divine angst

I’ve never made amberjack before tonight, and I must say it was quite tasty. It’s a meatier fish, though still white-fleshed; also, it has a deeper flavor than most whitefish but a fishier flavor than, say, salmon or tuna. I marinated it in balsamic vinaigrette (balsamic, olive oil, some Dijon mustard, and oregano) and grilled it on our apartment-safe grill. (One note: the fish I bought still had the pin bones and bloodline long one side, an unexpected remainder on fish from the local gourmet grocery. Why didn’t they remove those before placing the fish in the display? Cutting off the bloodline was pretty icky, but a necessary step.)

Sides were spinach salad with the remainder of the marinade/dressing and romano garlic grits (should have been parmesan, but I had romano handy, so I used that instead; tasty).

For beverage, we had mojitos, since I picked up some rum this afternoon and we already had mint from a few days ago. More yumminess.

All in all, a very nice meal and a very nice evening; but thank goodness it’s Friday, because I made the mojitos STRONG.

(Just noticing—I guess it’s a foodblogging kind of day. That’s Friday for you.)

Due to a severe lack of other stuff to write about today, I am posting my absolute favorite cookie recipe. I haven’t tried to make these in our electric oven yet, but I might take a stab at it this weekend.

Chocolate Chocolate Chip Cookies

1/2 cup sugar
1/2 cup packed brown sugar
1/2 cup softened butter or margarine
2 eggs
1/2 tsp vanilla
1-3/4 cup flour
1/4 cup unsweetened cocoa powder
1 tsp baking soda
1/4 tsp salt
1 cup semi-sweet chocolate chips
(1 cup nuts if you like nuts in cookies)

Preheat oven to 350°.

In a large mixing bowl or a stand mixer, cream sugars and butter. Add eggs, one at a time, incorporating each before adding the next ingredient. Add vanilla. Beat until well-blended.

Add flour, then cocoa. Be careful adding the cocoa unless you like a thin layer of brown powder clinging to every surface in your kitchen because it will fly everywhere if you just dump it in. Add soda and salt and mix until a soft batter forms.

Stir in chocolate chips (and nuts, if you’re into that sort of thing). Drop the dough by heaping spoonfuls on an ungreased cookie sheet. (Or onto a Silpat.)

Bake 8 to 10 minutes (actually, it usually takes me about 12 minutes) until set. Remove and cool on a rack if you’ve got it. Let cool at least 2 minutes, or they will not be ready to eat.

Mmmmmm. Cooooooookies.

I missed the email this week somehow, but here are the Friday Spies© anyway.

1. If you could change any element of your physical appearance, would you? If so, what would you change? If you could change any aspect of your personality would you?

Yes; I’d make my feet smaller; no, I am delightful as I am.

2. Name a good make-out song (I believe the kids these days would call that “baby-making music”).

You know, I don’t really like the whole idea of “making out music.” It just doesn’t make sense to me. You can’t enjoy the music fully when you’re necking, and you can’t enjoy the necking fully when you’re trying to enjoy the song.

That being said, I like soft, romantic music for date nights in—Norah Jones, Nat King Cole, Sinatra.

3. What did Britney say to Kevin when she found out she was pregnant? What was his response?

“I did it! I did it! Now I’m finally a real woman! Forget that “not a girl, not yet a woman” shit! I can make a baby!”
“Oh, crap. That’s another shortie. Man, I thought this one was gonna be fun for a while.”

4. Did Oswald act alone?

Of course not. Didn’t you see Zoolander?

5. Are you superstitious? Do you believe in luck, karma, fate, the supernatural, etc?

I don’t really believe in the supernatural, really, but I do believe in luck and in karma; I also believe that there are things some people are more sensitive to than others, which accounts for people with “psychic” abilities.