Proverbs

My new favorite Proverb....adapted from the Chinese original....

Give a man a fish and he will eat for a day. Teach a man to fish and he will sit in a boat and drink beer all day. Fish: 24/7

This is the motto that I got to read for 2 straight days on the back of a friends t-shirt on my recent trip to Baja and the Sea of Cortez for our annual family vacation. Once again we were guests if our friends Bruce and Jill, participating in the annual Rancho Leonero Fishing Tournament to benefit the school and the children in La Ribera, BCS. If you ever want to combine a kick ass vacation with giving back to some really deserving kids, this is the way to go. You stay at a beachfront resort, with all meals included. Fish for a couple of days and hopefully bring in camp meat (aka the local yellow fin tuna....awesome!) or other fun fishies to cook there at the resort or bring it home to your loved ones. And all of the proceeds go to the students in La Ribera to further their education. So you do something good for people in need while you are on vacation....how many people can say that?

Last year we caught a respectable amount of fish and got ourselves on the board point-wise.....this year I wanted to crawl inside a Bloody Mary to hide from the shame.

First Day Out....

We had gorgeous weather.

We had a great captain and deckhand.

We went smack dab in the middle of the same spot that we scored last year.

Traveled down the cost towards San Jose del Cabo and straight out to sea.

We had a marlin jump in front of us and pretty much flip us the bird as we were throwing everything but our club sandwiches in the water to bite on.

Nada.

Day Two

We had beautiful weather.

We had the same captain & deckhand.

We traveled North this time towards La Paz and then further out to Sea.

We followed pods of dolphins, birds and bait boils, again, throwing everything in the boat but Brocks beer cans (empty of course) at them to try and get a bite.

Then we all took naps.

Then we finally got one....a marlin! It was Davids turn at the reel and he brought it to the boat twice before we could turn it loose...it was a beaut, about 125 pounds, was a heck of a fighter and gave us 30 points on the tournament score board.

Then we had a lot more nada.

So we opted to pay a little more to fish for some bottom fish (not tournament fish) closer to shore just so that John, Brock and I could say that we caught something.

John caught something-I think it was a pargo.

Then I caught something edible. (Cabrilla, its kind of like seabass!)

And then we were done.

My sweetie got skunked, not so happy. :(

BUT.....All in all it was a great trip. We lost the tournament to folks who raked in the tuna, and, after some rather pathetic pleading, obvious hint dropping and puppy dog eyes, were able to share in their bounty.

And I did get to bring home my cabrilla, which we are cooking tonight for dinner. Well....mom is cooking, I am typing and drinking wine so I am really writing this on behalf of the awesome brunette in the kitchen right now.

This easy little crust is terrific on any light white fish. She adapted it from a recipe out of Bon Appetit, available on Epicurious.com.

Baked Fish with Pecan Breadcrumb Crust

4-6 oz Sea Bass Filet's

1/2 Cup Fresh Breadcrumbs (Or Panko if you need to )

3/4 Cup Pecans

2 T Butter, melted

2 T Prepared Horseradish

1 1/2 T Dijon Mustard

1/3 C Parmesan Cheese

4 T Minced Parsley

4 T Lemon infused Olive Oil

Salt to taste

Preheat oven to 350. Butter a 13x9 pan and lay filet's in pan, sprinkle with salt & pepper. Add nuts and breadcrums to a food processor and pulse until nuts are finely chopped. Transfer to a bowl and add butter, horseradish, mustard, cheese & parsley. Season with salt to taste. Press bread crumb mixture on to the filet's and drizzle with 1 T olive oil each. Bake about 10-15 minutes or until done all the way through, this may vary based upon the thickness of the fish, keep checking so you don't overcook the fish. Broil slightly at the end to brown the crust and serve.

Salud! It is good to be back, but I am ready to go again!