Appetites and Adventures: The Perfect Bite

“Oooh! I’m going to have fish in a marinade with sprinkles,” announced my nephew whimsically. My brother’s family and I were visiting Pier 39 in San Francisco and, after a day of hiking, each of us was dreaming of dinner. 

My four-year-old nephew’s dinner dreams closely resembled the meal we had prepared at home together the night before. My brother was visiting with his family from Illinois. My husband’s and my mostly vegetarian diet, coupled with my passion for cooking (especially when I had an audience), worried me as I prepared a grocery list. What would I feed a brother who viewed vegetables as adversaries, and whose diet consisted mainly of meat? My mind landed on meat’s favorite cousin: potatoes.

But then I remembered my brother remarking once after a Thanksgiving meal at a friend’s house, “The mother clearly doesn’t know her way around a kitchen. Her mashed potatoes just don’t taste like Mom’s.”

Gulp. What was I thinking? Hoping to serve a Midwestern staple from my own Californian kitchen? My kitchen was where I added a personal, and often a spicy, twist to almost every morsel of food I made. My recipes had packed up and hitched a ride far west of the Mississippi River and its midwestern tables long ago, as I did. And to serve such recipes to a die-hard carnivore? Ten-dollar coupons to the nearest pizza delivery joint were beginning to tempt me.

“Do you guys eat garlic?” I asked, the words barely escaping my lips. I just knew my brother would answer as my old midwestern friends, “Make mine plain.” To do so would be practically impossible for my spice-throwing fingers.

“Of course!” The response filled my mouth with saliva at the thought of the juicy meal I would create based on this new knowledge. My fears were lifted, my cautions thrown to the wind. If they ate garlic, they would surely eat anything—perhaps even a vegetable.

“How about seared ahi tuna steaks marinated in olive oil, fresh ginger and garlic?” I asked wistfully. And I received a heart-warming, “Yes.”