Written March 9th, 2015

Lisa and Dave, who are in the casita behind us, spent their first several days in Baja exploring, heading as far north as Loreto and hitting La Paz on the way south to Cabo Pulmo. While in Loreto Dave was able to fish, and his catch was a good-sized yellow tail, which the captain cleaned and bagged for him. Not that Dave couldn’t have done it himself; he’s a fly fisherman and has the skills required. He even felt he hadn’t bonded with his fish; the captain took it off the hook and threw it in the bucket, and since Lisa was waiting to go whale watching upon their return he never even saw it being cleaned and filleted. He said he might as well have purchased it at a fish market. Well, we’re glad he went as they asked us to join them at Tito’s for a yellow tail fish dinner. Lisa’s brother Steve is a friend of Tito and his family, who agreed to cook Dave’s fish, and we had the place to ourselves on Sunday night. They served the fish three ways: Veracruz – with tomato, peppers and onions; Grilled with garlic; and deep fried, and they accompanied the meal with salad and rice. Yellow tail is a firm fleshed, medium mild fish that stood up well to the spiciness of the Veracruz and the garlic.

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It was all delicious, and a real treat that saved me from having to fillet another snapper from the beach at Los Frailles. I watched a fishing captain cutting up a beautiful marlin the other day; it seemed so sad for such a beautiful big fish to be taken from the sea. And I watched that same captain filet a small Dorado without gutting it. I think I put myself through more trouble than I needed to, probably because the bass and trout we ate as kids were fried whole and not filleted, so gutting the fish first is the only way I know how to do it! Who says you can’t teach an old dog new tricks? Though, I must say, it’s easier if the captain does it. Or the fish market.

Deborah