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Note: ALL THE FORAGING WE DO IS PERFECTLY LEGAL. ALL OF THE NATURAL RESOURCES DISCUSSED ARE COLLECTED ON OUR OWN PROPERTY OR HAVE BEEN OFFERED UP BY OTHERS. Finally, it is important that we be aware of the impact of fishing and foraging on the environment. While it may be economically friendly, it is only sustainable to a point; the sharks, dolphins and other predators around us don't have a grocery store to fall back on! We must be mindful of the fact that we are often in direct competition with them. For this reason, we do not necessarily support this lifestyle as a long-term substitute for going to a grocery store!

Hey everyone. Mike here.

I apologize for not posting for so long when I was hoping this would be an almost weekly thing... I guess a lot has happened and quite frankly, I was intimidated (and lazy) about trying to catch up.

NOW I'M GOING TO MAKE IT UP TO ALL OF YOU WITH BACK TO BACK POSTS THIS WEEK!

For now, there is plenty to talk about in the way of fish, beer and well...other cool nature-related stuff.

OCTOBER:

We had a lot of fish in late October which allowed us to try alot of different preparations. As we talked about before, Redfish and Spotted sea trout become abundant in our waters this time of year.

16-inch spotted sea trout caught at night (sorry for the quality)

 This beautiful fish is Dita's favorite to eat. It has a mild-sweetness to it and has a natural almond-like flavor. Sounds great, right? Well it IS...

So instead of covering it up with seasoning, we pan-fried it with Panko breading and coconut shavings, a common way to prepare fish here in Florida. Personally, I think preparing this fish any other way would be an injustice to it's fantastic flavor.

I mentioned coconut shavings. Where did I get those you ask? Well from a Coconut I found outside of course!

Dita and I can stretch a coconut over a few meals because we make coconut milk with it, and use the leftover coconut meat for seasoning.

Coconut milk and a glass of Victory's Storm King Imperial Stout

First we husk the coconut using the back of a hammer and alot of patience. Then from the coconut (as you see it in a grocery store) we drain the "water" from the coconut, crack it open, take out the meat and put it in a blender with hot water. It's a long process, but after squeezing the coconut meat into a pot you end up with the coconut's "milk".


  Then you can make...





CURRY!!!!

 MMMMMMMM............


 




We also ate a ton of Red Drum last month. While grilling Red Drum is my favorite way to prepare this fish, we are often left with small pieces that fall off when filleting this notoriously difficult (to fillet) fish. Therefore, we tried a few preparations

Meal: Red Drum Fish cakes with Asian slaw. Beer Paring: Abita's Restoration Pale Ale.

 Abita's Restoration Pale Ale is a wonderful, mild pale-style ale which was crafted and sold to raise money for hurricane relief funds after hurricane Katrina. This New Orleans brewery has a great variety of beers and this is among my favorites.

Appearance: It's golden and highly carbonated.
Aroma: Hoppy.
Taste: Crisp with even-tempered citrus and hops flavor lingers after each sip.

Meal: Red Drum fish tacos with coconut rice, caramelized onions with a bit of salsa. Beer Pairing: Capital's Wisconsin Amber Lager.

 Holy crap this was amazing... As for the beer, Dita and I had been drinking a lot of amber lagers that month for some reason; amber really only refers to the color of the lager by the way, not the taste. When we went to the store and I saw this on sale I immediately threw in the towel.

 

Capital Brewing Company is one of my favorite breweries for some reason it's brewed in Washington D.C and Wisconsin...
Take note of the "beer for badgers" writing on the top of the label.
Most amber lagers (which actually only refers to the color, not the taste) are extremely tame compared to todays more
outgoing beer styles. Back in the day however this was style was considered very unique compare to the pilsners-style products of like Budweiser.

This amber is an exception to the generally tame amber-style....it's AMAZING.


 Appearance: Golden amber
Aroma: Hints of toasted and caramel malts
Taste: Toasty malt with mild citrus notes from the hops.

 Stay tuned for Dita's post about a Florida passtime: Mullet on the grill!

-Mike