I had a major breakthrough with the fish phobia tonight. We were out to dinner at my co-worker Leanne’s new place, and her boyfriend Brendan (the one who works at XO) cooked for us. Knowing my issues with fish, he served us baked rainbow trout with smoked almond stuffing and he ASSURED me that it wouldn’t be fishy in the slightest. So there I was with an ACTUAL FISH on my plate, nasty little eye staring up at me and everything, and I reached out with my fork and ate a bit. And he was right! It was pretty nice. I’m not gonna say it’s now my favorite dish ever or anything, but I told him that eating a whole friggin’ fish is pretty much the highest compliment I could pay him as a chef. The Snook was conspicuously silent during this portion of the meal, which I correctly interpreted as his version of not talking to the pitcher during a no-hitter. No jinx! So we’ve reached another milestone. Of course, I nearly yuked it all up when Leanne, on a dare, ATE HER FISH’S EYEBALL. *shudder* Actually perhaps it’s better if I don’t think about that bit…

The real point of the visit was so that Leanne could help me construct my Halloween costume, which she did. And it’s gonna be AWESOME!