As always i have my evening meals round at the local Fish Bar and always, always have blue sardines. But last night was different, there were no sardines. I asked Mr Phillips who owns the restaurant what was wrong why were there not sardines, for 20 years Ive had blue sardines every night. Mr Phillips was ever so apologetic, he had constantly stuck to the tradition his father left him of serving me my favourite dish when he took over the place 12 years ago.
Now im not one to begrudge someone these things happen, perhaps for the best, perhaps i need a change from blue sardines, it has been 20 years of the same dish every night. I suppose i can part ways with tradition and go for something a little more exotic.
So after i had convinced Mr Phillips that it was okay and he had eventually stopped apologizing i got down the bottom of why there was no blue sardines. The local fisherman had not caught any that day, for the first time in however long there were no blue sardines in the fishing grounds, they had been out all day and not caught a single one. They had caught other fish but no sardines, usually the most abundant fish in our waters. So i agreed with Mr Phillips to try something new, he recommended a new fish caught that morning, a fish with no name they say, new to our waters never before seen. They say its a type of shark but one they had not seen before, one much bigger than those found in our nothern waters, but who am i to ponder on ocean life i am but a humble bird.
What can i say, amazing, delicious, so meaty and full of flavour was this shark, i never thought i would finish it after they brought out such a huge steak on my plate. It was so nice you could see my face in the plate afterwards, not a drop wasted from my plate. I told Mr Phillips its time for a new tradition each night i would like another of these nameless shark steaks, so long as they keep catching them. As i found out it shouldn't be a problem as they are so big they only caught one but its enough to cut up and store in the freezers to last a long time. This sounded great, a new tradition is born and a new found love of sea food, perhaps i may shock Mr Phillips into trying something different tomorrow night, who knows.
P.S I will be paying a trip shortly with our local fisherman into the northern waters off the island to see them catch this nameless fish, maybe you could help by tweeting me #namethatfish with your ideas for a name.
Now im not one to begrudge someone these things happen, perhaps for the best, perhaps i need a change from blue sardines, it has been 20 years of the same dish every night. I suppose i can part ways with tradition and go for something a little more exotic.
So after i had convinced Mr Phillips that it was okay and he had eventually stopped apologizing i got down the bottom of why there was no blue sardines. The local fisherman had not caught any that day, for the first time in however long there were no blue sardines in the fishing grounds, they had been out all day and not caught a single one. They had caught other fish but no sardines, usually the most abundant fish in our waters. So i agreed with Mr Phillips to try something new, he recommended a new fish caught that morning, a fish with no name they say, new to our waters never before seen. They say its a type of shark but one they had not seen before, one much bigger than those found in our nothern waters, but who am i to ponder on ocean life i am but a humble bird.
What can i say, amazing, delicious, so meaty and full of flavour was this shark, i never thought i would finish it after they brought out such a huge steak on my plate. It was so nice you could see my face in the plate afterwards, not a drop wasted from my plate. I told Mr Phillips its time for a new tradition each night i would like another of these nameless shark steaks, so long as they keep catching them. As i found out it shouldn't be a problem as they are so big they only caught one but its enough to cut up and store in the freezers to last a long time. This sounded great, a new tradition is born and a new found love of sea food, perhaps i may shock Mr Phillips into trying something different tomorrow night, who knows.
P.S I will be paying a trip shortly with our local fisherman into the northern waters off the island to see them catch this nameless fish, maybe you could help by tweeting me #namethatfish with your ideas for a name.
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