Blackened Salmon

Last nite, in the middle of an especially busy Saturday, I covered a filet of Atlantic Salmon with Old Bay and put it out on the grill to cook on medium heat. Knowing we had a trip after dinner planned to Trader Joe's, I decided to make the short drive to the Southtown PetSmart for some dog food, cat litter, and other supplies to save some time while the salmon was baking.

Inside PetSmart was a row of adoptable dogs in metal cages, reminding me of the time five years ago when we adopted Hollie, the "VooDoo Priestess" from the Sunset Hills PetSmart.

After about twenty or so minutes, I made it back home. As soon as I stepped out the car, I noticed the acrid smell of burning olive oil, salmon skin, and Old Bay. Looking up the gangway, I saw a column of gray smoke rising into the trees. $#*!, I thought, the dinner is toast, and hurried into the house. The Weber was spewing flames from underneath, so I figured the interior was like a blast furnace. I carefully opened the lid with the handle of the grill brush with one hand, armed with a container of water in the other.

Inside, the salmon was in tact, not on fire, but very black around the edges. Maybe salvagable. We brought it in, scraped away the burned off parts, and then gave it try. Not bad. Pretty good actually. Dinner saved.

After dinner, we headed for the Richmond Heights Trader Joe's. Good as always. Some great finds on wine. MacMurray label (as in Fred MacMurray, the actor). Murphy Goode. Some good stuff. For less than $6 they even have a frozen shellfish medley with a lobster tail, stone crab claws, scallops and shrimp. Maybe next time.

Lamenting the lack of Trader Joe's in the City, one of the staff members(a city resident), said it would be at least two years before TJ opens a city location. They're looking west first.

On our way home, we were tempted to stop at the Epiphany Parish picnic, but as we drove by, we figured, better to check on the goings on at a birthday party Matt was attending. So we did. He's at the age where the hormones are raging. When we arrived, the kids were all downstairs, doing there own thing, doors closed.

Not comfortable with that situation, we decided to do some friendly parental checking in. Things seemed pretty innocent, mostly conversations about who likes who and such, but still, we decided, we'd call it a night and take the Mattman home.

Earlier that day, after watching Matt and his 7th grade teammates defeat the St. Margaret's of Scotland soccer team 2-0 (that's a first, Kafani Mar'Na not on the field for St. Margaret's) I had spent about six hours at work gearing up for a presentation involving possible redevelopment in one of the most economically depressed communities along the east side riverfront.

Today, after another half day at work, (yeah, it's Sunday, and I'm going to work instead of attending mass), it'll be watching the kid play volleyball and then hockey practice.

Then tonite, maybe we'll try blackening a hunk of beef to go with that bottle of Murphy Goode. But this time there won't be any side trip to Southtown Centre in the middle of the barebequeing...