8 Ways to Sunday

Last week I found myself in possession of 1¼ lb. of catfish, bored with the two ways I knew how to cook it, and with a limited set of ingredients to work with. I sat down with my trusty copy of Copernic Agent and searched for recipes containing the ingredients I had on hand, and improvised something that was a rough combination of these two Meals.com offerings.

It came out much better than I’d expected, so Friday night I gave it another spin and perfected it. If you have a taste for spicy food, perhaps you’ll find this to your liking.

Ingredients

• 1 to 1¼ lb. catfish fillets, washed and patted dry
• 2 tsp. prepared spicy brown mustard
• ½ tsp. cayenne pepper
• ½ tsp. ground black pepper
• ½ tsp. McCormick Peppercorn Medley (This was supposed to be white pepper, but I didn’t have any. Peppercorn Medley is a roughly equal mixture of black, white, green, and pink peppercorns with coriander and allspice.)
• ½ tsp. salt
• ¼ tsp. onion powder
• ¼ tsp. garlic powder
• 2 tbsp. extra virgin olive oil
• 2-3 tbsp. butter or substitute (I used Smart Balance)

Directions

In a shallow dish, mix the seasonings with the olive oil into a grainy, gooey paste. Be sure to get it mixed up thoroughly; it should have a fairly uniform red-orange color when you’re done. Roll the fillets in the mixture, getting them well coated with spices. Now melt some butter in a skillet and fry the fish four to five minutes on each side, or until if flakes easily with a fork. Serves 2-3 people.

I use 90,000 unit cayenne pepper in this recipe, a habit I got from my mother. You can’t get this strength of pepper at a regular grocery store, at least not where I live. I get mine at Whole Foods in Wichita, about 50 miles from here. I’m not sure how this recipe will come off with the weak-ass milder pepper most people use, but as prepared with my ingredients it provides just the right mixture of mouth-scorching heat and piquant spice with rich, buttery undertones. Very yummy indeed.

This is my first original recipe. If you try it out, be sure and let me know what you think in the comments!

Image from the Digital Camera Resource Page review.

I’m getting a new toy. Last night I ordered a Panasonic Lumix DMC-FZ20 digital camera. It’s a 5 megapixel camera with an excellent 12x Leica zoom lens and plenty of nice features.

With all the usual accessories — camera bag, memory card, extended warranty, and extra battery — it only set me back a (relatively) reasonable $790 (U.S.) at B&H Photo-Video. I can’t wait to get my hands on this thing.

For more info on the DMC-FZ20, I recommend this excellent and very thorough review from Digital Photography Review.

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↑ This site’s address, hugeified by hugeURL.

(Props: Moiblog)

A quick list of strange science & technology articles from CNN:

• A brain implant allows a paralyzed man to control a computer, television, and house lights with his thoughts.
• Genetically-engineered hypoallergenic cats will on sale in 2007.
• Scientists at the University of Florida have successfully trained a petri dish full of brain cells to navigate an F-22 flight simulator.

Um… wow.

U.S. Attorney General John Ashcroft and Commerce Secretary Donald Evans resigned from their respective posts with the Bush administration yesterday. MSNBC has an article on these resignations and the others that are expected to follow shortly. Cabinet changes are common in the second term of two-term presidents.

Bush has named white house legal counsel Alberto Gonzales as his choice to succeed Ashcroft. Gonzales is subject to confirmation by the Senate before assuming the post. His authorship of the controversial February 2002 memo claiming the President’s right to waive international laws banning torture and providing protections to prisoners of war will likely become an issue in that process.

MSNBC national affairs writer Tom Curry has written an article chronicling how Ashcroft became a lightning rod for criticism from the Left because of his stances on civil liberties. What I’d like to know is whether this means the statue of Justice finally gets to come out of hiding.