johnnyd

Suffice to say superstitions abound in the fishing world.

It's considered bad luck! ... and no whistling allowed. ...and don't paint your hull blue. ...and...

I saw a show like this a while back too. From the trailer, this looks like a better version. These guys remind me of the Urchin Diving biz years ago. How many times did I hear guys say "I'm retiring after this year,"? A million at least. It took a certain type to handle the weather and the physical toll. Most of them were back the next year though. We thought we were a bit luckier than the Alaskan crabbers because we were already in the water, covered head to toe in a dry suit and wool sweaters. We didn't make as much money (but $1k days were common) still, we didn't have 700lb crab pots dangling above us in 20 foot swells. We had our share of accidents and fatalities too. Very sad but sometimes painfully boneheaded. I learned that If you don't pay attention at all times to absolutely everything you are open to bigtime risk. The littlest oversight can kill you. That heightened sensitivity to my surroundings has never gone away. Will I be watching this? You bet. But I have this feeling I've been there.

Booty Food ! Hilarious! Check out the customer reviews on Amazon.com (scroll down and read nuggets like...) "she provides all kinds of shortcuts so that you can get back to the bedroom as quickly as possible!" or, "Wow, does she know how to get the juices flowing!"

When I started sea urchin diving here in the Gulf of Maine there was always pressure to collect as many urchins as possible in the week prior to the 25th of each month. The prices paid to divers for their catch was always a bit higher at this time and when the weather was too bad to go diving everybody was really stressed out. I knew 95% of our daily harvest was flown directly to Japan within 24hrs. I was told by a Japanese buyer that everyone(sic) in Japan was paid on the 25th of each month so the sushi bars had to have a lot of expensive uni on hand for people to buy after they got their paychecks. Two weeks later, the market prices were usually low as japanese people were stretching what was left of their monthly paycheck. I never knew if the buyer was telling the truth, because others I had asked hadn't heard anything like it, but today I can finally lay this question to rest. Thanks!

Dave, Congratulations on the Bronze medal for Fazenda Mãe de Ouro. A marketing help I hope. I'd love to be able to judge it too, but sadly, it's unavailable here in the wilds of Maine... oh, so distant... from good cachaça...Dave? Hello?? Damn! he hung up on me...

Actually, that's not it either. This is the Daily Gullet Home that is a beautiful redesign of the Daily Gullet home page. I love the quick links to current discussions or regular features like foodblogs and "spotlight" on the left margin. I missed the five or so hottest forum topics on the upper right of the old dGullet so it's great to see it back. Direct connect to comments to Daily Gullet articles are cool. So many excellent features! This is a fantastic homepage. Even though 'til today I couldn't wait to see what was up on Today's Active Topics, the graphical interface there seemed clinical. This is much better. Terrific Job Ladies and Gents! I have re-bookmarked to this page, the true face of eG. ...however, I can see why my suggestion of incorporating sea urchins into the logo was bumped by maggiethecat's idea...

Cool!

Well, I have to thank you guys for contributing some thoughts on my yard sale find... And I congratulate those who rolled their eyes in private for being politely quiet! Unfortunately my oven gets the fire alarm going whenever it's anywhere above 300 and the damned thing is above a stairwell so it's hard to get to. This has prohibited a wide range of cooking that I will definitely fix in my next abode as we are tired of fanning said alarm whnever things get hot. We ended up making a pizza in a cookie sheet that was undercooked after a halfhour. Besides that, I think this marble will make a pretty good table top. I also have three 12" square marble tiles with a bit of grout left over from their fireplace setting. I'm still willing to experiment, alarm be-damned, with one of these. I don't think this stuff is going to shatter at even 500, crack maybe, but not shatter.

I have to say these look splendid. I realized the disparity between flash and non-flash simply by looking at the photos on playback mode on-site. It was so striking I had to throw them up here. Thanks for your illuminating edits. John

Richardv, Your edits on the Fresh Maine Shrimp Harvesters thread were terrific. I am still getting around Photoshop features and worry that I overdo it sometimes. These, however, seemed just right: Before: After: Before: After: What do you think? Your advice for 300% USM seemed over the top for me but I haven't much experience with it. I added 50% on these two and then 15% increase on brightness and contrast, each. You mentioned Color Balance and Sharpening here but what is the average range of adjustment for a picture such as that above? What values did you settle on with the Auction house photos? Thanks, John

This is a timely thread here as I have just picked up a 1/2 inch thick marble tabletop... ...that I thought I could clean up and use for a pizza stone. It is 14 inches wide. My questions to those who might be in-the-know are: 1) Will the holes screw things up? 2) With what agent should I clean the surface? 3) One side seems shiny (shown) and the other side is rough/unfinished. I think the shiny side is just finely polished. I don't detect a chemical surface. The other side is rougher and unpolished. I took some dough out of the freezer last night so I'm game to try tsomething tonight. The Pizza Stone. Give It To me thread from RichardK was very helpful. I read the whole bloody thing so I'm having Pizza with or without this thing... Any thoughts?

Unmentionable Cuisine by Calvin W. Schwabe. Great reading but entirely off limits! Squirrel Ravioli... Deep Fried Calves Eyes... You get the picture.

Pim and Mamster's fabulous Thai Food extravaganza of course! I've been a fan since the summer after I blew up two previous attempts using other recipes. During Maine's shrimp season, I found myself making pad thai once a week because the fresh shrimp was an excellent ingredient and their smallish size seemed perfect for the dish.

Ellencho, that is one loaded plate, dude! I could have eaten it right off my screen! I did notice a lack of peanuts here, so this one could work for lil Ms F, and I also noted that cilantro is missing. Probably not in the fridge to use up? Cilantro and lime wedges are de riguer for the house pad thai here!

Geez, Mamster I dunno... I thought the 3/4cup Tamarind water was dead-on. I did notice that when I heated up the Tpaste in water, the more time on the heat wrings out more flavour, so depending on how dense the tamarind "water" is, will affect the pungency of the sauce. Your recipe is the only one I've made that comes close to our local Thai Take out so it works for me. Sheesh, I'm in!

It's been a great shrimp season! In prior years, the season lasted a mere two or four weeks, a calculated bet by Maine's Department of Marine Resources to manage the fishing pressure on a particular species. This season was about three months based on careful research by the DMR. I can't recall a season this long or this plentiful. I have had freakin' shrimp at least three times a week since Christmas! Thank god the season's over or I would have turned into one! Thanks everybody for following a typical fishing cycle. It's a rhythm that's lost in the 21st century shuffle along with farming and hunting. Thanks also to Mr. ghostrider for starting this thread and to all who added their culinary angles on these tasty New England morsels. Last Day of Maine Shrimp Season: 3/25/05 - 688lbs - 1 boat Low price: $0.55 Average: 0.55 High: 0.55 See you next year! edit to add link to pictures of Maine Shrimp Fishermen and the Portland Auction Exchange

Nice looking oysters if I may say so myself.

Corsica! I remember reading of a fabulous cheese from there that had bits of forest stuck in it's rind. The Lonzu is displayed on what looks like a piece of cork tree bark. It all looks very delicious.

...just about a kilometer from the rail-road track? sorry...

Fred, Katahdin at 106 High Street is a local favorite. Here is an old review from a "Food in Portland" website that hasn't been updated in years, but still a source of good info. Saltwater Grille is across the harbor on the South Portland side (see their menus) so it has a great view of the town. The food isn't bad and the wine list reasonable. Some things are quirky, like their goat cheese w/romaine (served as grilled wedges which I didn't like and confused my date) but you can't fault them for trying. The view is worth it. I'll post later if anything else comes up.

Today's lunch was a little indulgent... but I can't help it: I'm a pig for fresh Maine shrimp! One big handful of fresh Maine shrimp, boiled in bayleaf for about two minutes, one perfect avocado, a frond of celery and a ring or three of bermuda onion... ... then I added a few cucumber slices, a slice of meyer lemon, and a ricewine vinegar/miso dressing. A twist of white pepper and I'm in shrimp heaven! Man, I'm gonna miss these little guys. Last night's auction saw only one boat and one truck arrive to consign 3,268lbs of shrimp, about a tenth of the volume from a month ago, and it appeared to go to one buyer for $0.51/lb.

Okay, that does it! Those in favor of voting for a permanent bleudauvergne foodblog say AYE! We'll need: a) To pitch in and have Jason knock together a nice new computer for her, b) Arrange sponsorships to pay for all that connect time, photography and food, c) Send Varmint to Lyon to supervise the kitchen renovation... what else? oh... d) Send our best negotiator (FatGuy?) to her office to arrange more time off and a raise!

How about creating some unlikely items using marzipan?

Dude! Wotta waste! ...ah youth... I was in Suisse for high school and we abused Poire and Pfumli at a shameful rate!