Fish Fry Tradition

One of our friends has a fish fry tradition. Every year, in the fall, they invite selected friends over for a fish fry. What's a fish fry?

A fish fry is deep south cooking at it's best and heart health at it's worst!

They buy catfish in boxes, bread them, and deep fry them in a kettle. Hush Puppies are also thrown in. (Hush Puppies are corn meal balls deep fried until they float. Check out this site for Soul Food recipes.) Another friend, Ed, brings over his french fryer and he fries up some fat potatoes. We have a feast.

Steve, our host, has a large back yard with several "conversation centers" where groups can gather and, well, just converse. Tiki torches on bamboo sticks puncture the lawn and provide an invisible net around the groups to keep the bugs away. Inside he's set up tables for cards and games.

I just saunter around to the different conversations, break in, engage, and then leave for another. The whole gathering works this way. Last night (Sunday) I stood around and watched an insane Nertz card game in action. It's kind of like a multi-person solitaire card game. It's a fast game where everyone stands up around the table. The game last night had eight people in it. Arms were flailing and cards were flying.

Even though we've sort of moved away, we still get an invitation to this bash. It's great fun.

...dave
Baking is problematic for me because I usually drink a lot of wine when I cook! -Ted Allen