Fish the family dish

The Sydney Fish Markets are the largest in the Southern Hemisphere. I've been eating seafood all my life as my mother was born in Townsville, QLD and had a penchant for oysters, mud crab, prawns, and of course fish.  When we were kids, because Mum wanted them, we all had them!  Lucky us. I was given an oyster knife when I was about 8.  That's right, my parents gave me a knife so I could eat the oysters straight from the rocks down the road from where I grew up in Seaforth, on Middle Harbour in Sydney.  I must have eaten thousands in my lifetime.  I also had a tomahawk, which is a small axe, but that was used to kill red-back spiders amongst other things, a different story altogether. Anyway, my partner's cousin was visiting from New Zealand and he wanted to catch up with his friend's son or something, who happened to work at De Costi, just one of the merchants at the markets.  I wasn't planning on taking any photos, but I had my iPhone and I liked the look of the Scampi, which by the way have actually been flown in from New Zealand.

They look good

Believe it or not, a group of crayfish is called a herd.

The herd

Raw and cooked sweet crabs.  You can see why they're called Blue Swimmer crabs on the left.

Someone has been buying up the Blue Swimmers

These are actually rock lobsters.  Don't ask me the difference between these and crayfish.  Google it.

Can you see the odd one out?  To the right is a bunch of Balmain Bugs

Some fish are also on offer.

Could be little Garfish in the foreground

Mmmm, trout. Unreal. See they come from Tasmania? All good cold stuff comes from Tasmania.  I like to cook trout whole wrapped in foil on the BBQ, stuffed with some simple things like onion, tomato, lemon slices or whatever.

The trout

Ocean Perch, Sand Mullet, Latchet and a hacked up swordfish

Not much Swordfish left here

Fish tails make great stock.  I like the heads too, the actual whole thing, done Japanese or Malaysian style. No disconnected heads in this shot though.  I I don't eat the eyes.  I tried one once.  It wasn't for me.  No need to go there really.

Prawns, prawns, prawns.  Peel, dip in white vinegar (that's my Mum's way) and that's it.

A few varieties of Prawn

They were about $10 a kilo cheaper when I bought them in Port Douglas straight from the trawler.  Oh well, I guess there's a middle man or two here.

Gnomes all alone

This gnome lives at my aunty's place in Orange, NSW.  I love my aunt dearly but I would have to say that one of her most endearing qualities is that she is the master of good intentions that kind of, well, don't quite endure.  On the other hand she teaches piano and is very talented and laughs all the time.  She is also a master of the jive, which for the information of people born after 1975 is a dance.  She mastered it in her teenage years and still does a great one now at age 68.

Green-eyed gnome on a tilt - does he have a big blue thumb or what?

You can see below that the green-eyed fellow has a pseudo companion.  This little guy looks a bit lost.  Also, there is a cute table and chairs set-up that hasn't seen much use by the looks of it, and is somewhat too close to that tree for comfort.  And those roses don't look too well.

Gnome all alone

On closer inspection, that chair on the right is actually broken and collapsing.

Nice spot for a cup of tea and scones

I don't think there have been too many morning or afternoon teas here, but there's a certain quaintness to it all.

Sunny Boy and a miserable cold

Bruce likes the winter sun.  And the spring sun, the summer sun, and the autumn sun.  His white coat glistens.  He's happy.  The green ball again makes an appearance.  This time with a secondary toy.  Even if I do have to grovel to get the green ball from under the house, I don't mind.  He's my mate. 

He doesn't look as disheveled as he did when we got home from Cairns, he's back to his chilled out self.

Bruce in the winter sun

I still feel pretty crappy with this cold that came on when we got back home.  It has kind of improved but I have a very annoying dry cough.  Sometimes the coughing finishes with a sneeze and I see stars before my eyes.  I wish it would finally go away.  It gives me a headache and all I want is oranges and chicken soup and for my nose to feel normal again.  I'm grumpy.  But I'm having fish for dinner and the house is warm and cosy.  After that, I'll be safe and warm in bed in winter sheets and hopefully tomorrow this miserableness will be on its way out.  I really hope so.