My mother grew up in a city by the sea, where fish was not only in abundance, but you could also buy it daily from the docks, straight after it came out of the water. One of her fondest childhood memories was from her father coming home, early in the morning, post fish shopping. He would toss the fresh fish on the kitchen sink, clean and gut it, while updating my grandma on the equally fresh news of the day. He then made preparations to cook it when he’d come back from work, since my grandma’s charm and effervescence was equal to her lack of enthusiasm or willingness to be involved in any kind of house chore. As the eldest, my mom had to learn to cook from a very early age, and since then, fish has been quite predominant in her repertoire.