We woke up bright and early Saturday morning to go fishing. Before heading to the marina, we stopped at a local shop to pick up supplies for the trip. In addition to bait and tackle, the shop sold all kinds of fresh, locally caught fish and seafood. I thought the mussels and clams looked great.
By mid-morning, we finally boarded John’s boat called “The 3 J’s” – named after him and his two brothers – and then headed out into the bay. We were fortunate to have great weather – not too hot or humid, bright and sunny, clear blue skies above, and a light, gentle breeze blowing in from the water.
Unfortunately, none of us had much luck catching fish. I think it just had to do with the area and where we were anchored. Perhaps if we had gone further out into the bay we would have had better results…but then again, I know absolutely nothing about fishing. Out of the four us, we only caught one fish. Eric managed to reel in a decent-sized Scup, known more affectionately by some as “Porgy.”
Despite our abysmal results and failed attempts, I had good fun hanging out on the boat and chilling with the guys. I suppose the trip really made me grow more of an appreciation for fishermen and what they do. The comparison is pretty flawed and ridiculous considering what they do is exceedingly more challenging, complex, and not to mention dangerous. But you can see where I’m going with this.
Eating at a restaurant on a Saturday night, you might ask the waiter for the catch of the day and within a half hour or so, the cod or swordfish arrives at your table. You’ll take a quick look and smell, admire the plating and design, and perhaps check for doneness. Then you’ll proceed to devour it in a matter of minutes without giving any thought about all the work that was previously done to arrive at the final product. I’ll be the first to admit that I never even consider things like where the fish came from or who caught it. But when you actually spend some time trying to catch the fish yourself like I did this weekend, you might stop to think next time about all the steps involved between 1. fish from sea and 2. nice pan-seared fillet on plate.
Back on land after fishing, we went food shopping for dinner. On Long Island, there is tons of open space, and a lot of the land is used for farming and agriculture. Several plots of land were devoted to grape-growing for wine production as well. Along the major road, we spotted a number of farmers’ markets selling fresh produce and ended up stopping at Harbes, one of the more popular ones in the area.
Showcased were all kinds of fresh fruits and vegetables like sweet yellow bell peppers, peaches, Japanese eggplant, and extra-large heirloom tomatoes.
Harbes also had a nice selection of plants and flowers for sale. We bought a bag full of corn, and it turned out surprisingly sweet and tender for such a late harvest in the summer. More pictures from this weekend are posted here.
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