Cleaning of the fish...

Yesterday my DH informed me he was going fishing for the day.  It's the first of January here in Oklahoma and really really cold.  DH loves to fish, obviously.  I think he is crazy because not only is it cold while standing, imagine how cold it is while riding down the lake in a bass boat at 70 mph?  Insane I tell you! But I love the fact that he has a hobby that he loves and the perk of being married to a fisherman means we get to eat fresh fish all year long!  Yay for freshly fried fish in a cast iron skillet!  So I instructed him (just part of my wifely job people) to bring some home for us to eat this week.  He came home with ten fish to fillet.  He also caught a whopper Bass yesterday!  Here is a pic of my sexy man and the bass...this was thrown back...no eatin' these trophy fishies!

Usually the filleting or "cleaning" of the fish is done outside but because it was so cold I told DH he could do it in the house.  He started in cleaning the fish and I told him I wanted to learn and clean an entire fish all by myself.  I've seen people clean fish my entire life.  Some of my most favorite memories are of my Papa J cleaning catfish we would catch during the Summer.  But I never really watched with the intent of learning and never asked if I could try.  I think a lot of this happens today with our children.  We assume they wouldn't be interested, when in fact they are craving to learn these most basic things.  I wished I would had asked my Papa J to show me how to clean a fish...I wish I would had asked my Nannie P to show me how to crochet.  I did learn to grow things from my Papa J and I learned to cook from my Mom and my Granny B but there are so many things that I didn't learn and now are lost, frankly because I didn't ask.  One of my New Year's resolutions is to learn more of these things and to ask my friends and family to teach me, tell me stories of how they learned and listen with all my heart.  I want to learn to preserve food (canning, drying, etc.) and to sew (all I can do is sew on a button).  My Granny F knows how to do these things and I am going to ask her to show me.  Hopefully she will oblige.  I'm certain she will because she loves me ;)  Also I am going to be better about teaching my kids these important things, even if they don't ask.  I have this fear that my kids will learn nothing and grow up to depend on other people to feed them.  And what scares me even more is that it probably would be me!  Don't get me wrong, I adore my kids and I love to cook and feed them but someday I want them to grow up...move out and feed themselves!  I know you must be thinking how awful that sounds but I do want them to be self sufficient someday. I do not want them living with me when they are forty! I especially want my DS to learn how to cook, clean and even sew. I would be doing my future DIL a huge favor.  Your welcome future DIL!

So here is a video of how to clean a bass.  This is basically how my DH showed me.  I am happy to report that I successfully cleaned my very first fish.  Here are a few things I thought were important while doing this...

• Use a very sharp knife (ours need to be sharpened in a bad way)
• Get your fingers and hand out of the way (there is enough blood from the fish...your own blood is not needed)
• Don't drink too much beer before you do this (sharp knives and beer might not be a super great thing but this beer is a super great thing.  It's my new favorite beer...sorry that's a little random)
• If your fish is still alive while you do this you may feel bad during the process but on the other hand killing your fish beforehand will make you feel equally as bad.  The point is just make sure you have a good hold on your fish while you clean it and try not to feel bad about killing it

Tonight when I coat these babies in cornmeal and fry them up I will feel good that my sexy boyscout...aka my DH caught these fish with his bare hands...I mean his fishin' pole.  I will feel good that DH and I both cleaned them ourselves and my kids watched us and knew that the fish died for their meal (I'm hoping they will appreciate it more and not be so wasteful).  As the "Executive Chef" of the Kimble Ponderosa, I will take special care to cook them well and when my family and I eat them, they will taste extra special because they are fresh, they were handled and cooked with care. I will feel good because I didn't buy these at the grocery store...that they weren't frozen and shipped from God knows where and as soon as my kids can handle knives I will show them how to do it themselves! 

Thank you sweet fishies for my dinner tonight...your death was not in vain...

Jules