i have resumed my wifely duties

I finally made it to the grocery store yesterday afternoon, but I was still pretty out of it and I went to Healthy Living, which is laid out in concentric circles designed to trap shoppers there forever. The fifth or sixth time I wandered by him with my empty basket and vacant stare, the wine salesman stopped me and asked if I needed help; I'm pretty sure he meant help of the mental health variety but I pretended we both thought he was offering help buying wine, which meant I had to purchase three bottles to keep up the charade (pronounced sha-rod). I also managed to buy some artic char and citrus fruit, which inspired me to finally try Mark Bittman's Maya citrus salsa.


Chris and I both gave it 4 out of 5 entree stars, though I think maybe Chris is trying to be nice to me because after three weeks in the convent I have forgotten how to cook using fancy kitchen gadgets like frying pans and colanders and knives.

Definitely try this at home; it's easy and refreshing and impresses husbands who have been living for weeks off of sake and sliced deli turkey.

Maya citrus salsa (xec) over fish
adapted [by which I mean copied pretty much verbatim] from here

1 pink grapefruit
1 orange
1 lemon
1/2 cup chopped fresh cilantro leaves
1/2-1 habanero pepper, seeded and minced [the recipe calls for 1/2 a pepper, but there was barely any heat, so I would use a whole one next time]
Salt to taste
oil for the pan
2 fish fillets, ~6 ounces each [the recipe calls for red snapper, which I couldn't find, so I used arctic char -- in no way similar to red snapper except that it swims in the sea, but completely delicious; I can't imagine a fish that wouldn't be good with this. And he calls for four fillets, but I only had two and used all the salsa; if you're cooking for four, double the xec]

1. Heat oven to 450 degrees. Cut orange in half horizontally and section it as you would a grapefruit; do this over a bowl to capture all its juice. Remove seeds and combine flesh and juice in bowl. Repeat with grapefruit and lemon. Stir in cilantro, habanero and salt.

2. Put oil in a nonstick or cast-iron skillet over medium high heat. Sear fish on each side then transfer to oven. Cook another 2 or 3 minutes until it's done to your liking [I cooked it medium rare; if you do use snapper, there are directions for cooking it with the original NYTimes recipe]. Serve fish with xec, immediately.