The Coffee House

[jcdeboever]

@jcdeboever People intentionally raise Carp? Get out of here!! I found out people from Michigan had strange tastes when I saw Drum on the menu at a restaurant there. I grew up using Drum for bait! LOL As a kid money was tight so nothing went to waste. My Grandmother would can the Carp we caught in the local drainage ditches. I remember they had a lot of fine bones. Somehow the canning process would turn the bones to mush, but it never got rid of the muddy taste. Never again!

Drum is what we called "sheep head" another bottom feeder. When you catch them, it's like you hooked a tire. I'm not sure where he gets the carp. He doesn't do it often but I have had it. The walleyes are locally caught at the power plant in Monroe Michigan.

 

[smoke665]

Been so long since I've had Walleye I have no idea if they're good or not. Think I'll stick to our local fare of Bass, Crappie, Catfish and occasionally trout (when we go to the Smokies). There's a producer in Mississippi, Delta Pride, that raises some of the best catfish in the south. From birth to processing their quality control is such that you never get an off taste in their fish.

 

[jcdeboever]

Been so long since I've had Walleye I have no idea if they're good or not. Think I'll stick to our local fare of Bass, Crappie, Catfish and occasionally trout (when we go to the Smokies). There's a producer in Mississippi, Delta Pride, that raises some of the best catfish in the south. From birth to processing their quality control is such that you never get an off taste in their fish.

Walleye and perch are my favorite. I like mine grilled or pan, not fried. Of course, nothing compares to the ocean fish in Florida.

 

[snowbear]

We're lucky enough to be close to salt water (Chesapeake Bay) and mountains so trout, bass, crappie, catfish, striped bass ("rock", the State Fish), perch, spot, blues and flounder, not to mention blue crabs, oysters (I can't stand them) and clams.

 

[table1349]

Give me a nice Mahi mahi filet, lobster, shirmp or oysters and I am good. If I have my choice I will go with sea food over fresh water fish any day.

 

[Gary A.]

Buenas Dias Coffee Hosers. Gary and Mary Lou made hamburgers last night for dinner. The first time in ages, maybe ten years since we've made hamburgers. Gary's usually made turkey burgers, stuffed with cheeses and peppers ... but not plain ol' hamburgers. They were good, hamburgers and vino.

Yesterday was hot, summer hot ... summer in a hot place hot ... Mary Lou decided it was a good day to couch potato ... so we fired up a Netflix, Hidden Figures, an easy five stars. Then some guests made a surprise visit and we retired to the patio for some dessert wine and relaxation. The overhead fans provided a nice breeze.

After the guests left, back to NetFlix with a documentary on the 1936 Olympic USA rowing team from the University of Washington (Go Huskies) and their victory of the German team at the Berlin Olympics.

Speaking of fish ... lots of good stuff out here. Mary Lou has been cooking up some fish tacos about once a week. If we want to get up early, we can get the stuff as it unloads from the boats, various fisherman markets are all along the coast, tuna, tons of rock fish ... halibut, sea bass, snapper (snapper used to be a junk fish), shark, swordfish, yellowtail, yellowfin, whole salmon and tuna for about $3 a pound, crabs of all sorts, shrimp, lobster, oysters ... if you want to get early. At Ports of Call (Worldport Los Angeles), you can buy fish/shrimp/et al at one stall then walk to another stall and they'll cook it for you with all the sides. Then you eat at the public tables on the wharf watching all the boats go by. Gary hasn't done that in a while ... maybe today.

 

[table1349]

If you ever mosey down San Diego way try the Blue Water Seafood. Owned by a couple of brothers that actually catch part of what they sell and buy the rest fresh from other fisherman every morning. They only serve fish, no shrimp, crab etc. Great food. Plan to wait a bit, there is usually a line. The wife likes their fish tacos.

 

[smoke665]

Mary Lou has been cooking up some fish tacos

Love good fish taco!!!!! Being 6 hrs from the coast, 4 hrs from the mountains, and next door to the fish farms, we are blessed with an abundance of both freshwater and seafood.

 

[Gary A.]

Gary's brother is a commercial fisherman out of Portland. Every couple of months he brings me a portion of his haul.

When Gary lived at the beach, he would routinely liberate a lobster from a trap for his own personal use. He always substituted a bottle of wine for the crustacean.

 

[smoke665]

He always substituted a bottle of wine for the crustacean.

Don't you know that created some "surprised looks" on the faces of the fishermen. LOL

 

[Gary A.]

Mary Lou has been cooking up some fish tacos

Love good fish taco!!!!! Being 6 hrs from the coast, 4 hrs from the mountains, and next door to the fish farms, we are blessed with an abundance of both freshwater and seafood.

Hence Gary desire to craft up the perfect tortilla.

 

[smoke665]

Hence Gary desire to craft up the perfect tortilla.

There is a craft to the process of a "good" fish taco. From the tortilla, to the preparation of the fish, to the sauce. Get it right and it's a culinary delight. Get it wrong and it's ............not so good.

 

[Gary A.]

He always substituted a bottle of wine for the crustacean.

Don't you know that created some "surprised looks" on the faces of the fishermen. LOL

Initially yeah. But they were fine with it. When Gary started that custom, often he'd make a run to the fish market looking for a bottle of wine with a partially washed off label. The fishermen who trapped the wine would say it was their lucky day and I'd give them a smile and they smiled back.

 

[table1349]

Fish tacos are fine, but I prefer a nice fish burrito or chimichanga.

 

[Gary A.]

Hence Gary desire to craft up the perfect tortilla.

There is a craft to the process of a "good" fish taco. From the tortilla, to the preparation of the fish, to the sauce. Get it right and it's a culinary delight. Get it wrong and it's ............not so good.

Gary, from his explorations, has discovered that there are far higher keeper rate for "good" fish tacos amongst the sidewalk carts and small/local eateries catering to the taste buds of the indigenous peoples, than at the better restaurants that brings the food to your table.