How much do I hate Lent??

Answer: a whole lot.

My love has reverted to her childhood roots and become very catholic. I have never been comfortable cooking fish. 6 Fridays I have to cook fish. I tried something different tonight : http://www.chinasichuanfood.com/boiled-fish-sichuan/

There are no ingredients in this dish that are not in almost every Fuschia Dunlop recipe which we generally love. The bride called it bitter and soapy.

Thankfully, only 1 more Friday to go.

Edit:

Just as I was about to close the window, my wife saw the title and insisted on seeing the post. We both laughed hysterically. Doesn't change anything I said.

Wouldn't most be happy with crispy fried fish & crisps? Can Catholics do shellfish or just gills & fins?

Sushi?

Any kind of fish is fine - I just don't like cooking any form of fish.

lougord99 wrote: 6 Fridays I have to cook fish. I tried something different tonight : http://www.chinasichuanfood.com/boiled-fish-sichuan/

Recipe looks terrific, I may try as early as Monday. I realize your bride was not a fan, how about you?

Hi,

My Dad is the big C Catholic, so we don't eat meat on Friday during Lent. (I did finish something with meat for breakfast yesterday when nobody was watching ... says something about my character, doesn't it?)

A few times we have had shrimp, but I avoided fish this year unless it was a McDonald's Filet-O-Fish.

Last night, we had the leftover Cauliflower kuku with roasted asparagus. Another Friday, we had the toasted garlic breadcrumb riddled pasta. Two weeks ago, I baked pasta in a vodka and cream tomato sauce.

Did not do the classic Friday meal of mac and cheese with fish sticks fresh from the freezer. This was when EVERY FRIDAY was fish. I think I will do it next Friday, then wait to see if anyone comments about a return of a tradition.

A few years ago, my Dad tried to get us to eat fish every Friday like the good ol'days. He was the only one who missed it and it faded after a few months.

Regards,
Cathy2

I'm a cultural Catholic, but my wife is a practicing one, so we do the no-meat thing on Fridays. I actually kind of look forward to it, because it takes me out of my usual routine and forces me to concentrate on non meat-centric dishes, which I tend to do.

I find shrimp always to be the easy choice. Pretty easy to whip up a good stir fry or Mexican shrimp dish without much fuss and muss, and the dang things cook in like 3 or 4 minutes.

Otherwise, there's also plenty of pasta dishes without meat if you want to keep it simple. There's a mushroom paprikash I like to make that's meatless, too. And any of a zillion Indian dishes, if you're into that sort of thing.

But, typically, shrimp or pasta will do when I don't want to think too hard about it.

Or, find a nice Friday night fish fry, another thing we look forward to every Lent. Nothing like a plate of fried fish, food service French fries and tartar sauce, and a Miller Lite in the church basement.

Binko wrote:Or, find a nice Friday night fish fry, another thing we look forward to every Lent. Nothing like a plate of fried fish, food service French fries and tartar sauce, and a Miller Lite in the church basement.

I look forward to Lent every year just for this tradition/ritual.

G Wiv wrote:

lougord99 wrote: 6 Fridays I have to cook fish. I tried something different tonight : http://www.chinasichuanfood.com/boiled-fish-sichuan/

Recipe looks terrific, I may try as early as Monday. I realize your bride was not a fan, how about you?

I was a fan.

To make up, tonight I made marinated Mojo skirt steak on the grill and the best ever roasted potatoes( they really are the best ): http://www.seriouseats.com/recipes/2016 ... ecipe.html . I got rave reviews for this one.

I remember the days of no meat on Fridays all year around. I've always thought my mom would have preferred that practice hadn't changed.

I have never been very good at cooking fish or shellfish, having had no experience with it growing up beyond the frozen fish stick variety. (I do still like a good -- I emphasize good -- fish stick, though. I think the Trident fish sticks at Costco are the best.) In the past few years, I've made it one of my home schooling projects. I was glad to find the Fish and Shellfish volumes of the Time-Life Good Cook series at Goodwill, which got me started.

Doesn't have to be fish, though, during Lent. Beans and rice, pasta, cheese pizza ...

Katie wrote:I remember the days of no meat on Fridays all year around. I've always thought my mom would have preferred that practice hadn't changed.

Heck, my dad thought it was a travesty that the mass wasn't said Latin anymore

lougord99 wrote:Thankfully, only 1 more Friday to go.

Good news, you're off the hook! (See what I did there? )

Good Friday next week is a day of both fasting and abstinence, so your love should be doing her best to not eat anything, not even fish.

zoid wrote:

Katie wrote:I remember the days of no meat on Fridays all year around. I've always thought my mom would have preferred that practice hadn't changed.

Heck, my dad thought it was a travesty that the mass wasn't said Latin anymore

My Mom would agree. She just loves Gregorian chant.

Katie wrote:

lougord99 wrote:Thankfully, only 1 more Friday to go.

Good news, you're off the hook! (See what I did there? )

Good Friday next week is a day of both fasting and abstinence, so your love should be doing her best to not eat anything, not even fish.

Well, actually no. We are over 60. Sounds a little iffy to me, but Jennie claims that when you are over 60 you don't have to fast. I'm not clear if this is really a Catholic rule or just 'our' rule. Jennie claims that it is a Catholic rule.

My tribe still must fast on Yom Kippur when you are over 60.

Ah, I see, so she's letting herself off the hook.

Yes, it is a Catholic rule. "All adults (those who have attained the 'age of majority,' which is 18 years in canon law) are bound by law to fast on Ash Wednesday and Good Friday until the beginning of their sixtieth year."

Note that the rule does not prohibit fasting by the 60-and-over crowd; it just does not require it.

Sounds a bit, dare I say, fishy to me. Sounds like she wants to make you cook fish for her one more time this Lent.

Not that fasting on Good Friday would necessarily get you out of cooking. Some eating (but still no meat) is allowed to, as the saying goes, keep body and soul together. "Absent any specification of the nature of 'fasting' in the current Canon Law, the traditional definition is obviously applicable here which is that on the days of mandatory fasting, Catholics may eat only one full meal during the day. Additionally, they may eat up to two small meals or snacks."

Boy, was I surprised to find that part out! One full meal? SNACKS!?! There was a lot Mom didn't tell us!

Katie wrote:I have never been very good at cooking fish or shellfish, having had no experience with it growing up beyond the frozen fish stick variety. (I do still like a good -- I emphasize good -- fish stick, though. I think the Trident fish sticks at Costco are the best.)

Actually, your post reminds me: for those who don't like cooking fish beyond frozen fish sticks, they do make for a very tasty, quick & easy fish taco. It's actually probably the number one thing I use fish sticks (or frozen battered fish filets) for. Give it a shot: corn tortillas (or flour if you prefer), finely sliced red cabbage, a chipotle-mayo-lime dressing to combine with the cabbage to make a slaw, and I like a nice smear of black beans (a la the way Xni-Pec used to make 'em). And, of course, cilantro, lime, and avocado, if you'd like, along with your hot sauce of choice. Delicious way to turn a "boring" kids comfort food into something snazzy.

That sounds good. Thanks for the tip!

Katie wrote: There was a lot Mom didn't tell us!

Also a whole lot my Mom did not tell me.

Katie wrote:That sounds good. Thanks for the tip!

It's actually really good - Great tip Binko!!

When I was teaching we all got free lunch because we were paid so poorly. Whatever they made for lunch became soup the next day. These were all made from scratch, not just tossing protein into a pre-made base. While I didn't like steak sandwich soup, cream of fish stick soup was really good.

leek wrote:... cream of fish stick soup was really good.

How do you think they made it? Pureed the fish sticks?

My Oma often recycled last night's leftovers into soups. She gave her Oster blender a workout and it was all very delicious.

Regards,
Cathy

It would never have occurred to me to make something as odd sounding as "cream of fishstick" soup, but now that I've heard of it, it sounds like it could be rather good. Just go the chowder route and roughly chop the fish sticks (I don't think pureeing would be necessary), and Bob's your uncle. I'll have to keep that in mind if I should come into the possession of a lot of leftover fish sticks or breaded fish anytime soon.

Steak sandwich soup, though, does sound like a bit of a leap of faith.

Katie wrote:Boy, was I surprised to find that part out! One full meal? SNACKS!?! There was a lot Mom didn't tell us!

Yeah, I have a feeling that's changed a bit over the last few decades. I grew up in the 80s, and I remember pretty much eating nothing--just water and maybe a small snack--until after the Good Friday service in the evening. Certainly not a full meal. A full meal and snacks is a pretty normal day for me at times. It could be that the rules had changed by then, but my parents were both good Polish Roman Catholics from the old country, so perhaps they were a bit stricter. Also, we didn't have any TV, music, or otherwise entertainment of any sort. I don't think I was even allowed to play the piano. It was a day of solemn reflection. (And the most boring day of the year for a kid.)

I also vaguely remember--and maybe this was just a thing in my neighborhood--but if you were out late on a Thursday night and it slipped into Friday morning, it was okay to eat meat because you were on "moral time" and it still counted as a Thursday. I highly doubt that was canonical, but I do remember it from my child/teenager-hood, back when I followed these rules.

Binko wrote:... if you were out late on a Thursday night and it slipped into Friday morning, it was okay to eat meat because you were on "moral time" and it still counted as a Thursday. I highly doubt that was canonical...

This reminds me of a George Carlin bit about Catholic school boys quizzing a priest about the timing of a lapse in a Lenten observance -- "but you're on a ship at sea ... and you cross the international date line ... would dat den be a sin, Fadda?"

George Carlin was another who didn't quite know what to think when the Friday abstinence rule changed from year round to Lent only. He said, you know there've gotta be souls in Purgatory still doing time on a hot dog rap.

Katie wrote:George Carlin was another who didn't quite know what to think when the Friday abstinence rule changed from year round to Lent only. He said, you know there've gotta be souls in Purgatory still doing time on a hot dog rap.

My Dad created a stir that is still vividly recalled by his family years afterwards. My Dad's family was travelling to Buffalo, NY on a Friday arriving late in the evening. My Grandfather bought everyone hot dogs. Just as they were about to eat them, my Dad said, "It's Friday! You cannot eat them."

All those hot dogs were thrown away with everyone mad at my Dad for reminding them.

Apparently there is a bit of a wiggle clause: If you ate meat on a Friday completely forgetting abstinence from meat, you were ok. If you remembered and did it, then it was not ok.

I heard this story multiple times from my grandparents, uncles and aunt (who was almost a nun), who were still irked.

Regards,
Cathy

Binko wrote:It would never have occurred to me to make something as odd sounding as "cream of fishstick" soup, but now that I've heard of it, it sounds like it could be rather good. Just go the chowder route and roughly chop the fish sticks (I don't think pureeing would be necessary), and Bob's your uncle. I'll have to keep that in mind if I should come into the possession of a lot of leftover fish sticks or breaded fish anytime soon.

Yep, that was pretty much it - a chowdery base with fish sticks in it. No pureeing required.

Hi,

At the SteveZ Memorial dinner the other night, Ronnie_Suburban commented about an article discussing whether Impossible-type products could be consumed on meatless Fridays during Lent.

As a Catholic-lite, it certainly seems like a reasonable assumption this would be ok. I just found this article, clearly from no theologian, who also felt it could work.

On the very rare occasions my Dad is with his siblings, my Dad's strict interpretation of how meatless Fridays were observed often comes up. Once at a baseball park, my Grandfather ordered hot dogs for everyone. As they were about to take the first bite, my Dad reminded them it was Friday. Everything was thrown away. If they had forgotten it was Friday and ate them, that was ok. Knowing it was Friday and eating them, was not ok. In my Dad's family, they still resent his stopping their joy.

Life goes on.

Regards,
Cathy2

Which is the worse sin? Eating meat, or wasting the food you've already bought?

JoelF wrote:Which is the worse sin? Eating meat, or wasting the food you've already bought?

It remains a moment of controversy to this day between my Dad and his siblings.

Perhaps they should have offered it to people sitting around them.

Of course, Dad could have averted his eyes.

As you well know, I had a pretty meat-centric feast on Wednesday when it was Ash Wednesday.

Regards,
Cathy2

Has anyone seen this?

Capirotada is a traditional Mexican dish similar to a bread pudding that is usually eaten during the Lenten period and Good Friday. The sweet and savory dish holds a very symbolic connection to the Passion of Christ and is considered by many Mexican and Mexican-American families as a reminder of the suffering of Christ on Good Friday.

Read More: The Religious Significance of the Mexican Dish Capirotada | https://kisselpaso.com/the-religious-si ... m=referral

or The naughty dish served during Lent

...
Maultaschen, large pasta pillows traditionally filled with minced meat and smoked meat (usually pork), spinach, breadcrumbs, herbs and spices. Each oversized Maultaschen measures up to 12cm across, but we were making mini Maultaschen, or ‘Maultäschle’ in Swabian dialect. Genuine Maultaschen must be produced in Swabia, a historical region that is today incorporated into Baden-Württemberg and the government district of Swabia in Bavaria. In 2009, the European Union recognised Maultaschen as a regional specialty.

Traditionally served during Lent in a warm broth garnished with chives, this centuries-old dish is associated with Good Friday, the last Friday of Lent. Catholics, along with some other Christians, are encouraged to refrain from eating meat during Lent, especially on Good Friday – and the pasta dough was meant to conceal the ‘sinful’ meat filling.
...
The dish’s nickname in Swabian dialect, Herrgottsbescheißerle, means ‘small God-cheaters’

Hah! Interesting. I am very familiar with maultaschen, but did not know about their Lenten connection or them being used as a "cheat" for Friday Lenten meals (or specifically, Good Friday). Great background.