Showing posts with label America. Show all posts
Showing posts with label America. Show all posts

Wednesday, February 10, 2016

Recipe: The Best Fish Tacos You Will Ever Eat

My husband is obsessed with these fish tacos, which makes me happy because they are fairly healthy, and he is such a picky eater. I like to eat healthy. During college I lived off of rice, bean, and veggie bowls. I am not a vegan or a vegetarian, but I tend to have a diet that does not consist of a lot of white meat. However, my husband would eat chips (french fries) and pizza for ever meal if he could. These fish tacos are a great compromise because they are made with a Greek yogurt sauce, even though they are still cooked in oil and breaded.

I originally got this recipe off of Pinterest from pinchofyum.com (check her out, she has great recipes!) But I've tweaked it a bit to fit my personal tastes little bit.


First of, I did not change the thing about the sauce. It is absolute perfection. You can find it here.

http://pinchofyum.com/crispy-fish-tacos-jalapeno-sauce

The only thing I change is how I fry the fish. The original recipe has the fish battered, which is delicious, but I prefer something a little lighter. Instead of making up the batter, I have two bowls: one with a beaten egg and light beer (One egg + one 12 ounce beer per 10 ounces of fish) and one with flour, cornstarch (corn flour if you're in the UK), garlic salt, and pepper. I start with the fish in the liquids bowl, and completely cover it in the flour mixture before adding it to the pan.

Side note:: I have started frying the fish in vegetable or sunflower oil after reading about how you should not cook with olive oil. I have found that I like the taste better as well.

Originally I used halibut and black snapper (white bottom fish that are often caught off the Oregon Coast), but I have discovered that I prefer the tacos with cod. As long as the cod is fresh and not frozen.

Happy Cooking!

Love, 

Taylor ❤️

Friday, February 5, 2016

Small Town America to Europe

Good morning beautiful people (:

So if you read my first post, you would have learned that I am from a small town in Oregon. And when I saw small I don't mean, 5-10,000 people. I mean 600. My high school had less than 50 kids in it. That's a fraction of most graduating classes.

Side note:: Graduating with eleven classmates always was my 'fun fact' during college. It never failed to get shocked faces, and no one could ever beat me.

I always had a love/hate relationship with my hometown while I was growing up. I felt so isolated from the rest of the world. We didn't get cell phone service until I was 16, and high speed internet until my senior year of high school. But my entire extended family lived within a mile of me. I saw my grandparents daily, along with my cousins, aunts, and uncles. I had a brother-sister relationship with my classmates. Most of us went to preschool together. We were together for our entire childhood, adolescence, and beginning of our adulthood. I played three sports, was valedictorian, and student body president (my classmates really didn't care so I got to bulk up my resume) and easily had time to hang out with my friends, work after school, and complete 25 college credits before graduation. Who else can say that they accomplished so much in high school?

Still, the second I graduated I was off. I moved three hours away to go to school at the University of Oregon (I quickly realized my mistake and transferred to Oregon State University...go beavs!). It was such a culture shock. Over the next four years I learned about life outside of my isolated little town. I met people who were brilliant that did not share my opinions or my beliefs, but it was okay. I learned to have an open mind and listen to their views, and learned to understand where they were coming from. I still don't agree with most of what they believe, but I see why they think the way they do. I traveled to Europe and discovered that the rest of the world is not half as scary as some Americans believe (and I met my husband and decided to move there).

Side note:: My grandpa still refuses to leave the country to come to my wedding. (Yes, I'm already married. Yes, I'm having another wedding. But that's for a different post on a different day.)

The people in my little hometown are never going to change, and that's entirely okay. They live there lives the same way today that they did twenty years ago and they still will twenty years from now. They are some of the most kind, wonderful people on this planet. Every Friday during football and basketball season they never fail to be in the stands at the high school cheering for the best team and yelling at the refs for making the worst calls (you don't want to tick our crowd off, trust me). They have hard hands, but hearts of gold. But they're never going to leave. They love their lives there, but I have outgrown that little place.

My heart yearns to see the Northern Lights in Iceland, the Pyramids in Egypt, and the canals in Venice. America is beautiful, but it does not have the human history that the rest of the Western World does. The beautiful Gothic buildings. The castles, the cathedrals, the cobblestone streets. The stories of Kings and Queens, of war and peace. Literary geniuses such as Dickens, Shakespeare, and Wilde. Artistic geniuses such as Leonardo, Van Gogh, and Michelangelo. I am addicted and obsessed with exploring every bit of our beautiful world.

End note:: Well I meant for this post to be about the political differences between small town America and Europe, but that got away from me apparently. I guess another topic for another day.

Ciao lovelies.

Love, 

Taylor ❤️