Let's just say that right on the top of my list of favourite foods is Jesus Edward aka Jasus edwardsii... or what I used to know as crayfish, then spiny lobster, southern rock lobster and after a week in tassie am now calling it cray again. Growing up in SA and eating them not very often; it is an occasional, but regular craving....
QLD painted crays do not do the trick...Asian crays live and then barbequed on the beach are pretty good, but not the same, live lobster bought from a wonderfully snow swept coastal village in New Jersey came a little closer to good old Jesus Edward Kept my hosts and I fairly well fed during the great blizzard of 96.
Everytime I went back to SA I would find some excuse to buy one as long as it was in season. Last time I went missed by about a week. Cut to Christmas/new year 2008. A special trip to the only place I thought that I might find one.... price around about $70 per kilo and they still didn't look right. BUT I was still going to buy. It was busy ...the service was not happening and I left. Bad call. About a week later in a crazed moment I bought not one but two frozen crays from WA. I do know better... it was flooding and craymania had taken a grip. Lacking the opportunity to take it back and rant... or possibly more fun buried under some slow moving so-called fresh food….OK Supermarket Terrorist is no more, but a girl can dream. I threw them in the bin....It was a major flood incident and the SES, maybe, would not have put a high priority on craymaniac returning product that makes seafood extender taste not so bad
So in a fit of madness, I booked a flight to Tassie. I had already found the Lobster direct website website, was going to risk it and order it, but hell the Coles experience was fresh in my memory....I decided that I was going to meet that cray, before we become more closely acquainted. During my research of tassie foodie sites I came across rita's blog. We blogged a bit and then emailed and she was passionate about how good LD’s product was. I did not order cray (already cooked at Mures to be reheated with garlic butter – way too dangerous) and got back too late from Port Arthur on Thursday to buy a fresh one. Today, one of Rita's friends was kind enough to be my guide to the Huon valley and the channel country. I had the kind of day that you remember forever.
We lunched at the divine Divinge..... and had cheese at Pecora... I was having such a good time I had forgotten the mission...to look smug in in Snug with my holy grail. Got to SD just on 5pm. One of the customers was a woman after my own heart. She was telling me how completely brilliant the joint was. I took a photo of the sign about imported seafood, which I will share with my very fine fishmonger...they are honest about where things come from, but still sell some imported product.
Well there were no crays...sold out... There were no more. After such a good day I was disappointed, but really saw the funny side. Also thought that I would definitely risk ordering online. The young guy in the shop explained the process, which worked for me.
Jessica Shopgirl (her words not mine as I’m sure that’s not her real name) told me that they were going to cook half a dozen more before going home and that she would drop one in to my hotel on her way home. No expletive deleted way! She assured me that she was quite happy to do it, wasn't any trouble etc. And she did!! She was looking quite glamorous on her way out to a great night out. As an occasional GOW (Grumpy Old Woman) who sometimes despairs of teen attitudes to service especially with anything remotely to do with technology, I was truly impressed.
As I was not remotely hungry, I asked the lovely people at the Old Woolstore, that the late departed JE have a final night to allow for mourning and on a more pragmatic note to see how he fared for 24hrs or so after dispatch and hopefully to get an appetite.
A trip to Peppermint Bay, lots of sea air and restraint from over indulgence in the lush raspberry icecream served on board may well have done the trick.
As I paused to pour the glass of 9th Island Pinot Grigio, I really hoped that he had a good life, but it turns out not much of a sex life anyway. I know that Sir Tuesday Knight aka Garden Genius who is possibly the only reader of this blog would be really upset by that. http://www.cuisinenet.com/cafe/on_the_table/1997/00006-1.html
QLD painted crays do not do the trick...Asian crays live and then barbequed on the beach are pretty good, but not the same, live lobster bought from a wonderfully snow swept coastal village in New Jersey came a little closer to good old Jesus Edward Kept my hosts and I fairly well fed during the great blizzard of 96.
Everytime I went back to SA I would find some excuse to buy one as long as it was in season. Last time I went missed by about a week. Cut to Christmas/new year 2008. A special trip to the only place I thought that I might find one.... price around about $70 per kilo and they still didn't look right. BUT I was still going to buy. It was busy ...the service was not happening and I left. Bad call. About a week later in a crazed moment I bought not one but two frozen crays from WA. I do know better... it was flooding and craymania had taken a grip. Lacking the opportunity to take it back and rant... or possibly more fun buried under some slow moving so-called fresh food….OK Supermarket Terrorist is no more, but a girl can dream. I threw them in the bin....It was a major flood incident and the SES, maybe, would not have put a high priority on craymaniac returning product that makes seafood extender taste not so bad
So in a fit of madness, I booked a flight to Tassie. I had already found the Lobster direct website website, was going to risk it and order it, but hell the Coles experience was fresh in my memory....I decided that I was going to meet that cray, before we become more closely acquainted. During my research of tassie foodie sites I came across rita's blog. We blogged a bit and then emailed and she was passionate about how good LD’s product was. I did not order cray (already cooked at Mures to be reheated with garlic butter – way too dangerous) and got back too late from Port Arthur on Thursday to buy a fresh one. Today, one of Rita's friends was kind enough to be my guide to the Huon valley and the channel country. I had the kind of day that you remember forever.
We lunched at the divine Divinge..... and had cheese at Pecora... I was having such a good time I had forgotten the mission...to look smug in in Snug with my holy grail. Got to SD just on 5pm. One of the customers was a woman after my own heart. She was telling me how completely brilliant the joint was. I took a photo of the sign about imported seafood, which I will share with my very fine fishmonger...they are honest about where things come from, but still sell some imported product.
Well there were no crays...sold out... There were no more. After such a good day I was disappointed, but really saw the funny side. Also thought that I would definitely risk ordering online. The young guy in the shop explained the process, which worked for me.
Jessica Shopgirl (her words not mine as I’m sure that’s not her real name) told me that they were going to cook half a dozen more before going home and that she would drop one in to my hotel on her way home. No expletive deleted way! She assured me that she was quite happy to do it, wasn't any trouble etc. And she did!! She was looking quite glamorous on her way out to a great night out. As an occasional GOW (Grumpy Old Woman) who sometimes despairs of teen attitudes to service especially with anything remotely to do with technology, I was truly impressed.
As I was not remotely hungry, I asked the lovely people at the Old Woolstore, that the late departed JE have a final night to allow for mourning and on a more pragmatic note to see how he fared for 24hrs or so after dispatch and hopefully to get an appetite.
A trip to Peppermint Bay, lots of sea air and restraint from over indulgence in the lush raspberry icecream served on board may well have done the trick.
As I paused to pour the glass of 9th Island Pinot Grigio, I really hoped that he had a good life, but it turns out not much of a sex life anyway. I know that Sir Tuesday Knight aka Garden Genius who is possibly the only reader of this blog would be really upset by that. http://www.cuisinenet.com/cafe/on_the_table/1997/00006-1.html
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