So Gratifying

I'm just amazed at the outpouring of support I've gotten from friends and family. You all are the best!! I am such a lucky woman.

I've gotten dozens of messages on Facebook, via e-mail and direct messages. I'm thinking it struck a chord with every person who fights their weight. And that's a whole lot of us.

I don't think I'm particularly brave or inspirational though. Reserve that for people who do really big things. Like the guy on the news tonight who lost his leg trying to protect another motorist. I'm not even remotely in that zip code.

I promised recipes and will probably be putting them up there as often as I can cook it and eat it. Only trouble is that when you cook something like a nice big red snapper fillet, you're probably going to eat it for a few days, so be patient with me.

That said, I had to go to Oklahoma City this afternoon for business, so I swung by Avalon Seafood for some fishy goodies, which are stomach-friendly these days. Went in there for some sea scallops and they were out. Darn, I had my mouth all ready for those sweet little babies. Still -- snagged some Hawaiian monchong, another whole trout only boned this time, red snapper and some beautiful salmon.

Have never tried monchong and I'm really looking forward to that. Supposed to be soft and buttery -- a fish you'd find in good sushi bars.

Tonight, I cooked the red snapper fillet and made a compound butter with softened butter, then lemon zest, lemon juice and fresh oregano mixed in with a bit of kosher salt and freshly ground pepper. Disclaimer here ... I'm supposed to avoid butter, but unfortunately I missed that part on my post-op directions. (I won't in the future.)

Regardless, it was good and I didn't use much of the butter. Here's what I did with it ... first I heated the broiler on my gas oven.

Take the snapper and lightly brush it with olive oil on each side. Broil it for about 2-3 minutes on each side, flipping it in between -- about 4-6 inches away from the broiler.

While the snapper is cooking, make the compound butter.

My serving was about a 2-3 oz. with probably about a teaspoon of butter. I'll be eating it for a couple of days or so. That was a tiny little dish -- about 6" diameter.

I think I'll reprise the lovely trout I cooked for my family a couple of nights ago in the next couple of days.

I know it may sound strange to be so into food. But now it's all about quality, not quantity.

When I was going through the process getting ready for surgery, I asked the WeightWise dietician Steph if I could still write food features and restaurant reviews for the Oklahoma Gazette. Those have been so much fun. And Steph looked back at me with a grin and said something like, "Of course, you can do those things. You just can't eat it all."

Good things come in small bites.

Onward,

Carol