Spot Prawn Season

We look forward to this time of the year the way kids look forward to Christmas, counting down the days on the calendar.

BC is very fortunate to have a strong, sustainable spot prawn fishing industry.
With the fishing area just a couple of hours north of Vancouver, we have access to these delicious sea-bugs for 4-6 weeks, beginning in mid-May.

Three pounds, bought from the boat and taken straight home.

Usually we sautée them with a little white wine and garlic, but this year we thought we'd start off by grilling a few, with a little salt, as an appetizer.

Japanese mayonnaise has a little more vinegary zip, according to Aya.

One of us was raised in North America, and grew up eating only the fat, white tails of shrimp and prawns. The other has enjoyed the amazing, acquired taste of the tomalley all her life. She somewhat regrets sharing her enthusiasm for this delicacy, since it is now eagerly devoured by all members of our household.

The grilling was such a success that we never got around to sautéeing any of them. We just stood there in the kitchen, reveling in the soft flesh and blackened leg tips. Absolutely, outstandingly spectacular.

Except for this bit. Don't ever bite into it. Srsly. Bleh.

We usually turn to a very reliable Sauvignon Blanc to go with our prawns, but our good friends at Liberty Wines on Granville Island recommended this tiny Languedoc appellation, Picpoul De Pinet (#7 on this map), and it did not disappoint. Bright, acidic and with a little more mineral than Sauvignon Blanc, it was an excellent match for the prawns. A steal at $18.

Interestingly (for one of our regular readers, at least) Picpoul De Pinet is also the principal grape in the famous vermouth Noilly Prat.

*A reminder to anyone digging into spot prawns or other shellfish: keep the shells in your freezer for making bisque! Aya's recipe will appear in an upcoming post.

Vermont Things To Do, Things To Drink

Driving from Montréal to Stowe, Vermont, we took a scenic route down a chain of islands in Lake Champlain.


Aya had never seen ice fishers before, and had certainly never seen cars and trucks parked out on a frozen lake.

View Larger Map

We stopped here for a couple of photos. And then, to our surprise, we did this:

The Vermont woods still had very nice snow, especially in the first few days. This is from when it was wetter, but still wonderful.

This calf seemed warm with its long hair.

Its mother hovered close by with her long horns.

The hot tub was a real treat. When we got too hot we rolled in the snow to cool down, then jumped back in.

Aya and Dad teamed up in the kitchen and produced a rich, dark beef stew and some amazing cheese soufflés to replenish our strength.


Thirsts were met by Vermont's excellent selection of local beers. Here, in no particular order, are some that we remembered to take photos of.

Howl black lager by Magic Hat

Circus Boy wheat beer by Magic Hat

Raison d'Être Belgian brown ale by Dogfish Head was particularly good

Demo dark IPA from Magic Hat

Otter Creek's black IPA was a real hit

A straightforward, flavourful ale by Long Trail

As tasty as their beers were, you may notice that we did not provide links to Magic Hat's website. Designed by and for people who attend way too many outdoor concerts, we wouldn't feed its navigation system to our worst dog.

Suffice to say that the menu is a doodle-pad of incomprehensibility that refers to their beers as "Elixirs".

Never mind. The beer is really quite delicious.

Did we miss any Vermont brewing gems? What should we look for next time?

Dig-Dig #5: Fossil Safari, Wyoming

The long drive of the previous day paid off in that we were within a couple of hours of the next destination: Fossil Safari, near Kemmerer, Wyoming. The white spots on the map below are the actual quarry sites. Three huge antelope, looking very African, skipped across the dirt road during the last mile.


View Dig! Dig! August 2010 in a larger map

This was really, really fun. The big slabs of rock pop open with a satisfying, dry crack after a few whacks with a hammer and chisel. By carefully pursuing a split along the edge, you can peel off sheet after sheet like thumbing through a book with very thick pages. The fish are all within, having been gently pressed like flowers over millions of years. Revealing them is truly an exciting moment.

One of Aya's early finds: a little herring, previous tenant of the ocean that was here before the desert came.

One classroom from our little school of petrified fish.

Chris, the very friendly, helpful and informative host, used his robotic arm attachment to cut our bigger finds into transportable pieces.

This caused a stir. One of the regulars, who hunts for fossils to sell, cracked open an average-looking slab to reveal this monster. Looking at Fossil Safari's website, we think it might be a mioplosus, but that's only because we think we know what we're talking about and we don't. The arrangement with the quarry is that you get to keep smaller, common fossils while they keep the big, rare finds. This one was instantly claimed by the quarry, which might have put a bit of a damper on the elation the finder felt at the biggest hit of his career.

Here's a video of Keith splitting a large slab to reveal...




Here are some of the larger, complete ones that we brought home:
The lower piece was part of a "mortality layer" where it appears that many fish died at about the same time, probably due to a landslide or other natural disaster. There were eight whole fish and a few pieces on this one slab, which we cut up for transporting.

A fantastic double-sided fossil, with the split going right down the center of the fish. Perhaps history's first kipper.


This, our largest one is still partially covered by a fine layer of rock. We will use a Dremmel tool to gently reveal its petro-ichthystic glory.