and then moved onto the fish. Tina and I decided, rather brilliantly, to turn on the oven at a low temperature to keep the fries and fish warm until the entire meal was ready. The fish took another hour to fry. They were too large to fit together in the fryer, hence the brilliance of our oven-usage.

When we finally sat down to eat, it was hot and heavy. The wait was excruciatingly long, especially after a long day at work. It was well worth the wait.

At Home

With Talal, Daddy, Tina, Mommy, and Fabienne