Monthly Mingle #4

I'm so thrilled to have been invited by the delightful, Meeta of What's for Lunch Honey to participate in this month's Monthly Mingle. The theme for this month's event is Holiday Cuisine. Thanks to Meeta's Blogger Postcards from the World event, I've got to meet this fabulous lady and I have enjoyed exploring her blog, which was new to me. Not only that, I've been fortunate enough to chat a little with her through e-mail, and I've discovered such a nice gal and a new friend. =) What's holiday cuisine for me? Well Hubbs and I don't get to take many vacations as our work schedule is something of a nightmare. We both work at the same commercial roofing company, but his schedule is seasonal. Which means, he works hard during the spring, summer and fall months - the perfect time for vacations. He gets winter off, but I'm still working in the office. We could still take a vacation during the winter, but we both love to go fishing so much that taking time off in the winter just doesn't appeal to us. Therefore we're kind of stuck at home most years. But there was a time.. so very long ago.. that we did vacation.. a time before becoming homeowners when we had money to spare and no commitments to a lovely little house that we've fallen in love with. So yesterday Hubbs was invited by his brother to go out on the boat and do some much needed perch fishing. They had a great day on Lake Erie and caught many.. many.. many delectable yellow perch. When he got home and showed me his cooler full of fish, the first thing we both said to each other was, "Remember catching this many fish on Lake Nipissing in Canada?" Lake Nipissing, located in Callandar, Ontario is our most favorite spot to take a holiday. The lake is simply gorgeous, surrounded by wooded areas and lots of fishing lodges. We always stay at Sunset Cove on the North Bay, where the small cottages are rustic and cozy, the owners are especially accomodating and friendly and the fishing is out of this world! It truly is a special place for us and we agree that one of these summers we are going to say the hell with work and get our butts back up there! Our friend, Larry, stopped by again and while the boys cleaned fish I thought that I'd make a commemorative dinner in honor of our last vacation to Lake Nipissing. As I was preparing fresh cut french fries and a salad of orange bell peppers, garden tomatoes and onions dressed lightly in a balsamic vinaigrette I realized that this special dinner would be a perfect submission to Meeta's Monthly Mingle - perfect! It took the boys a couple hours to clean and fillet the fish, but they did a great job as not one bite was ruined by the annoyance of a small bone. The fish was delicate and so flavorful, the way only fish caught merely hours ago can taste. We ate out on our deck with Jimmy Buffet crooning to us in the background - yanno, a lil island atmosphere to really make us pine for the patio outside our cabin, just a few feet from the lake. *sigh* One day we'll come back to you, Nipissing.. one day! Wayne's Fresh Lake Erie Perch Fry 2 pounds of fresh perch, cleaned and filleted 1.5 c. all-purpose flour 2 tsp. garlic powder 1 tsp. Old Bay seasoning 1 tsp. kosher salt 1/2 tsp. black pepper Enough vegetable or canola oil to shallow fry the fish Place all ingredients except the fish in a paper sack. Shake ingredients to mix. Heat a large skillet filled with about a 1/4 inch of oil over medium-high heat until the end of a wooden spoon produces bubbles all around it when dipped into the oil. Working in small batches, place a 6-8 fillets of perch in the sack of flour and shake to coat well. Removing one fillet at a time, shaking off extra flour, carefully place into hot oil. Fry each batch until golden - say 3-4 minutes, flipping once. Repeat, in small batches, until all of the fish is fried. *Note: Thank you so much for bringing this great event to my attention, Meeta.. we had a fabulous evening reminscing about one of our favorite holiday destinations!