Baja-spiced fish and chips, with bandera salsa and salad

It’s been a phone call-y kind of day, from the one that woke me up from my lie-in (Patient Transport confirming my transport to hospital for an appointment on Monday), to a missed call that I tried to return only to find the office had closed by the time I got through (which has left me unsure whether I have a hospital appointment or not). There was even a classic mum passive-aggressive phone call, to a friend who had been unwell to “see how she was”, but mostly to angle for a lift to church on Sunday: “of course I won’t be there because no-one has spoken to me in days so I can’t get there… …oh, really? Thank you very much!” 🙄

I’m now wearily watching an old nature documentary on tv and trying to convince myself that I don’t need any more sweet stuff to eat, of either the biscuit or ice cream variety. I’m also trying to convince mum that we shouldn’t get pet guinea pigs, animals she adores but I’m indifferent to, and I know I would have to be responsible for as mum doesn’t always have the mental capacity to be responsible for an animal. I very much suspect I will ultimately fail on both fronts: the chocolate Hobnobs in the cupboard are calling my name, and my arguments against guinea pigs are slowly being worn away by the fact they’re just so darn adorable!

(Sadly my plans for getting another cat are no further forward, a every potential candidate (candicat?) I have found has been turned down by mum as too old, too young, the wrong type of fur¹… I will find an acceptable cat one of these days, and I really hope it’s the one I’ve had my eye on for the past few weeks. Be prepared for lots of cat spam photos when I finally succeed!)

One thing that, I will admit, is easier without a cat is cooking: no having to watch where you’re putting your feet for fear of treading on an unusually furry and aggrieved bit of floor, or having to stop said bit of floor from diving into the oven after a baking tray of fish goujons.

Which is what we had for dinner tonight, it being Friday and therefore fish day. To make it a bit more exciting I slightly repurposed a Simply Cook box, which was meant to make Baja-style fish tacos but instead made spiced fish and chips: the Baja spice blend² went on the frozen fish goujons as intended, and I made the tomato and onion salsa, but rather than tortillas I cooked oven chips, and added some salad, and even mum said it was pretty good despite it containing far more chilli than she generally favours in her food. (Oddly, the spice mix for the salsa was spicier than the habanero hot sauce, which was delicious and another Simply Cook item I wish I could buy by the bottle.)

Afterwards we had coffee cake and ice cream, which was identical to yesterday so I won’t waste more words on it.

And so that’s the end of another day, with nothing much achieved except for the completion of a level of a mobile phone game I have been stuck on for the past couple of weeks, and the location of the “missing” box of chocolate ginger biscuits – it was exactly where mum put it, of course, but we celebrated its rediscovery by having one each anyway. I knew I hadn’t convinced myself on the biscuit front! 😀

1. Although I’m with her on not wanting a long-haired cat, as neither of us have owned one before and learning how to care for their coat is a challenge neither of us needs right now. ↩︎
2. Utterly delicious in the way only a blend of salt, sugar, and chilli can be. I didn’t use all of it and will keep the rest for an as yet unknown but already anticipated purpose. ↩︎