Fish Tacos with Kimchi

For Mother's Day brunch, I made some fish tacos.

For most Mothers, going out to a restaurant and having a meal served to them seems to be the norm--everyone wants their mother to feel pampered on Mother's Day.

At our house, they let me do what I love, and cooking for my mother is a treat for all around.

I really like having everyone over for a meal, but I especially enjoy the longer time spent together at home versus going to a restaurant.

Fish tacos are always a favorite here.

Have you tried them with a little kimchi on top?

Wow!

Add a little sliced kimchi, and there's a flavor explosion!

I tried to keep the meal simple, but sometimes one thing leads to another.

Have you ever read the children's book, If You Give A Mouse A Cookie?

I bought two pieces of fish at Costco.

They had some wild caught New Zealand ling cod that looked good, and I also picked up a piece of salmon.

Everyone in my family loves salmon.

Since I was having a busy few days, I was glad I bought some Mojo Criollo marinade, it's very similar to my citrus marinade.

I poured it over the fish, added some sliced onions and cilantro, zipped up the bag, and put it in the fridge for a few hours to marinate.

The kids came home this weekend, and stayed overnight.

What a treat!

It's always 'kimochi-ii' when the kids are home.

For the uninitiated, that means it feels good.

Rick hung out in the kitchen with me and made the guacamole.

We chopped up some fresh tomatoes, a little bit of red and green onion, and some cilantro for pico de gallo.

I bought this jar of kimchi at Costco.

It costs just a little more than a smaller jar at the asian market, and it saved me a lot of time.

I think it's got good flavor.

It comes in about 2 inch pieces, I cut them into strips for the tacos.

I also made a pot of chile verde.

My son-in-law likes chile verde.

So does my dad.

He ate several bowls of it.

Rick toasted all the tortillas, too.

Thanks, Rick!

That's a big job.

Adding some sliced kimchi on the tacos is really good!

It's got a nice sour bite and spiciness to it.

I think it gives the tacos a whole new dimension.

Itadakimasu!

***

Having Rick and Karen--and Mitchell too--home for the weekend makes the perfect Mother's Day for me.

I wasn't going to blog about the food this weekend, but was encouraged by the kids.

They even brought their plates of food over to have them photographed-- that's so helpful, because it takes time to get a plate ready.

Karen wanted in the picture, too.

She's a lot of fun.

I've been taking so many pictures of food, that I've been a little distracted and haven't taken enough pictures of people!

I'm a little disappointed in myself that I didn't get any pictures of Rick or his girlfriend Jessica this weekend.

I will do better with that in the future!

I have been saving Karen & Mitchell's wedding cake top since last year, and since they were home, we had it for dessert one day.

There they are, in the cake-cutting pose.

Karen brings a lot of brightness and energy with her.

Gary had a good time showing Mitchell all his projects and what he's got growing around the yard.

I was surprised how well the cake held up, it was good after a year in the freezer!

While thinking of the weekend, and looking through some photos, I came upon this one, and am remembering Mother's Day last year.

Rick took me to a raw food cooking--preparation of food--demonstration.

For the whole day, he went with me and helped with everything I wanted to do--we went to Fugetsu-Do to get some mochigashi to take to my aunt and visited her in the nursing home, made some cranes for my cousin's community tanabata project, and spent the rest of the afternoon at the raw food demonstration.

I never felt like he was in a rush or wanted to be anywhere else, the whole day I got his undivided attention.

I feel blessed to have such wonderful children that are so kind to their mother.

No printable recipe for this one, yet.