Something Fishy...

Sometimes the best laid plans go awry...

Everything was good to go when I left. The corn was shucked. The grouper was thawed. I also had a pork chop for hubby -who once told me he'd divorce me if I ever cooked fish in the house. When he was a teen he spent a summer working for the City of St. Joe, MI. His job? Aside from mowing and emptying trash, cleaning up the dead chad on the beach. Ew.

I left to spend the afternoon with my critique partner and friend. We like to meet for lunch, and today we chose Applebee's. I called about 10 minutes before I reached the restaurant to make sure we were heading to the same place. She assured me she was on her way. When I arrived at the restaurant the hostess seated me and said she'd keep an eye out for my friend. Five, ten, fifteen minutes pass. No crit partner. I began to worry, so I called her again.

"Did you fall into a hole?" I asked when she answered.

"No, I've been sitting here at the table waiting for you."

We'd been seated on opposite sides of the dining room. We found each other, had a good laugh and got down to business. What does that mean? Fifteen minutes reviewing chapters and the next three hours talking about everything else. As always, we had fun.

I arrived back at the house ready to fix dinner. I turned on the grill and got the pork chop started, and I pulled out the blackened seasoning and dredged the grouper. The first sign of trouble occurred when I went to check on the pork chop. The propane had run out. Not a problem, I thought. I always have a backup propane tank just for these kinds of emergencies. Except, I found, I was already using the backup tank. Frying was my quick alternative. The chop was about halfway cooked so it didn't take long. I fried the fish as well. Hubby was so happy to come home to that smell, but he hasn't mentioned the "D" word yet. Table set, food cooked, mission accomplished.

I took the first bite of grouper. It was awful! So salty it nearly turned me inside out. I drained my glass of water.

"What's the matter, Mom?" My son threw a suspicious glance at his plate.

"Don't eat that!" was all I could manage.

I needed more water, so I headed to the sink. That's when I noticed the spice bottle on the counter. It wasn't blackened seasoning. No. It was Lawry's seasoned salt - which is fine in very small doses, but certainly not meant to be used to dredge seafood. Ugh! I threw two more pork chops in the skillet for dinner and tossed the fish. What a waste. I love grouper.

I've decided it would be a good idea to keep the blackened seasoning on a different shelf. Oh, and I think it's high time I replaced my glasses.