I took my three crazies to the grocery store and after some googling in the middle of the store I had a plan of action. Sardines are not a common food here (no kidding) and so unless I wanted some from a can I had to come up with a suitable alternative. Smelts were the only small fish that I could find that at least looked like sardines to my untrained and sceptable eye. Figs also posed a problem since they are not in season here. I did not want to chicken out on this sardine thing so I thought it would be better to forgo the figs and stick to the fish. I chose some lovely Bosc pears to stand in as the honey drizzled fruit. Tonight's meal is from page 134 Grilled Sardines, Crispy Halloumi, Watercress Salad and Figs and Thick Chocolate Mousse.
Now all I had to do was bait my family to come (get it bait...cause we were about to eat bait!) We bought tickets to the afternoon showing of The Avengers and planned to come back and have a pasta blog dinner. Once home after the AWESOME movie I offered my darling sister and brother in law a drink...followed by another and finally another. That is when I let the fish out of the bag and announced the REAL plan for supper!
After a few squeals and screams we were off! 40 minutes later my sister and I had this meal layed out on the table and revealed to the kids what we were having. You can imagine the response.
We decided to video tape everyone eating a smelt whole. You can watch the fun below! Logan the recent birthday boy almost vomited! We had offer him a dollar and he chased his frightening bite with a lot of pita! He only likes the chocolate pudding. Brylee didn't even like the pudding and gave the meal a 0 (not even on the scale but she doesn't care). Max said it was a 5! Simon while hesitant at the beginning also gave it a 5! Scruffy Hubby gave it a 2 even though he had a healthy pile of sardine on his plate. The sweet sister said that it was not as bad as she thought but still not good. Bryon the brother in law gave it a 3 1/2 while making disgusting fish in a blanket wraps! Mary the little food Nazi LOVED the sardines. She downed more than I cared to count as I filmed her nauseously! She gave the sardines a 5 but the rest of the meal only a 2.
This is a big fat goose egg for me! There is no amount of tequila to make me enjoy eating the fish head! I would rather eat the worm!
I am glad we surprised the family with this one! It made it more of an adventure. This blog thing is catching on with them and now they are starting to rate all my meals. I don't know if that was good or bad but at supper the other night I heard my three munchkins discussing what score that night's dinner would receive.
I am looking forward to Mother's Day tomorrow and wish all the mothers out there a very happy day! See you all next week! Lucky Number 13!
Trish
A little liquid courage!
Bottoms up!
Smelts VS Sardines! Both equally gross!
The were looking at me as I put them in the pan!
Dinner ready in 40 minutes!
One sardine on my plate but the rest looks good!
Making fish in a blanket!
Our strange and lovely girl eating a fish head with pride!
Mary asked me to have this in her kindergarten thermos!
There is not much Simon will not eat!
So far this whole Meals in Minutes Project has been a huge success. The Indian Steak, The Roast Beef, The Tomato Soup ... all fantastic. Each week as we flip through the cookbook looking for a meal to suggest to Trish, we fondly look back on these taste sensations. In addition to reminiscing about past goodness there are also many pages that receive a, "I can't wait for that one" or a "That looks so good." The sardines fit in neither of these categories. It was one of the 'dreaded meals' and while it wasn't as bad as most of us thought, I will say this ... It was a two (barely) and now it is over. I am hoping for the meatball sandwiches for next week ... we will see...
ReplyDelete