Oh decadence! Veterans Day provided not only a chance for reflection but also a rare day free from the classroom. So what to do with this open period of time? The answer was easy, dinner party.

I have wanted to have my colleagues Roxanna and John over, but time is always an issue. I phoned them up and they accepted. Now the fun began — menu planning.

While vacationing with my parents in Vegas last summer we went out to marvelous food chain, The Cheesecake Factory. I had their sumptuous fish tacos and have been dying to recreate them. I knew my guests were fish friendly so I thought I’d give it a whirl.

What stood out most in the dish was its lively combination of flavors: delicate whitefish, a tangy, creamy avocado sauce, crisp Asian greens, Mandarin oranges, and crisp red cabbage. The combination was a taste delight.

Of course, restaurants are often loathe to share their recipes and trying to figure it out for yourself is an adventure, so here’s what I did. First, I brushed a little extra virgin olive oil on a baking dish. I placed four tilapia fillets on the baking dish and gave them a liberal dose of kosher salt. I stuck the pan in a 375-degree oven for 25 minutes.

Then I took three ripe haas avocados, sliced them open, removed the pits, and scooped their insides into my trusty food processor. To that I added about a third of a cup of limejuice, three tablespoons of fat-free sour cream, salt to taste, and about half a cup of half-and-half. I blended it until smooth and creamy. Depending on the size of the avocados you may want to add more half-and-half and/or limejuice. It should be rather thick but easy to spread.

While waiting for my fish to finish up I organized everything I needed to make the tacos. I shredded up a small head of red cabbage and I took from the fridge a bag of mixed Asian greens, and the flour tortillas. From the pantry I removed a can of Mandarin orange segments, open and drained them, and placed them in a small bowl.

When the fish was finished I let it cool for about five minutes then I flaked it with a fork. To assemble the tacos I warmed the tortillas on a large skillet, then I spread each tortilla with some of the avocado cream sauce, the I put down a small handful of the greens, a small two or three heaping tablespoons of the fish, another dollop of the avocado cream sauce, and then a smattering of the cabbage and five or six Mandarin orange pieces. I fold these in half and set a wooden spoon on them for a few minutes to keep the fold.

I served the tacos with saffron rice, black beans, (purchased in the Mexican section of my local grocery store) and, of course, a big pitcher of margaritas.

We all know social networking may be a feature, not an application, but one person’s feature can become another’s bane.

So when Netflix offers a handy Friends feature that makes it easy to share your viewing history and recommendations, it opens itself up not only to the value of social interaction, but also the awkwardness it can sometimes be rife with.

Titration’s story is instructive:

So I have this friend who has invited me to become her “netflix friend” twice now. The first time I totally ignored it. But this time I feel I need to say something. The thing is, I am not “out” to her. And frankly my movie listing would give me away. Straight christian women don’t tend to watch things like “The ‘L’ word” or “If these walls could speak 2”.

I have no idea what to say. I was thinking of trying to joke a bit about my movies being inappropriate for all audiences. But the problem with being a good girl like I am is that she will not believe me.

She will ask me questions. And then I will have to say “I’m not comfortable sharing.” And she will know something is up anyway. Maybe I should just let netflix out me. I think it is much better to tell a friend to their face shocking news like this. But dang nabbit it all I am not yet ready. I think I’m a bit befuddled on this one.

social software, out, netflix, awkward, friends, outed, social networks

I should be thankful to have friends who get worried about me when I don’t blog for a couple days (or at least make up stories), but let me take this moment to make it clear that I haven’t gone into boat sales. This has happened before, and it just means I’ve got a larger than usual pile of deadlines (and interesting projects like WPopac) on my plate.

busy, friends, blog schedule, cliff pearson, deadlines, deadline, funny, full plate