A note to my readers: I’m very excited to tell you that, as of today, some of my work will also be appearing in the Huffington Post’s food section. This is the first of what I hope to be a long and popular series on First-Hand Food . Uncertainty is the mother of superstition, and getting food [...]
Weirdly, not catching fish doesn’t necessarily make for bad fishing. I’ve been on lots of fishing trips where no fish were landed, yet a good time was had by all. A sunny day, congenial company, and the idea that you’re not home cleaning the bathroom or raking the leaves can make for a fine outing, [...]
Moral philosophy is a sticky wicket. While going through life behaving well isn’t so hard – most moral choices are straightforward – it’s very difficult to reduce “behaving well” to first principles. In general, I’d say I’m a greatest-good-for-the-greatest-number kind of girl, but I fully acknowledge the difficulty of such a far-reaching and enigmatic calculation. [...]
No matter how you slice it, the main point of fishing is to catch fish. It’s all well and good to be out on a boat, with family and friends, on a beautiful day, engaging in a wholesome activity, communing with nature, and all that. But the god’s honest truth is that, without fish, fishing [...]
I’m beginning to think the mark of authenticity is the mess. When I get a lobster in a restaurant, somebody else caught it, a different somebody cooked it, and the only mess I can make involves my shirtfront. (Okay, and my companions, and my hair, but that’s only because I’m a particularly exuberant lobster eater.) [...]
If you’ve ever read anything about bluefish fishing, you’ll know that every single fishing authority, either legitimate or self-styled, professional or amateur, says that it’s critical to bleed a bluefish. You have to do this immediately, while the fish is still alive. If you don’t, they all say, your bluefish will taste fishy and nasty. [...]
Yesterday morning I made the rounds, delivering packages of our home-caught, home-smoked bluefish to some of our friends. Three stops: Amanda, Doug and Dianne, Al and Christl. I was feeling all salty and heroic, bestowing little bags of beautiful peppered fillets on a few of our favorite people. Hah! The tables were turned. Here’s a [...]
I like the steep part of the learning curve. In a way, that’s a good thing, since I’m spending most of my time there these days. In a way, though, it’s bad because it means I’ll never get really good at anything. The best part of learning something new is the first five minutes because [...]
It seems I’m constantly writing about things I screw up, so I figured it’s only fair that I should tell you about something I didn’t. It started with yesterday morning’s fishing trip. We went out at about 7:00 AM, in search of scup, bluefish, or both. Scup fishing and bluefish fishing are very different. Scup [...]
I’m going to go out on a limb here. I’m going to break with my invariable custom of writing posts that are completely useless and actually tell you how to do something. First, though, I should mention that the reason I seldom tell you how to do anything is that, no matter what it is, [...]
Tamar Haspel has been writing about food and health for over a decade. She recently moved from Manhattan to Cape Cod. She’s adjusting well. [Read More …]
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