"Ben, could you pick up milk, tilapia, and some corn tortillas?"

Easy enough. And when I got home from my day trip to Sweet Home, Ben had bought milk and fish, however WINCO had hidden the tortillas. No biggy.

Fast forward to today (but not too fast, I get nauseous).

Ben was taking a quick nap, so I decided to pull the fish out of the freezer and thaw it. I filled the sink with water and opened the bag.

Surprise.

Skin. And tail. And fins. And head- complete with eyes and gills. The only thing missing was a smiley face (we all know why).

My first instinct was to put the fish back in the bag, take it to the store and exchange for something that looked a little less angry.

Then my stomach growled. I can do this. I put the fish in the sink and marched over to my cookbook collection. Where do I begin? I turned to the enormous Encyclopedia of Creative Cooking and heaved it from the shelf and onto my table. Yes, I'm sure YouTube has something on the subject. Call me old fashioned.

Flipping to the table of contents I found "fish". If any book is going to have what I need, it's this one. Then I saw it. A full color picture of fish- cooked with skin, tails, and heads still intact. And on the previous page? Instructions on how to bone a fish.

I read the instructions. Twice. Then I started chopping my taco veggies.

It's hard to forget the look on Ben's face when he saw the angry fish in the sink. I don't blame him. It looked like something we might find in a horror movie.

"I just went for what was cheapest"

I got a good laugh out of that one.

Finally the fish was thawed. I cut it out of the bag. Something poked me.

Ow! Bastard...

I poked its eyes. Fascinating.

I grabbed my sharpest knife and followed TECC's instructions as carefully as I could.

Fillet #1 was soon waiting on a plate, looking quite butchered. Ok. It's going in a taco anyway.

I cut off the head and tail next, and proceeded with fillet #2. It was obviously #2. Much prettier. Too bad it's going in a taco.

I rinsed and patted, rubbed on my garlic-parsley-chili powder concoction, and into the fridge it went.

I'll admit I was feeling pretty proud of myself by the time Shira was asleep in bed. Very domestic.

So at 7:30 pm I cooked the fish and we ate it.

And it was the best angry-fish taco I've ever had.

Did I mention I have a fish head and tail in my freezer now?

I've always wanted to make bouillabaisse.