Remembering our kitty and Spicy Soy Salmon

I didn’t want to have to be back here, just four short months after losing one of our other furry family members, but unfortunately, we had to say goodbye to our precious Scooter on Saturday.

The loss is enormous; our hearts ache for her and our eyes burn from the tears we've cried. She had a personality like no other, and our house is left feeling empty and too quiet. Everywhere you look, you expect her to be there. For just a moment in the morning when you wake up, you forget what has happened and feel around on the bed. The reality that comes crashing down when you don’t find her there is even harder to deal with in that groggy, hopeful state. 

Like her sister Rose, we were lucky enough to have her in our lives for a long time…Andy got these two littermates as kittens and spent 18 years loving them to pieces. You wish that your animal friends could stay with you forever…they are the ultimate companions who ask very little in return for unconditional love. Food and water, a clean litter box…that’s quite a bargain in exchange for a friendship like that. But too soon, they have to leave us, and you’re left with just the memories to fill a void that feels like it will never be filled.

Scooter had a spirit that stayed with her to the end. She was curious, so friendly, could be counted on to meet you at the door when you got home, would lick your nose raw if you let her, sought out the sun anywhere in the house, and loved to smell my lips after applying Carmex. She woke you up in the morning by climbing on top of you in bed and draping her little white paws over your shoulder. She was mischievous to a fault, sometimes downright bad, and got onto the counter to eat anything and everything out of pans and dishes. What I wouldn’t give to shoo her off the counter now. 

In memory of Scooter, I made salmon. She definitely would have tried to eat this off our plates, even though it’s spicy and probably not so good for her. And if I had known how soon we would be saying goodbye, I would have given her a whole helping of anything she wanted. 

Spicy Soy Salmon

2 salmon filets
3 tablespoons lemon juice
2 tablespoons low sodium soy sauce
1/2 - 1 tablespoon sambal oelek*
1/4 cup brown sugar, plus extra for topping

Combine lemon juice, soy sauce, sambal and 1/4 cup brown sugar. Pour into a zip-top bag with salmon and marinate for 1-2 hours. 

Preheat oven to 400 degrees F. 

In a small ovenproof dish*, place salmon filets side by side and pour marinate over. Top salmon with a spoonful of brown sugar.

Cook for 15-20 minutes, depending on thickness. Serve with sauce spooned over the top of the salmon.

*Notes:
1 tablespoon of sambal makes for quite a spicy sauce. Start with 1/2 tablespoon if you don’t like too much heat.
Use as small a dish as possible for cooking the salmon, so the sauce comes up the sides of the filets but doesn’t cover them.

This is such a simple dish but it has so much flavor that you’d never guess the active time spent in the kitchen is less than five minutes. It’s sweet, a bit fiery and really, really good.