BUCKET LIST UPDATE: Fish tacos in Monroeville and 'A Christmas Carol'

I scratched two more items off my bucket list during the past week. I finally got around to reading the Charles Dicken’s Christmas classic, “A Christmas Carol,” and I stepped out on a limb and ate one of the more unusual food items on my list – a fish taco. Here are the details on both of those experiences.

BUCKET LIST ITEM No. 493: Read “A Christmas Carol” by Charles Dickens

The Christmas holidays are in full swing, and “A Christmas Carol” is the greatest Christmas story of all time, outside of the Bible. Like a lot of people, I’ve seen this story portrayed countless times on television and in cartoons. I’ve even seen stage productions of it once or twice over the years. However, I couldn’t actually say that I’d ever read the original Charles Dickens story, that is, until last week.

“A Christmas Carol” was originally published in December 1843 and tells the story of a stingy, old miser named Ebenezer Scrooge. One night, as Christmas approaches, Scrooge is visited by four ghosts, including the ghost of his former business partner. These spirits show Scrooge the error of his ways, and he undergoes an ethical transformation, just in time for Christmas.

“A Christmas Carol” reminded me a lot of Bram Stoker’s novel, “Dracula.” That is, most people on the street can probably tell you a roughly accurate version of the plot even though they’ve never read the original source material. This is because both stories have been featured in movies and on television innumerable times. (While “Dracula was a full-blown novel, the English majors out there will know that “A Christmas Carol” is actually what’s called a novella, that is, a really long short story.)

As is almost always the case, the book is usually better than the movie, and this can certainly be said for “A Christmas Carol.” If you like the movie, cartoon and stage productions of this story, then you will love the book itself. When I finally put it down, I almost felt like I had undergone an ethical transformation of my own. I don’t consider myself an Ebenezer Scrooge, but the story did make me want to try to be a better person. That’s pretty strong for a piece of fiction that’s 169 years old.

I also thought it was cool that, at its very essence, “A Christmas Carol” is a ghost story. It’s almost like Christmas meets Halloween with the ghosts playing the roles of forces for good. Even the creepiest of all the ghosts – the Ghost of Christmas Yet to Come – is trying to put Scrooge on the path to a better life.

The edition of “A Christmas Carol” that I read was contained between the covers of the Barnes & Noble Classics edition of “A Christmas Carol, The Chimes and The Cricket on the Hearth,” a Christmas-themed book that was published in 2004. The book begins with an introduction by Katharine Kroeber Wiley, and the story of “A Christmas Carol” is 80 pages long in this edition. “The Chimes” and “The Cricket on the Hearth” were also excellent Christmas stories too, but that is a column for another day. By all means, read them too if you get the chance.

If you’ve never read Dickens’ original “A Christmas Carol,” I highly recommend it. As we approached the day of Christmas itself, I can think of no better time of the year to read this classic of world literature. It will definitely put you in the holiday mood.

BUCKET LIST ITEM No. 679: Eat a fish taco

During lunch on Friday, I visited the relatively new Taco del Mar restaurant in Monroeville and ate a fish taco for the first time. Like a lot of people, I enjoy Mexican food, and I’ve eaten just about every type of Mexican food you can think of, except for a bona fide fish taco. I actually put this on my bucket list some time ago when I saw fish tacos on a list of unusual foods to try.

Taco del Mar literally translates to “Taco of the Sea” in Spanish, and fish tacos were originally the chain’s specialty. As luck would have it, Fridays are “Fish Taco Fridays” at Taco del Mar, and you can order a big Fish Taco meal for just $6, complete with refried beans, rice and a nice-sized drink. When you order this meal, you actually get two fish tacos, which you can get on either a crunchy or soft shell.

Each of these tacos consists of a delicious fried fish fillet, cheese, shredded cabbage, sour cream and a dash of lime. You can also have it fixed up with other ingredients behind the counter upon request. To say that these fish tacos were awesomely tasty would be an understatement, and I plan to order fish tacos the next time I’m in Taco del Mar, whether it’s on a Friday or not.

If you’d like to try a fish taco for yourself, I recommend that you stop by the Taco del Mar restaurant in Monroeville. It’s located at 1549 Hwy 21 Bypass, right in front of the Monroeville Masonic Lodge and across from the old Wal-Mart. They can be reached by phone at 251-575-2626 if you want to talk to them about their catering services.

Incidentially, I was interested to learn that the Taco del Mar chain of restaurants was “inspired by the coastal beach shakes of Baja and California,” and that the chain’s founders “sought to combine the best fish tacos and Mission-style burritos in a friendly, relaxed beach environment.” When you visit the Taco del Mar in Monroeville, you’ll see that it’s cooly decorated in a beach theme. In fact, I ate my first fish taco on an old surfboard that had been converted into a table.

In the end, I enjoyed scratching two more items off of my bucket list. How many of you have ever read “A Christmas Carol”? What did you think about it? What’s your favorite movie or cartoon version of the story? How many of you have ever eaten a fish taco? Where did you eat it? What did you think about it? Let us know in the comments section below.