Let me start this post by saying that ceviche happens to be my favorite food. If you've never had it, it's delicious. There are a bunch of different ways to make it, but the Peruvian version that I grew up with always hits a nostalgic spot in my heart. Keep that little nugget in mind, because it will make the rest of this post just a little more entertaining.
That said, a while back, I was joking around with some of my family. I don't quite remember how it started, but someone said something along the lines of, "I wish I had more time to do X." I responded with a smart aleck, "I wish I had ceviche." Well, my brother and sister happened to be part of that conversation, and they also concurred that ceviche would be pretty awesome. We did grow up together, after all.
After that, though, a magical thing happened: my brother suggested we make this happen. Do you have certain traditions that you always did with your parents? It doesn't really matter what it was, but I'm fairly sure you do. Maybe your parents always got you hot chocolate on Christmas eve, or they cooked spring rolls for Chinese New Year, or they made the tea that you drank whenever you got sick. Whatever it was, there's very likely something that you associate with your parents doing. Sure, you are perfectly capable of doing it yourself, but it's one of those things that you sort of took for granted. Well, making ceviche was like that for me. It just wasn't something I did on my own.
So, with my mind a little bit blown, I agreed to this plan. We were going to make, and I quote, "a ton" of ceviche and munch on it. I was pretty happy about this plan, but that was just the beginning. As it turned out, my sister in law and her brother (side note: they need a word for that relationship. I always figure he counts as an in-law, but I don't think that's technically correct) were part of the conversation, too. One of them couldn't help but point out that Mexican ceviche tasted better than Peruvian ceviche. Shots fired.
We had a short, but brief, argument over which ceviche tasted better. Frankly, I thought I was winning the argument, but the jokes were flying left and right. More importantly, we decided to widen the scope of Ceviche Fest. More folks were invited, and we decided to make both kinds of ceviche. It is not at all out of bounds to have two types of ceviche at something called Ceviche Fest, so we happily agreed to this plan.
On the actual day of, the jokes were long forgotten, and everyone put in work. Heck, my brother even brought along some extra back up, so we had more hands to help out. Everyone chopped, diced, peeled, and cooked. It actually went really quickly, because there were so many folks who could help out. Heck, the Mild Girlfriend was even taking notes, so that she could then help recreate this dish at a later point.
And of course, the food itself turned out fairly well. Both ceviches came out well, I have to say. I still have an affinity for the version I grew up with, but I definitely liked the Mexican style ceviche I had. I've had it before, but something about having to prepare it yourself makes it taste a little bit better, you know? Regardless, it was such a good meal, that the Mild Girlfriend started craving more fish for dinner (we had poke, sashimi, and nigiri at a Japanese restaurant).
Given the results, I think we're going to have to make this a more frequent occurrence. It's not too early to start planning Ceviche Fest 2016, right?
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