Much Ado about Very Little

This week I cooked fish. Big deal, you're probably thinking. Why is that worth blogging about?

Frankly, it's probably not worth blogging about. Although I grew up thinking that fish sticks with ketchup was what eating fish was all about, I did eventually try and fall in love with "real" fish. When I lived in Portugal, I tried everything and liked a lot of it. And I've loved fish ever since.

However, it's rare that I cook fish at home. I've mastered the salmon in foil technique, and I'm sure that at some point I've prepared fish in other ways as well. But something has held me back from cooking fish at home on a regular basis.

Recently, I went to Whole Foods and bought a tilapia fillet. I decided that I wanted to bread it and fry it--the classic way of cooking fish, but something I don't remember ever having done. I whisked an egg with a little bit of water, dipped the fish in the egg, then dipped it in bread crumbs with a little bit of salt and pepper. Then I fried it for about 5 minutes on each side.

I served the fish with a yogurt and shredded cucumber sauce with a few spices: salt, pepper, cayenne, and a touch of chili powder. I also squeezed lemon on top of the fish.

I loved this way of preparing and eating fish. It was easy and really tasty. Why has it taken me so long to figure this out?