When I was growing up, I didn’t really have a sense of what a treat it was to eat fish. Mom prepared it beautifully, and it was special that most of our trout and salmon dinners were thanks to her father’s fishing skill and generosity, but the very fact that we got it for free must have seemed to my childish way of thinking simply an indicator that some money was being saved in the household grocery budget, surely a good thing but not a culinary indicator of quality per se. It didn’t take me awfully long, however, to realize that fish, especially salmon, was actually extremely tasty, versatile as an ingredient, and so enjoyable that its flavor significantly outweighed its (still unknown to me) mighty nutritional profile in making me seek it out for dinner, lunch, breakfast, snacks and more. Before I was in school I was a confirmed fan of salmon, that beautiful blushing fish, and had discovered a little something of how bountiful and lovely in general the larder of the sea really was.
Nowadays, I happily eat vast quantities of many kinds of seafood whenever I can lay hands and teeth on a fresh supply. Grilled salmon with (of course!) lashings of rich Hollandaise, salmon burgers, smoked salmon and cream cheese on thinly sliced pumpernickel, kulebiaka, hearty yet delicate salmon bouillabaisse, salmon and avocado salad: heaven. Crab quiche, grilled Tillamook cheddar sandwiches crammed with Dungeness crab, crab Louis, crab tacos, crab fried rice, fried soft-shell crabs? Divine. I moved up; I moved on. I never moved away again from loving rivers full, lakes full, an ocean-full, of good food. Calamari and 42nd Street Cafe’s clam chowder and chilled giant prawns with simple horseradish sauce (or just a squeeze of lemon). Slabs of roasted halibut, exquisitely artful sushi, sole Amandine, trout in browned butter, seared rare tuna, shrimp Toast Skagen, simple yet elegant sushi, and lobster bisque with cream and cognac.
You may think there’s something fishy about my obsession with all of this, but the truth is I just love good seafood. It doesn’t take a whale of an imagination to understand why.
Art-Colored Glasses 
Love your title Kath!
Everything looks scrumity – we are big seafood fans in our home.
🙂 Mandy xo
I’ve heard magical tales of the seafood joys found in African cuisines! As in our country, so much coastline offers so much wealth of dining!
xoxo!
Kath
No imagination needed to love the little fishy on your little dishy . I know I’m biaised too when it comes to fish and shellfish, pure delight and never a dull moment! In fact your list of dishes did have me drooling, and will now get me dreaming about what will be the next fishy supper I get!
We coastal dwellers are generally spoiled by the wealth of beautiful dining to be found in the seas being so near to us. I do have a Seattle-born nephew who has a horror of eating ‘anything that swims’, but he’s the exception to the rule, as far as I’ve seen. Must be an undetected allergy, or who could possibly not love at least something from the briny deep??? 😉
I have yet to meet a fish or shellfish that I didn’t like, Kathryn. I think if I lived any closer to the coast, GreenPeace would be after me.
GP should, however, respect your position as a feeder at the top of the chain by nature. If not, I’ll haul up and net ’em for you. 🙂
Saw the title and as i read i was singing a new version the old Kiki Dee number “I’ve got The Mermaid In Me”
I can only assume that this would be a spectacular ginger duet, since if I recall correctly Ms Dee is/was a ginger too (whether by birth or by aspiration). Now I shall hum along awhile…
She is!
Ah, yes! Seafood at KI’s; will be over in a minute…
Methinks it’ll be only fair to bring any lurking felines along. 🙂