Ran out to the valley to see Mom, yesterday.
The usual route was closed for some swing bridge bearing replacement job, so I got an extra half hour driving up the two-lane along the levee. Gorgeous day, if a bit toasty.
They surprised me at her place tossing a mask to me and asking about vax status. They haven’t been asking for months, now. Their vax question was so out of the blue I laughed out loud and blurted out, “Hell no!” Lady at the desk was new, and had no grid to process that response; she thought I was kidding. LOL!
They have a Mexican seafood place out there called “Las Isletas,” that gets rave reviews for being “auténtico.” Instead of salsa like all the Tex/Mex places throw down, it’s ceviche on the table for an appetizer, and they serve shrimp dishes, as well as oysters, and — my favorite — fish tacos. We went by thinking it’d be a great place to have dinner; no such luck. Apparently, the rave reviews are accurate; it’s just a little strip mall joint that doesn’t look like much from the parking lot, but at 7pm on a Sunday night there were about fifteen people stacked up outside waiting their turn to be seated.
So, we went over to Black Bear Diner, instead, which turned out OK. They let the salmon get too hot, so it was overdone; not tender. Ya simply CANNOT allow salmon to get above 140. Get an instant read thermometer, check often, get the fish off the heat by 132, or so, MAYBE 135, and let it “coast” from there.
Even though I lived the first five years of my life on an island, I’m not a fan of seafood at all. I can be coaxed to eat lobster, but only with steak and drawn butter. Everything else is off limits for me. But if you enjoy it, then by golly, you enjoy it for me, too! ;o])