fishing (115)

Fresh Albacore

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Jeremy Dierks filleting an albacore. Very different from filleting other fish, tricks to it as shown here.

I marinated in olive oil, soy sauce, a little vinegar, garlic, and ginger for 30 minutes, then cooked at high heat briefly on Weber grill.

I swear it was about the best food I’ve ever had.

Note: A lot of fishermen stay at sea for 2-3 weeks and quick-freeze fish until they get into port. Fresh fish is entirely different.

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Yes, Sand Crabs Are Edible!

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Last Thursday I saw two guys digging in the sand at Stinson Beach. They were collecting what are called “sand crabs,” or “decapod crustaceans.” Also called mole crabs. The guys were Salvadorans and told me they would be cooking them with tomatoes and having over rice.

The next day Doug and I got a batch, boiled them for 10 minutes, then marinated in olive oil, soy sauce, ginger, garlic and red peppers and fried at high heat, as shown here, in walnut oil.

They were delicious, like crunchy shrimp.

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Fisherman’s Houseboat

I’ve admired this little floating building for years, on a local bay.

This design could be adapted to living quarters. Barbecue, beer and tables out on deck. Winch to haul boat out of water. No rent.

Brilliant design often happens in unexpected places. I find a lot of it with farm buildings.

Architecture without architects.

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Large Fishing Boat on California Coast

On Thursday Louie and I, plus our friends Titsch and Pepe, drove up to the Noyo harbor just south of Ft. Bragg to have lunch at Silver’s At The Wharf, which is as good a seafood restaurant as there is anywhere. I not only recommend going there if you are ever in the vicinity of Fort Bragg, but also to check out the little harbor community of restaurants, fishing stores, trailer park, and other real life, non-tourist businesses at the harbor.

It’s a serious fishing port, with fairly hazardous channel lined by boulders out into the ocean. Fishermen along the coast have my utmost respect, especially if they have to get out into the ocean through the waves; not for the fainthearted, for sure. Same thing with farmers: they have to deal with the real world; so different from most other occupations.

This boat caught my eye.

Statistics:
Beam: 26.0 ft
Tonnage: 143 GT / 97 NT
Year of Build: 1982
Builder: Kelley Boat Works, Fort Bragg, CA

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Reconstructed Building at Fort Ross, Sonoma County, California

This octagonal wooden structure is one of the beautifully reconstructed buildings at Fort Ross, “…the hub of the southernmost Russian settlements in North America from 1812 to 1841.” See: wikipedia.org/wiki/Fort_Ross,_California

If you are ever driving north along Highway one towards Mendocino, and are at all interested in building or California history, I highly recommend stopping in at this spectacularly reconstructed fort.

www.fortross.org/reconstruction.htm

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I Wish I Still Had Time to Do Blog Posts Like This

I just ran across this post (below), done in 2006. What a difference 14 years can make! Our books were selling way better in those days, so I had the time to do blog posts.

These days — right now — I’m swamped with the business side of publishing: reprints, marketing, sales, publicity, foreign translations, interviews, podcasts, metadata as well as social media, and I’m getting very little time to work on new books.

My plan is to get as much of this stuff done as possible right now and, as well, farm out as much of it as I can in the future, and free up time to get going on the next book (which I’m really excited about): Rolling Homes.

I ran across the below post while doing a search on my blog for Godfrey and Bruno — this post came up first. If you’re interested further in these two amazing guys, scroll on down.

Note: When Godfrey first told me about Bruno (who I hadn’t met), he said: “He’s the ultimate guy.”

www.lloydkahn.com/?s=godfrey+bruno

Note: If you want to get on my GIMME SHELTER email newsletter list (goes out every month or two to about 4000 people), go to: shltr.net/gimme-signup

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