Tan My My

The 'agitated' fish market. I went - again - this morning to get more Tilapia and some wild Louisiana shrimp, they werent agitated today mostly because I helped myself and left them to tend to the other customers.



Not much to look at from the sidewalk.



Crabs and other shelled items.



Fish steaks.



The shrimp selection.




Whole fish and whole red fish.



Partial look of the filet selection - highlighting the super cheap Tilapia.



The LARGE fish.



Mussels, clams and oysters.



Squids and other undefinables.

This is just the fresh fish section, there is also a frozen section with crab legs and whatever else is frozen, and a complete butcher shop with butchers showcasing beef, pork and poultry. There is a dumpling lady offering samples of dumplings and a sushi guy (he's new) and wrapping around the outside is fresh produce. So 5 pounds of shrimp and 4 pounds of tilapia later its on the blog.

Fish

A potato and tilapia en croute with
a smoky tomatoe butter
and cashew pesto.

1 tomato, 2 tomatoes..

First off my profile picture keeps disappearing so I replace it and it disappears again. Secondly I will post in not so greater detail as to who the occasional woman is in my posts. Thirdly its hotter than pistols. Fourthly its feeding time. Everyone, at least I think everyone, likes tomatoes, mozzarella and basil and this is how I like it. I have posted this version before but here it is again. Why make one when you can make three, after all what good is sharing when you can be a little piggy and have one to yourself? I scattered some balsamic vinager and some extra virgin olive oil along with fresh ground pepper and sea salt to liven it up a little more.



There were also deep fried smelts with a tomato, white peach, parsley and blueberry vinager salsa, followed by some gumbo.

This pot was seriously chock full. It had salmon, tilapia, whole smelts, crabs, shrimp, and mussels as well as okra summer peas carrots and potatoes and one jalapeno sliced in half for that little tiny kick. Why eat such a hot dish in this weather? I dunno.

Ceviche

Ceviche is a fish dish that has been cured with lime juice rather than cooking. The acid from the lime firms up the flesh and adds a tangy flavor. I added jalapeno pepper, cilantro, red onion, sea salt, fresh ground black pepper and tomato and ate it with warm corn tortillas.



These are two types. One is tilapia and prawns and the other is portuguese sardine in a tomato sauce, and both are excellent. We also went bike riding.



And we cant go 5 days without nachos. Well maybe we can go 5 days but still...

Fresh Fish

I love chinatown. Nothing excites my afternoons more than making a trip to chinatown. I get so happy with all the noise and smells and hustle that it makes me feel like a tourist even after 20 years of living here. Today it was to get tilapia which I crusted with herbs and tortilla chips with a gratin of potatoes with shredded beet greens. The fish is so light and tasty and the crunchiness of the tortilla chips and corn flavor give it a nice and subtle boost, and its hard to mess up taters so these were a little creamy and a lot tasty.

Someone had the brilliant idea to paint some of the mail boxes to look like R2D2's and I love it. My only complaint would be that they are the same, it would be so cool if they were different D2 units each unique.

Oh and the Empire State building was awesome with these fairy tale clouds.

Last night I had a snack of fried plantains with sour cream, and refried black bean tacos on blue corn tortillas with a salsa made with tomatillos and serano chiles with pork rinds (the really good ones from the cuchifrito stores). The pork rinds get really soft and really delicious soaking in the salsa and even though this looks gooey and kind of gross the flavor made up for the lack of positive visuals.

I guess I should try to explain what a cuchifrito is - NYC has these little food stores that sell hispanic foods like pasteles and bacalao and pork rinds to name just a few and the slang name for these kinds of stores is "cuchifrito" pronounced - coo-chi-frito, and thats about all I know besides the fact that I enjoy their offerings.