Whole fish

So far this week, we have dined on pork chops with mango, beef satays and peanut sauce and tonight's dinner was right up there with the best of them when it comes to flavour. However, serving a 4 and 8 year old from a whole fish isn't as easy as it really should be. Firstly you get the 'cool, its eyes look like they are going to burst' to 'open the mouth mum, open the mouth!!' and then reality sets in and they ask what are they having for dinner (like I have meal option number two just bubbling away in the oven, as all good mummys do....and if you are one of those mums then I have nothing to say to you!).

I have filleted my share of whole fish, in fact I think I have filleted more than my fair share thanks to many a customer at Campagnola who would order the WHOLE fish then scream or whimper when it came to the table with the head and tail still attached (shock, horror!). I can fillet a stranger's fish in seconds and have it back out to the table in no time at all but when I was taking the fillets from the boys fish all I could see was bones, bones, bones-- did I get them all out?, will I have to give one of them the upside down shake? To say I panicked a little would be fair. This, of course, did not stop me from serving them their meal but I must confess I did watch them closely, that was until Alex informed me that he '...actually doesn't like this fish, just the ones I can hold and eat, they are real fish'.
After telling Alex I was 100% certain that this beautiful red snapper was a real fish, he then informed me '....well I like the ones with the crunchy bits'- 'oh really' was my only thought.
With that said he decided to admit to liking tomatoes and proceeded to eat all this tomatoes (that had me in a moment of shock), devour his baked potato and leave 98% of his fish. I was sad he didn't like it but not entirely shocked, after all it has taken a lot of grown ups years to master a whole fish, so I decided to let this one go and try again in a few months. Max on the other hand inhaled and the entire meal disappeared, but how can I take that for a compliment, the way he eats right now, I don't think the food even touches the sides!