How About Some Fish for Lent & Maybe the Rest of the Year Too?

New York City Themed Ice Bar

Before I get started with this week's blog, I have a photo and story to tell.  Now living in the cold north has it's rewards.  People up here know how to live it up "Outdoors" in the winter.  This past weekend, Rochester had a winter ice fest.  Thousands of pounds of ice was transformed into "Ice Bars" and other "Ice Sculptures" for everyone to enjoy.  I took several photos and will show them over the coming weeks.  This first one is one of the "Ice Bars" and it has a "New York City" theme.  There was a "Statue of Liberty" carving behind this bar.  Rochester is really a fun town year round.  This went for 3 nights with live entertainment too.

Wednesday, February 13th, is "Ash Wednesday" and the beginning of "Lent" for the christian world.  Traditionally you will see many locations advertising "Fish Dinners" or "All You Can Eat Fish Events" mostly on Fridays throughout the period of lent.  These fish dinners include many restaurants, church's (especially Catholic) and service clubs.  Eating fish on Fridays in lent is a long long tradition coming from the early days of the catholic church.

Everyone should try and take advantage of all this fish being served around you.  The reason, fish is a healthy component to your diet.  Now many of these dinners deep fry the fish.  Which isn't the healthiest way to prepare fish.  But it still gets you eating fish.  So that's a plus.

I thought since fish is popular during lent, that I should offer up a couple of good tasting fish recipes.  To top it off, they are not difficult to make either.  The first one is for "Pan Fried Catfish with Scallions" and yes it contains that "Fried" word.  But it is not deep fried and when dealing with catfish that word just seems to be always around.  The other recipe is for "Orange Orange Roughy" and the orange roughy is baked this time.

Now if catfish or orange roughy is not your fish, try using another fish for either recipe.  The idea is to find, cook and eat fish that meet your taste desires.  Myself, it's walleye and trout for fresh water fish especially if I  catch them.  Cod, haddock or red snapper is my list for salt water fish.  I'll eat other but those are my top ones.

It would be good if everyone would have fish at least once a week.  A couple of times a week would be better but you should check with a dietitian.  There are other things to consider when eating fish.  A big one is the amount of mercury that might be in some fish.  I think pregnant women have to be more careful but again check with your doctor or a dietitian.

I know I started today's blog with lent and eating fish.  However, I want to end it with reminding everyone that eating fish is a year round habit to get into even if you're not the one the caught them.  So enjoy the fish and "Happy Cooking."