A Fishy Mother's Day

Happy Mother's Day! (belated, of course!)
I hope all of you moms out there had a good day and were blessed by your families!

Our day was . . .fishy!

Here is me with my kiddos--the ones to whom I owe a Mother's Day for me to celebrate in the first place! (Well, aside from my own mother and MIL, etc).

And here is part of the reason our day was fishy. . .my hubby and I made a "fancier" meal than our usual breakfast for supper Sundays. This is a Salmon in Tarragon Sauce, with cheesy garlic bread, salad, and fruit salsa. Salmon recipe to follow.

And here is the other reason our day was fishy. . . there is a creek near our home and every Mother's Day there is a big "salmon fry release" that takes place. I don't know exactly who hosts this event, but it was kinda fun to do with the kids.

Here is E and A with their pails of fish. And then all the joys of releasing those little fry-guys! Now most families or kids who do this take their bucket and just throw it into the creek. Not so with my kids. Their dad is a firm believer in getting ew-ee and gooey, so my kids have learned to release each little salmon individually to ensure that each of them make it into the stream successfully.

Last year, E made it through 13 buckets, so this year, both E and A had to do 13 buckets each. They probably would have done more, but the time ran out. :)

Here is a few shots of the creek area. . .it is beautiful. . .

Also, we met E and A's cousin there (and aunt and uncle and oma and opa). So naturally we needed a picture of them together.

Mother's Day for me this year was not full of gifts and spa treatments and so forth. It did include staying home and being surrounded by my own wonderful family. With a hubby who is a firefighter, I've had two weekends without him around a lot. Then, if you add in all those Canucks games. . .well, he hasn't been "around" too much lately! ;) So it was nice to just sit on the deck with a glass of wine, and play backyard soccer with the kids and have a LONG nap. Those were HUGE gifts to me this year! And with a new little one around, I am even more thankful for the gift of being a mom.

So. . .for the fish recipe. . .

It comes from a book called "The Freshwater Angler: America's Favorite Fish Recipes" (1992, Creative Publishing International). It was first made by my MIL, and I actually liked it a bunch, so I decided to give it a try. It is mostly all about the sauce. The "rub" seems to need to be marinated longer than the recipe says, or needs to be a bit "stronger" (in my humble opinion). We did this on the BBQ, not in the oven and used salmon fillets--FYI.

Salmon with Tarragon Sauce

(George Gruenefekd-Montreal, Quebec), p. 79

6-8 servings

1 whole drawn Salmon or substitute (3.5-4.5 lbs), head removed

2 T. snipped fresh parsley or 1 t. dried parsley flakes

1 T. snipped fresh tarragon leaves or 1/2 t. dried tarragon leaves

1/4 t. salt

1/4 t. paprika

1/2 t. pepper

1 T. fresh lemon juice

Sauce:

1/4 c. margarine or butter

1/4 c. all purpose flour

1 T. snipped fresh tarragon leaves or 1/2 T. dried tarragon leaves

1/2 t. curry powder

1/4 t. salt

1/8 t. pepper

1 c. ready-to-serve chicken broth

1 c. milk

2 T. dry white wine

Heat oven to 375. Cut 28x18" sheet of heavy-duty foil. Place salmon on foil. Sprinkle cavity with first ingredients. Fold long sides of foil together in locked folds. Fold and crimp short ends; seal tightly. Place on large baking sheet. Bake 40-50 minutes, or until fish begins to flake when a fork is inserted at backbone or thickest part of fish.

Meanwhile, prepare sauce. In 2-quart saucepan, melt margarine over medium heat. Stir in spices and flour. Blend in broth and milk. Cook over medium heat for 3-5 minutes, or until mixture thickens and bubbles, stirring constantly. Stir in wine. Serve salmon with sauce. Garnish with additional fresh tarragon sprigs, if desired.

And . . .this weekend there was a plant sale at the high school, so me and the kiddos did a little bit of planting. . .re-potting and also planting seeds together. We'll see how the seeds come up. We had a few sparse areas and a few "oops"es where too many seeds fell out of our fingers!