captain mission gets the call early afternoon, cooking fish is an area of expertise, the one menu item i know about, and my friend amalia is making a big fish but not sure how to cook it. i head to her place weighing up my options, grill, fry, steam or bake. it's a dinner party for an old friend jp who will be arriving later.
i can see the fish laying on the kitchen table, it's dead eyes, looking at us. it's decided this fish will be baked and amalia scoops out it's guts while i avert my eyes. i don't like playing with fish guts, the stink gets under my skin, it pervades and stays around attracting cats, possums, rabbits and various pesky beasties but it also makes people think i am a fisherman and i end up in bars explaining to people i have no concept of bait, lures or fish species. i just eat them. fishing types don't speak my language, i don't get it and they don't get me.
so i let amalia do this, she is an old hand at gut scooping, i sneak a look and watch her agile fingers grab handfuls of fish intestines and cast them aside, smiling while she does it, it transports me back in time and i have to admire this ruthlessness. ever adaptable amalia presents me with a gutted dead fish and some foil, i chop up some garlic, lemon and chives and we roll the fish in silver foil.
while waiting for people to arrive i raid her itunes, wow millions of amazing cds waiting for me, i rip some miles davis and oscar peterson, some jimi hendrix and massive attack.
jp arrives. it's good to see him, he looks well, healthy but confesses to being anxious, amalia sorts him out with valium and starts pouring alcohol down his neck, some one arrives with sambucca and before to long he rolls around on the floor off his head, he seems less anxious now, almost child like.
the evening dissolves and after much laughing amalia slips away, i think she must have either gone out or gone to bed and i am considering jumping in with her but i'm worried that jp may follow, he's french, so i decide i will just talk to these boys about whatever... books, internet filters, travels, the romans, tv shows.
later it's just jp and i talking about life, where we are, how we got there and it's good. i slip away.