Monday, June 7, 2010

Italian fish in the dishwasher!

O.K. I've admitted that I can't walk up stairs and chew gum at the same time.  I have another confession.  I am a Martha Stewart wanna be that usually turns out like Lucy Ricardo!  Case in point--the time I tried to make a foil fish package in the dishwasher!  I was watching one of the cooking shows several years ago on TV and they had the neatest idea.  You take a large piece of aluminum foil, drizzle the bottom with olive oil, lay your piece of fish on top, and season to your liking.  Then you top it off with chopped tomatoes, green onions, and a few more things that I can't remember because I have slept since then, and I wake up in a new world every morning!  Anyway, you pull the foil up and tighten to make a little pouch and place the packets on the top shelf of the dishwasher.  The phone rings.  "Yes, this is she," "I'm doing fine." "No thank you.  I'm not interested." It was probably one of those calls that ask you something so stupid that you consider for a while having your phone number changed so that no more stupid people can call and try to ask you stupid things!  I'm off the phone, I look up to the TV and see that I have missed the most important part of the recipe--what to do with this lovely fish packet after I have it made!  The lady on TV is taking her packet out of the dishwasher and opening up a perfectly cooked fish that is steaming as she opens the foil.  O.K. what did she do????????? Well I take a guess and place my gourmet fish on the top rack of the dishwasher.  I caught the part about ten minutes so I set the timer for 10 minutes and sit down to imagine my sweet husband opening up his fish at supper, looking at me, and saying "OH HONEY, YOU'VE MADE ANOTHER GOURMET MEAL--HOW DO YOU DO IT ALL!"  Yeah right!  After about 6 minutes, I begin to suspect a problem as there is a strong smell of fish and water is floating by my feet from the dishwasher.  I open the dishwasher as water pours out only to find that there is one packet of fish left on the top and I had  placed six in there.  I see immediately what has happened.  There is water standing in the bottom of the dishwasher.  Tiny pieces of fish and shredded foil are floating all in the water.  I begin to bail the water out in the sink only to find that there is shredded aluminum foil hung up and stopping up the drain of my dishwasher and backing up into my sink.  After I clean up this fiasco, I am thankful that there is one that has survived that I may serve my husband so that he will say, "Oh Honey, you've made another gourmet meal--how do you do it all!"  I open it up and am surprised to find what I can only describe as pureed fish baby food with a little red and green stuff in it.  Hey, hers didn't look like this!  I taste it just as my husband walks in from work.  "What's that?"  "Oh, it's nothing--we're going out tonight for supper."  "What do you mean we're going out for supper?  I smell fish."  "Well there was a little problem-I'm not sure what- but anyway we are going out for supper."  Now my husband is a tightwad.  He can't stand to waste money.  He also has to keep a very tight reign on my money spending.  I am on an allowance!  Every once in a while when I am spending more than I should or asking for my allowance early before the time for my next allowance comes, I get the LOOK.  I can't describe the LOOK but I can tell you what the LOOK means.  It means "Dear, I am afraid that you are mistaken.  You seem to think that your last name is Rockefeller instead of Montgomery!"  He tells me he is not buying good salmon only to have us chunk it in the trash {we can't put in down the disposal because that is stopped up with fish and aluminum foil} and go out to eat.  "OK, but you've been warned, I wouldn't eat it" I say.  He takes a bite and is absolutely speechless for about two minutes as he is trying to get the taste out of his mouth! I didn't know that his face could contort into so many different positions! "Lisa, what did you do to this fish?"  "I cooked it in the dishwasher." "Whatever gave you that hair-brained idea?"  "I saw it on a cooking show."  "Did their fish turn out like this?"  "Well, no there's was in perfectly steamed little packets that they said was delicious."  "So what happened?" "Well I was making the fish and the telephone rang........"  "Oh no, and you got distracted and didn't see how to finish the fish?"  "Yeah, that's about it."  "Lisa, you didn't run this fish through the whole dishwasher cycle did you?"  "Well yeah, I pushed the wash button."  "Lisa, why does the fish taste like soap?"  "Well I think that I was just in a habit of putting the soap in the dishwasher so I must have added soap too."  To make another long story short even my husband was glad to take me out to eat that evening instead of eating "my gourmet fish." We searched the Internet for that mornings show and found that you were suppose to run the fish through the dry cycle only which is about 10 minutes. By the way, if you ever have fish floating in your dishwasher here's your Martha Stewart tip for getting the smell out.  Run bleach, lemon juice and anything else you can find through the cycle until the odor is gone.  It can take up to 6 washings--I know mine did!

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