In Memory

In memory of those who have made the ultimate sacrifice. 

Summer is Coming! And so are the Lobsters!

As winter approaches lobsters head offshore for warmer water. Wait . . . what did you say? Warmer water offshore? Yep. That's right, the shallow coastal waters are much more susceptible to seasonal temperatures changes. Large bodies of water (i.e. the deep ocean) maintains a relatively stable temperature year round while the coves and creeks near shore can actually freeze over. 

When the lobsters move offshore for the winter, only some fishermen follow them. It takes a bigger boat and more gear to travel greater distances and be able to work in the rougher weather. In the winter, many fishermen will use the winter to dry out their gear and perform maintenance on their boats. They might switch to digging clams or join a construction crew. At one point we had a fishermen who was a real estate agent in the winter. 

The winter also brings bad storms and rough weather that keep the boats at the dock.

Harder to Catch Lobsters + Fewer Fishermen + Fewer Fishable Days = Fewer Lobsters Caught and Higher Prices

The deep winter usually yields extremely high prices. We were up to $9 per pound for live lobsters in the store in April. But I have good news. We are now on the backside of the hill. The near shore waters are starting to fill up with lobster buoys, the lobsters are moving towards the warming coastal waters to shed their shells and breed. The weather is improving and catches are up, meaning the prices of lobsters is beginning to drop. 

SUMMER IS COMING!

10 POUND LOBSTER GRAB BAG - $18 OFF

12 MEDIUM LOBSTERS - $33 OFF

HAND PICKED LOBSTER MEAT - $14 OFF

December 26th Seafood Fest

Being in the seafood business, my family tends to send boxes full of seafood treats to our extended family members outside of Maine for the holidays. My aunt and uncle in Texas get box, as well as my grandparents in Florida. It makes Christmas shopping a whole lot easier. For a seafood lover, lobsters and scallops are way better then a gift card or some awkward gift that is just going to get returned anyway.

With David and me at his parent's house in southern Florida for Christmas this year, we too had a box shipped down. Every year on Christmas Eve, all of his extended family shows up for a big dinner on and I wanted to use the opportunity to show off some real Maine seafood.

On the 23rd of December I had +Gurnet Trading Co. pack a box with my dad's diver scallops, hand-picked crab meat, cooked Maine crab claws, wild Belon oysters, smoked fish dip, and crab dip. I had them pack enough seafood in a box for appetizers for more than 20 people. UPS picked up the box from Gurnet Trading Co. that afternoon. Guess what happened next.

Who heard about the massive UPS shipping failure? Maybe you even experienced some shipping problems yourself? Well, as Gurnet Trading's shipping manager, I spent all day on the 24th tracking down boxes we had shipped both for customers and our family members. By noon, I had received delivery exception notices on 50% of my shipments. I was frantic. In 10 years of shipping our products, we had never experienced a mass failure like this. I spent hours on the phone coordinating between regional distribution centers and recipients. By the end of the day, all but three boxes had delivered. The good news was that one of those three boxes was my own and I would not have to worry about an upset customer or refund. The bad news was that I had a box filled with live oysters and temperature sensitive products sitting in a non-climate controlled tractor trailer container in Orlando Florida. If a box of seafood is going to get stuck someplace, you pray that it is Colorado or Michigan; not Arizona, not Florida. All three of my stuck boxes were in Florida.

So Christmas Eve came and went without our seafood appetizers. Christmas Day came and went with thoughts of my four pounds of diver scallops sitting on a truck in Orlando niggling at the back of my mind. On December 26th I was up early, checking the tracking statuses on my remaining three boxes.

One box delivered with 10 pounds of dead lobsters. At least my customer had a sense of humor about it. This order has since been redelivered at no cost to my customer.

 
Another box delivered with 6 dead lobsters, 6 live lobsters, and 10 pounds of live clams. A full credit has been offered to make up for the late delivery and the dead lobsters.

And what about my box? Well, when it arrived the gel packs were still partially frozen. A good sign. We seal our Belon oysters with lobster bands so they retain their moisture; they were fine. We started sticking thermometers in everything and we found that all of the products were registering about 40 degrees. More good news. I did a quick sniff and taste test and happily declared everything good to go.

We had good news, all of our seafood had survived the disastrous four day trip from Maine to Florida. But we also had a bit of a problem: we had enough seafood for 20 people and only 9 people to eat it.

Step 1: Freeze 2 pounds of scallops. My dad had harvested them the day they shipped out, so a scallop frozen within 4 days of being caught would stay good in the freezer for up to a year (not that they would last that long in my Father-In-Law's freezer.

Step 2: Cook and eat everything else in an all day seafood fest.

The biggest oyster eaters, shucked them and ate them raw with cocktail sauce.

Wild Belon Oyster, raw on the half-shell.

 

The rest of the oysters were stuffed and baked.

Baked Stuffed Belon Oysters

Mike, my sister-in-law's boyfriend, getting ready to dig into a Belon oyster.

Baked Stuffed Oyster Recipe

1. Set grill to high heat. Cook oysters until they "pop" open. Remove from grill. Oysters will still be mostly raw, but are much easier to work with. 
2. Remove and discard the top shell. Scrape the oyster meat free of bottom shell but leave it sitting in the shell. 
3. Cover the meat and shell with stuffing (bread crumbs, melted butter, Parmesan cheese, crab meat, parsley). For 20 oysters we used 4 oz of crab meat and about 3 cups of bread crumbs. 
4.  Drizzle melted butter and squeeze a little fresh lemon on top of the stuffing.
5. Broil the oysters on a cookie sheet on 500 degrees for a few minutes, until the stuffing is browned. As you can see our's could have cooked a touch less, but they were still delicious and I am not even a big fan of oysters.

Half of the crab claws we ate cold, straight out of the box. The other half we reheated and ate with hot butter.  

A small pile of crab meat I picked out for David's grandmother, who did not want to slurp the meat direct from the shells like the rest of us.

  The scallops were seared in butter and served with lemon risotto. 

Before we left Maine, we bought a pressure cooker. We had never used one but had read good things about them. We were especially interested because we would be travelling in a small camper with limited space for cookware. This quickly became our new favorite kitchen item. You can make complex multi-pot dishes in a single pot. So far we have made beet risotto, squash risotto, lemon risotto, chicken chili, beef chili, pot roast, mashed potatoes, spaghetti sauce, short ribs, country ribs, and more. What do you eat when you are on a road trip? McDonalds? Yea me too. Not this trip though. We ate homemade deliciousness. You can cook dry (un-soaked) beans in 45 minutes. A pressure cooker creates meals that normally take hours in only minutes. If you can't tell, I'm a big fan.

Anyway, this tangent has a purpose. We used our pressure cooker to make the risotto we served with the scallops. 

Seared Diver Scallops with Lemon Risotto Recipe

1. On medium heat, saute one chopped onion in olive oil in the pressure cooker until the onion becomes translucent.
2. Add 2 cups of Aborio rice and toast until lightly brown. 
3. Add a splash of white wine to un-stick the rice. Heat until the alcohol has been evaporated.
4. Add 4 cups of chicken broth.
5. Close and lock the lid. Raise the heat to high until the pot reaches pressure. Once pressure is reached, reduce heat to low and cook for 7 minutes.
6. After 7 minutes use quick pressure release method (run over with cold water).
7. Mix in 1 tablespoon of parmesan cheese, salt and pepper to taste, zest and juice of 2 lemons, and 2 cups of baby spinach.

While the rice is cooking . . .

On medium heat, sear the scallops in a butter coated frying pan or skillet. Cook each side until golden brown. Do not over cook; a scallop should be slightly raw at the very center. If you have a good product, do not worry about under cooking your scallop. While over cooking a scallop is criminal, you also want to make sure to cook it long enough to get a nice caramelization on the outside. All that being said . . . relax and have fun . . . its really hard to mess up a good scallop . . . even a poorly cooked high quality scallop is amazing. 

A Few Final Comments

The seafood was a hit. My husband's family loved it and they were stunned that I know how to cook. I just laughed and said scallops and oysters don't really count. Anyone can cook seafood like a chef if they have chef grade ingredients.

When the scallops arrived, Mike informed me that he does not like scallops. 

I said "Ok, maybe not. But wait until you have tried my dad's scallops before you condemn them." 

Mike ate more scallops than anyone. 

I was very frustrated with UPS. I still am. I am still working on processing claims to be compensated for my customer's dead lobsters. My customers pay a premium for overnight delivery, not because they are impatient or waited until the last minute to order, but because our products are highly perishable and need to travel as fast as possible in order to guarantee a live product. Yes, sometimes a box will be fine two or three days later, but that is not a risk I want to take with expensive living seafood. 

My seafood sat on a truck for four days and still tasted and smelled just as good as it would have had it arrived without delay. When I go into a supermarket or restaurant and I smell or taste something fishy, it really makes me wonder where it came from and what has been done to it. 

Under the Bridge

Happy New Year! How are you celebrating? Are you celebrating all the things that happened in 2013 or the things yet to come in 2014?

David and I are still in southern Florida, enjoying the warm weather and are not at all sad to be missing the sub zero temperatures up home. We will be ringing in the new year with prime rib, spiny lobster tails, and David's family.

For us, the end of 2013 will also mark the beginning of the end of our trip to the south. In the next few days we plan to start the trip north.

2013 has been a big year for us. David and I quit our jobs, took over Soper Ocean Services from my dad, and created Gurnet Trading Co.'s online store. We also added our little Nemo to the family.

The last few weeks have really put a cherry on the top of the year. We dived and snorkeled the keys, enjoyed days at the beach, trips on the boat, and even two dives at the top ranked dive in North America.





Sport Diver Magazine named the Blue Heron Bridge Dive the best in North America and called it the secret mecca of muck. To those of you who are not up on dive lingo and terminology, being called a mecca of much is a big deal and honor. Muck diving is a unique style that skips the pretty reefs and pristine water. Instead divers hunt in the cracks and crevices for shy and rare critters. They hide in plain sight with incredible disguises and camouflage. Top muck diving locations include Thailand, Indonesia, Bali, the Philippines, and apparently Palm Beach Florida.

As it turns out this fantastic dive is just down the road from David's parent's house. David and I threw our gear in the back of the Jeep and headed 30 minutes south, not once but twice.

We dived the west end of the bridge during the day time high tide on December 22. It lasted nearly 90 minutes with a maximum depth of 15 feet. Muck diving takes practice, not because it is technically challenging, but because it takes practice to slow down enough to hunt for camouflaged creatures. It takes even more practice to not be distracted by the vibrant and flamboyant angelfish, parrotfish, and butterfly fish that abound.

How many species can you count? Yellowline arrow crabs, spiny lobsters, sea urchins, lizardfish, porcupinefish, flounder, trunk fish, cowfish, starfish, scorpionfish, jellyfish, remora, queen angelfish, grey angelfish, and many many more.

We dived the east end of the bridge during the night time high tide on December 30th. It lasted 70 minutes with a maximum depth of 22 feet and yielded even more creatures than its daytime counterpart. In addition the aforementioned species we also saw banded shrimp, stingrays, octopus, squid, frogfish, and the largest hermit crabs I have ever seen.

This night dive was particularly special because it was hosted by Stuart Scuba, who provide refreshments and entertainment after the dive. It was great to meet some of the local bubbleheads and learn a little about their stomping grounds. So I would like to give special shout out to the Stuart Scuba dive staff. Thanks for a great dive and for keeping our tanks topped off during our trip.

Having dived the bridge twice during the day and once at night, I can easily say this is my favorite dive site. It has never disappointed and I look forward to diving it again in the future. This night dive was a hell of a way to end 2013, I can only hope that 2014 yields such dives.

Happy New Year!

The Other Lobster

As you know, I am in southern Florida, visiting family for the holidays and working from the road. Well, last week we were down in the Keys enjoying the sun and sea.

David's aunt and uncle have a killer place right on a canal on the Gulf side of Key Largo. Shortly after we arrived, we were lounging under the tiki hut when we noticed a pile of manatees congregating. We snatched up our Contour+2, plopped it in the water and caught them in action. We definitely do not have these guys up home and they are a real treat to see. There were lots of jokes about us adding them to our menu as sea cow steaks.

David and I dived with his dad two days in a row. The first day we dived Molasses Reef located in the John Pennekamp Coral Reef State Park located off from Key Largo Florida. It was a little rough and windy but we made due. The visibility was decent and, as usual, Molasses was a worth while dive.

Some of the species we saw were: trigger fish, spiny lobster, trumpetfish, cowfish, parrotfish, barracuda, trunkfish.

The second day we had been hoping to dive the wreck of the Duane or the Spiegel Grove, but the wind had really piped up and we decided to stick to gulf side of the Keys and search for spiny lobster.

Lobstering in Florida is a little different than up home. Here is a quick run down of some of the differences:

                                                                             Maine                                            Florida
Can dive for them recreationally            No                                                 Yes
Can trap them recreationally                  Yes                                                No
Can dive for them commercially             No                                                 Yes
Can trap them commercially                   Yes                                                 Yes
Recreational catch limit                          5 traps - unlimited lobsters              5 lobsters/day in season
Season                                                     year round                                       multiple split seasons
Recreational License Required             lobster specific license                     Florida fishing license

While David has dived for Florida lobsters many times in the past, this was a first for me. It was a great experience to see the differences between the southern and northern lobsters. Florida lobsters tend to be skittish while Maine lobsters can be incredibly aggressive. While diving up home, I have literally been attacked by lobsters defending the mud holes and hunting territory. Next summer I hope to post a video of some of our lobsters in action.

I wish we could dive for lobsters recreationally. I think a diving charter to see lobsters in their natural environment would be very successful, especially if the customer could take one home with them for dinner.

With the water temperature only 72 degrees and the air temperature 75 it was a little chilly with the wind blowing. After hunting for a couple hours we called it quits, shivering with blue lips and one lonely lobster.

The lobster was just large enough for me and David to share for dinner. We sliced the lobster in half while it was still alive.

Then we drizzled it with butter and garlic powder and broiled it in the oven for a few minutes until brown and cooked. We served it over buttered pasta and it was quite tasty.

Our New Ad Campaign

So as you all know, David and I said good-bye to the corporate lifestyle back in March. One of the biggest reason we took the plunge into self-employment was the issue of flexibility. For 5 years we had worked hard a respectable jobs that paid well and provided good economic benefits. But what we found was we were making money but did not have the time to spend it.

What good is money without time? We decided that life is short and time is more important to us than racing through life waiting for weekends and climbing a ladder that could collapse beneath you at any moment. When we quit the man, we took on two jobs that would hopefully provide us with enough income to cover living expenses and provide us with more time to spend with our friends and family. 

Soper Ocean Services is a seasonal business. It is insanely busy from April - June; it mellows out June - September; gets super busy again October and November; and then is virtually non-existent from December - March.  

Managing Gurnet Trading's online sales and distribution is a virtual job. Theoretically, all I need is my laptop, an internet connection, and my smart phone. 

On paper it seems like these two businesses would allow us to spend more time traveling and less time at home. Well, we are currently putting that theory to the test. Last week we packed our dive gear, my home office, and our corgi dog into our 13 foot Scamp and hit the road. 

Our new advertising campaign targets the East Coast, from Maine to Florida

Our 4 day drive from Maine to Southern Florida doubled as an advertising campaign and our first test of flexibility. Our first night was dry, but dipped into the low teens and our little electric heater was working overtime. Our second night began at 2 pm, when the falling snow forced us to pull off into a Wal-Mart parking lot in Maryland. Without electrical hook-up we snuggled into bed with our corgi and waited out the storm that dropped a foot of snow and a half inch of ice on us. By the third night we had finally escaped the icy grasp of the North East and we basked in rainy humid glory of the South. By the fourth night we had arrived at our prime destination, David's parents house. 

We had arrived not a moment too soon. I had barely logged onto the local network before the Christmas orders started to roll in. Hopefully they keep coming and I will have proof that I can support Gurnet Trading from Florida just as well as I can from Maine. 

Ode to Shrimp

Though Bubba was talking about shrimp out of the Gulf of Mexico, the same can be said of our delicious little shrimp that come out of the Gulf of Maine. They are truly a staple here in Maine and can be found on just about every restaurant menu in the state. Even the pizza places put them on their pizza.

So it is a sad thing to announce that the 2014 Maine Shrimp Season has been cancelled. To those of us who grew up with shrimp in our bellies, it is like a member of the family has gone missing and we don't know when or if he will be coming home.

Here is my ode to Maine shrimp and a look inside my relationship with my FAVORITE crustacean and quite possibly my favorite food of all time. Please note that when I talk about shrimp, there is no question about what type of shrimp. To me, the Maine Shrimp is the only one that matters.

1. When Gurnet Trading Co. first opened, I picked shrimp. I picked them for hours and hours and hours after school. I picked until my fingers were numb and sore from stabbing myself with the shrimp spines. I stayed up until 1 AM cleaning and packing shrimp. 
2. Though I haven't had them since she passed, my grandmother's shrimp bars are my most favorite party appetizer ever. They are like dense little quiche squares with no crust. They are made of shrimp, broccoli, and cheddar cheese. They are best served cold, though I would always snag one before it had "set up" because I was so impatient. When my grandmother would ask me what I wanted for my birthday, the answer was always shrimp bars. If and when the season opens again, I will hunt down her recipe and post it for you. 
3. Shrimp are super easy to cook with and therefore regularly save my hide when I don't have a plan for dinner.
4. My favorite way to eat Maine Shrimp is fried. I call it seafood candy. It is the only food I have eaten to the point of being ill. And I have done it on multiple occasions. It's the only food I have found my self capable of "binge eating." Perhaps closing the shrimp season is a good thing? No never! I condemn myself to 20 lashes for heretical speech. 
5. When I was in college my mom once packaged up a box of live shrimp and shipped them to Maine Maritime Academy. Most kids get cookies and ramen in their care packages. I got 8 pounds of live crustaceans. 
6. This next one might be considered a little improper, so you might want to skip it if you don't sometimes giggle at bathroom humor. Another time at school, David and I put on a "u-peel-em" feed with our friends. We ate mass amounts of shrimp and consumed cases of beer. The next morning we got up and drove to Sugarloaf to do some skiing. Once we reached the top of the mountain, David comments that he feels a bit gaseous. Then seeping out through layers and layers of long underwear, ski pants, and jackets comes the foulest rotten shrimp stench ever. It enveloped us and crept in through even our ski masks. We laughed so hard that we collapsed in the snow. More than 6 years later we still remember that fart and laugh about it, joking that his ski pants still retain their rotten shrimp stench. 
7. I remember very little from elementary school. But I do remember going on a field trip to shrimp boat. Mountains and mountains of tiny shrimp flip flopping on deck. Great big nets. A slippery deck on big steel boat. Squid and other little critters that came up with the shrimp.  

Shrimp invoke some of my strongest memories. It's strange to think that simply the loss of a food source can bring up such strong emotions. 

But to some it is not just the loss of a favorite food. It is not just the emotional impact. There will be very real economic consequences as well. Those fishermen who rely on the industry to feed their families will be scrambling and struggling during already difficult times. 

Then there are the retail impacts. In the winter, Gurnet Trading usually employs 2-3 seasonal but full time employees to clean and package shrimp. That is two jobs gone in just one small market. We are just one market in many that will not be able to employ shrimp pickers this winter.

Our menu, like many others in the state, is going to be demolished by this closure. We will have to remove some of our most popular products. Here is a look into how our menu will be impacted. 

Our Fish Market

• Frozen Shimp - gone
• Live Shrimp - gone
• Fresh Shrimp - gone
• Stuffed Scallops - modified (the stuffing contains shrimp)

Our Take-Out

• Fried Shrimp (pint) - gone
• Fried Shrimp (basket) - gone
• Fried Shrimp (dinner) - gone
• Fried Shrimp Roll - gone
• Shrimp Salad Roll - gone
• Shrimp Stew - gone
• Fisherman's Platter - modified
• Seafood Chowder - modified

So let us all have a moment of silence for the 2014 shrimp season. Let us hope the we can get the fishery on track to sustainability, else we loose yet another industry and source of income. 

Tonight I will leave you with two questions.

What is your favorite shrimp dish?

How will the closure impact you?