Thank you Dawn & @fffffred , if we DO get out on Wednesday, it wont bother me if she catches the biggest one again. I bought some squid jigs plus a light to attract them after dark. That’ll hopefully give her some excitement. As long as they don’t squirt ink all over her 
I was keen to go out to buy this stuff, we completely forgot to leave some honey out for a customer.
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Photo of the catch this time? 
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Thank you Dawn, will do. I’ll show some cooking results also, especially if I get to make some squid ink pasta. Or even some squid ink scrambled eggs.
We made this video about 8 years ago.
I don’t think I caught this squid. If I make some from the squid we catch, that’ll be a first.
PS, I watched a couple of other squid ink pasta videos, now I’m wondering if I’m the only one who made it from the actual squid & not out of a jar.
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I love squid ink pasta. I think that the ink gives it such a creamy rich taste. Of course the best that I have had was in Italy. I bet they used real ink, seeing as they love calamari too - less waste that way!
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I don’t think I used enough ink when I made it because it tasted just like pasta to me. In one video I watched, the bloke used a heaped teaspoon out of a jar (the same size jar I acquired quite a few years ago), then he mixed two heaped teaspoons full with the pasta after it was cooked, before he served it up. I think in that case, you’d certainly taste it.
While I had my jar, I made some scrambled eggs with it. That was a REAL unique experience. Again, we couldn’t taste the squid ink. Unique in the way that it doesn’t look like it should taste like scrambled eggs.
I ended up throwing the jar out because it sat in the freezer too long before I got to use it all. I got it from a specialty food purveyor, which wasn’t cheap.
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I think it doesn’t have much of a specific “taste”. More of a “mouth-feel”. Just feels like you put a load of umami or butter in there, even when you didn’t. Certainly not a strong flavor, just a very appealing experience
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If I’ve inspired you to lash out & buy a jar, have a go at the scrambled eggs. I’m sure you’d be impressed, especially if you put a generous amount in.
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Hi Dawn, After all the hype about squid, we didn’t catch any, however we did knock off & go to bed at 7.30 after a long day. As the photos indicate, we caught some fish. The largest Snapper was 2.4kg, the smaller one plus a second small one weighed in at 1.5kg ea. The other fish I showed were Moses Perch, Sunspot or Gold Spot Wrass & Parrot Fish (Venus Tusk Fish). I wanted to show those to show the colors.
cheers
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Gorgeous photos @JeffH - beautiful fish! Lovely colors and they look so healthy, with bright eyes. I bet they were/will be delicious too.
I tried a fabulous fish recipe recently. Quite a few ingredients, but very simple to make once you have gathered everything:
180ml canned coconut milk (I like Aroy-D brand)
2-3 tablespoons grated fresh ginger
1 garlic clove, finely minced
1/2 teaspoon turmeric powder
1/2 teaspoon red pepper flakes (or 1 fresh jalapeño or serrano chili pepper minced)
1 tablespoon honey
1/2 teaspoon salt
2 limes (or 1 lime and 4 kaffir lime leaves, destemmed and finely chopped)
Handful of chopped cilantro/coriander leaves
20-30 cherry tomatoes
4 generous filets firm white fish (~6oz or 175g each)
- In a large bowl, whisk together coconut milk, garlic, ginger, turmeric, pepper, honey and salt. Add the lime leaves or zest of one lime (don’t add the zest if you are using kaffir lime leaves). Whisk in the juice of the (zested) lime. Add half of the cilantro/coriander leaves.
- Add the fish filets (with or without skin) and make sure that they are well coated. Cover and refrigerate for 15-30 minutes. Do not leave for longer, as the lime juice will “cook” the fish ceviche-style.
- Heat oven to 425°F (210°C). Put the tomatoes on a large sheet pan, toss them with a little olive oil and season with salt. Nestle the marinaded fish between the tomatoes in a single layer and pour any remaining marinade over the top. Bake until the fish is almost cooked through - about 8-10 minutes depending on thickness. Remove the pan from the oven
- Heat the broiler/grill of the oven and make sure that there is a rack about 3-5" (8-12cm) below the elements. Replace the pan under the broiler grill when it is hot and continue cooking for 5-8 minutes until the fish is done and the tomatoes have some toasted spots on them
- Serve the fish with the remaining cilantro/coriander sprinkled on top and lime wedge as garnish
The recipe is very adaptable. If you don’t like cilantro, it is good with basil (italian or thai). If you don’t want to mess about with the broiler/grill, just leave it in the oven for an extra 5-8 minutes, rotating the pan to cook everything evenly. Most fish is great with this recipe, including snapper, halibut, haddock, cod and even tilapia. We usually serve it with rice, but it would be great with crusty bread and a nice green salad
Please note, it even has honey in it!
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Hi Dawn, thanks for that recipe & the comments about the photos. That recipe sounds like a variant of a lot of fish & seafood dishes we’ve done over the years. We haven’t taken to coriander yet, however we haven’t given ourselves a chance to get to like it. Apparently after a while the flavor grows on you.
I kept the largest snapper head to make a fish head curry. The rest of the frame & the other 2 snapper heads & frames I kept to make a fish stock. We made a few fish head curry videos. This is one we did in the oven, not really a curry.
The beauty of cooking fish in the manner such as your recipe & my video is that you don’t lose any of the juice that you’d lose when frying fish, for example.
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It can, but some people have a genetic variation which makes it taste like soap to them. Nothing that can be done to change that sense of taste. In that case, you may never get to love it, which is why I listed basil as an alternative. Mint works well too
Thank you for the video link! 
By the way, I was drooling by the end of your video!! 
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Thanks Dawn, I hope you saw the very end of the video because I’m noticing that they seem to cut out before the video is complete. In my fish head curry videos, I use a curry mix by Shan from Pakistan. I use coconut milk in those recipes. Some people don’t like sultanas in a curry, but we both do, they soak up the juice & taste kind of nice.
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I heard the clean plate comment, so I assume i saw it all!
David loves them! I often put them into our rice too, with some whole spices like cumin, cloves and cardamom. We also make an Elizabethan pork stew with sultanas, apricots, dried plums and other dried fruits and spices. Also excellent. I love mixing sweet and savory, even in a main course
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I adore ALL of this gorgeous food, eating it, making it - and talking about it makes me sorry that we can’t easily plan a Beekeepers’ Banquet 
My most recent use of honey in a recipe was quite basic compared to your lovely fish dish, Dawn. I pounded & panko’d some chicken thighs, shallow-fried them and served them with homemade biscuits and hot honey butter.
Today and tomorrow I’m going to harvest four more frames with the help of my little niece and 2 nephews 
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Wilma & I did another fishing trip, seeing as it’s winter & the bees don’t need my attention at this point in time. Wilma took some more photos. Let’s start with the first one. No prizes for guessing what took the bottom half of the snapper I’m holding.
I did mention previously that we were going twenty miles out where we were more likely to see some whales. They didn’t disappoint.
It was almost dark, Wilma got a shot of the sun setting over land, plus the new moon, near Saturn (I think it was Saturn).
I set up my light to attract squid & bait fish, however this time we only attracted 1 large & 3 small sea snakes. We had the camera on the wrong mode, therefore the sea snake (an Elegant Sea Snake) wasn’t clear.
Next morning was a bit choppy with a brilliant sunrise.
Not much else to add except on 3 occasions 3 boat skippers must have thought we were on a hot spot. They all came close enough to speak to (which is wayyyy too close & cheeky). 2 of them tried to anchor up in front of my boat. This is how close they got to me.
This photo shows the difference in the sea from morning to late afternoon, when we were getting closer to home.
Some more fish photos: The grey fish in the front with the Snapper & Moses Perch is a Pearl Perch. One of the best eating fish from the ocean & my favorite. To put it into perspective, it weighed 1.1 kg. The large Gold Spot Wrass weighed 1.7kg.
cheers
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Wow, thank you for the photos @JeffH and Wilma. Gorgeous! I wish that I didn’t get really bad motion sickness, otherwise I would be tempted to try it some time.
However, at least with your photos I can get pleasure from your experience!
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Just beautiful, what a lovely set of pics - thank you both!
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Thank you Eva & @Dawn_SD . I told Wilma that Dawn gets motion sickness. She replied “did you tell her that I got sick last time”, which she did. Silly Wilma went out & bought a new packet of sea sick tablets because we only had two tablets in the boat. What did she do? she left them at home, which gave us one each for the start of the trip. Then she worried the whole time she was going to get sick again, which she didn’t. On top of that, we left the Epirb at home, that caused more worry because we’d be in for a big fine if we were caught without it. I don’t think the Fisheries inspectors or Water Police would accept “a seniors moment” as an excuse.
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That is interesting @JeffH. I didn’t know that boats had to carry something like that. Our aircraft had an ELT (Emergency Locator Transmitter), which is the same sort of concept, but it was hardwired into the plane. They are triggered by sudden decelerations or “shocks”, so it isn’t uncommon for a student pilot to set one off with a heavy landing… Unfortunately, they cannot be reset from the cockpit. You have to park, find it and reset it manually - they are usually fixed way back in the tail area and not easy to reach.
Sounds like you need a fishing trip check list! David has one for leaving the house - wallet, phone, keys, mask.
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We talked about the check list on the last trip. I had one stuck on the fridge for when I used to do commercial trips.
The Epirb normally stays on the boat, however someone (whom I wont name) decided to bring it home & put it in a cupboard after the second trip. We was without it for two trips!!! Needless to say it’s on the boat now, with the seasick tablets.
A bloke who’s partner buys honey from me sells planes over here. Small luxury planes that have a parachute. I forget the brand, they are built in America. You probably know the brand of plane I’m talking about.
Epirbs were made compulsory for vessels venturing offshore in Australia quite a few years ago. Each Epirb is unique in that it tells AMSA (Australian Maritime Safety Authority), in Canberra the name of the vessel & owner once it is activated. That is provided the owner registers his/her Epirb with AMSA, which is compulsory.
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