It’s 10:30AM Monday morning, and my ecstatic customer and now friend yells through the phone line that the Palos Verdes Peninsula in Southern California has “epic visibility!” and this morning was one of the best days he’s had on the water since he started diving eleven years ago. He encourages me to take the day off tomorrow and poke some holes in white-seabass so I could slice some more sashimi. Paul from the Big Island of Hawaii calls 12 minutes later to give me his report on the local fish. He and his father have been building a custom speargun for the past 6 months; he shoots me a text with some pictures, and asks what type of final touches I would recommend him. I open my email and a cold water customer who lives out in New Jersey writes for me to check the Hawaii Skin Diver Magazine and proudly tells me they published his article. The fish were shot with a speargun I built him.
Yesterday evening, the Truffle Brothers sat to discuss soccer with Chef Ori at his birthday party over Yakiniku meats and cold Sapporos. Michael and Marko have dogs back in Italy that their younger brother manages. They find the Perigold, White, and Black truffles and import to the US to sell to the best restaurants in LA and surrounding. Like personal gold-miners. Antonio from Terroni is formerly a chef in Italy, but now manages the busy restaurant with emphasis on drinks as he tells me a 13 hour meal he and his friends had 10 years ago in Italy. He has come to drink tonight. Chef Micah from Mezze straggles through the door and though I’ve now been eating straight beef and beer for an hour, tells me I’m not eating enough and challenges me to a food duel. I accept. Chef Christian from Short Order, the new 3rd street Farmer’s Market upscale hamburger joint(not an oxymoron) asks when we’re going to grind some wild boar into patties.
Reflection: What I notice today as I reflect on the past 24 hours, is there is a surprising openness of sharing when it comes to the Pursuit o’ Food (St. Patty’s day is coming up). What I mean is as I blend the restaurant community and the “hunting community” into one group here, I really am surprised, and blessed by the immense sharing of time, of laughs, and surprising to me and my belly: even of recipes. It was a reminder that Life is full of awesomeness. i mean look:
You would think someone shared this on the redneck site, but nope, i’m sharing it. When I took my friend to get his first kill, at the time he did not have a truck and reckon’d he-done-did-need-a-freeza. #redneckAsianinLA.
Am headed hunting. May the pigs be plentiful and the book a day no pigs would die be fiction.
So that I can use every part of the animal, like this Seared pig’s tongue
And share it with good friends & Family, and even the friends one eyed(glaucoma) dog 🙂
-E