Recently the repression of local community dairies has reached a surreal frenzy. How do you feel about raw milk? Do you feel governments are really protecting OUR safety spending so much money to harass small local farms when the biggest killers come from mass production and industrial farming?
More info here about the US Food Crisis and your food freedom.
Earlier this summer, we got in some fishing with my brother and a very dear old friend up in Sullivan County, NY. It was extremely hot at the time, and the fishing was generally pretty rough. However, we ended one otherwise unsuccessful day with a bonanza of catches in a small, still pool that extended off of the Neversink River in Hasbrouck, NY. (Check out this great collection of photos from a Neversink River fly fishing trip).
Didn’t expect much since it was such a small “pond” (I believe “billabong” is a fairly accurate term for it), but we caught a bunch of decent sized chain pickerel and yellow perch, plus 1 bullhead catfish. Though it’s sometimes advisable to practice catch and release, I personally like to eat as many of the fish I catch as possible. No sense putting them through all that trauma and misery for nothing — unless of course they are endangered in the area you’re fishing in. Several of the pickerel we landed were big enough to keep, and there are no restrictions on taking perch or bullhead in New York State.
Pickerel and perch are considered “garbage fish” by some fishermen, and many folks describe them as tasting “gamey”. As far I’m concerned though, what they call “gamey” is just what most fish taste like, which I happen to find delicious. These fish can be filleted or just gutted. Fry them in butter with some onions (and garlic if you like), throw on some salt and pepper, and you have one of my favorite meals.
Hella D is an expert at filleting fish, but smaller fish can be pretty tough to fillet. Chain pickerel in particular are very difficult to fillet because of the “Y bones” on both sides of the fish. These bones are common to all members of the pike family (northern pike, chain pickerel and muskellunge). Pickerel being the smallest members of the family present the most difficulty.
Fortunately, nowadays you can find just about anything on YouTube, and we found several great videos on how to fillet pickerel, perch and bullheads. Here are our favorites. Many thanks to the uploaders for helping us out!
How to fillet chain pickerel
How to fillet perch
How to fillet bullhead catfish
Incidentally, fishing for perch and/or chain pickerel is a great way to introduce kids to the joys of fishing. Pickerel tend to live in shallow, weedy lakes (or ponds), and you can catch some very nice specimens just from the shore. They are also good fighters, making for exciting fishing. Perch are found just about everywhere and are usually very easy to catch.
"An Englishman teaching an American about food is the blind leading the one-eyed." -A. J. Liebling I have often heard it said that the Vancouver restaurant scene owes its bounty to our large Asian population, that the expansive palate of Asian diners mirrors that of the French. Obviously Asia ...
I first heard about guanciale on Chopped. It was a secret ingredient and for some reason I decided to look it up. Oh my goodness! Luscious pig jowl washed with wine and scented with black pepper and thyme. This was something I had to try.
The word guanciale comes from ‘guancia’, which means cheek in Italian. The jowl is the lower part of the cheek, the part that droops down, all fatty-like. Mmmmm… Supposedly the taste of the jowl is intensely porky, I would imagine because it gets a good workout from the pig chewing all day. I won’t know for another couple weeks though, when my guanciale is ready.
To make the guanciale I cobbled together several different recipes (see my reference list down below). My method relied on sensuality rather than strictness.
This article was recently posted at www.cranialintelligence.com. Ged Sumner is the principal of the Body Intelligence Biodynamic Craniosacral Therapy Trainings that I trained with. A very helpful exercise is provided at the end of the article which will help us to get in touch with that deeper self ...
The longest day of the year is actually one of my favorites if I am in the North or South hemispheres, as I know the days are gonna get longer and sunnier from here on out. It has been a recent thing for me to get involved in these cycles of nature, so I am still trying to figure it out. I have lear ...
Some of you may have thought that I am a Christian because of how much I talk about my MK (missionary kid) upbringing in Papua New Guinea (who wouldn't enjoy being a kid in the jungles of PNG?). The truth of the matter is I no longer call myself Christian. The thing that kept me on the fence for so ...
Harsha Rigney has provided me with some of the most helpful and down to earth Astrological readings I have so far come across. I used to read her health horoscopes every month when I lived in New Zealand. We are now fortunate that she puts up a summary every month on her helpful horoscope blog. I ha ...
Back in the day when Healthy Options magazine was still being published I would go to the back of each issue the minute I got it to read the horoscopes for the month. Harsha Rigney has provided me with some of the most helpful and down to earth Astrological readings as well as the most beautifully i ...
The healing journey may begin with ourselves, but unless it extends outwards towards our homes, our communities, our ecosystem, and our biosphere any healing we achieve can not last....--Harvest McCampbell I can't remember exactly how it was I came across Harvest McCampbell's inspiring book (whic ...
"If more people danced everyday, the world would be a much happier place!" So says Mary on her website thefreebox.wordpress.com and I couldn't agree more. She has taken it upon herself to perform (and document) a daily dance ritual, and she's real fun to watch. Her dances are improvised and ...
Loading ...
