Fish Tales

We recently received some freshly caught fish. The one who caught the fish gave them to us personally.

Now to be honest, much as I know that fish is healthy and all, I just don't buy fish on a regular basis. At best I would get Fillet of Fish, instead of McChicken at McDonald's. You see, fish and I aren't really on cooking terms. I just don't know how to cook fish without the whole house smelling fishy. Plus, I don't know if the kids would eat fish.

However, I was happy to receive the fish even if I wasn't sure what to do with it. It sat in the refrigerator for a couple of days. I wanted to make them into fish balls because if it seemed that transforming them into fish balls would increase the probability of the fish getting eaten. But when I opened the bag and examined the fish, these yellow tail fish didn't seem the type I could easily debone prior to cooking.

I was told that these fish would be good for frying but I didn't want to fry the fish because I knew I wouldn't hear the end of it if the house ended up smelling of fried fish. So I decided to make it into paksiw.

When we were small, we would have paksiw na isda for dinner (or even breakfast) once in a while. It would be served with soft boiled eggs. I would go through the deboning process before starting to eat. When I was done, I would mix the flaked fish and egg into the rice and sprinkle some salt. I can't remember if I would add soy sauce or patis to the brew. What I do remember is that I would build little towers on my plate with the rice mixture and eat away at my structures. I've never really been a paksiw na isda fan so I suppose that was my way of getting through dinner.

Anyway, since I didn't want the fresh fish going to waste, I did make the fish into paksiw. (My first ever paksiw na isda. And possibly, my last.)

Now the kids aren't real big fans of fish, and paksiw na isda is not remotely close to being in their list of favorite foods.

I knew that.

But what I didn't know was how foreign paksiw na isda was to them, particularly to MyGirl.

When I sat down to eat one of the fish, MyGirl looked towards my direction as I was flaking the fish.

"It's paksiw, MyGirl," I said.

She knitted her eyebrows and said, "Hhmmmm.... paksiw .... I've heard about that."