I have always loved crabs, shrimps, seashells, and fish since I was a child and living by the beach is a dream-come-true.
Before moving to the sea side, I can never tell the difference between fresh and frozen seafood. When I went to the wet market back in my hometown, I’d hear vendors say, “Buy fish here! All these are fresh,” when they were actually soaked in ice for so many hours before arriving at the market. As for me, as long as it does not smell and taste weird, I’d actually agree to their claims. Well, what do I know?
When I started living by the beach and enjoyed fish every day, I then realized that real fresh fish is juicer and sweeter. It is not as fishy as what I thought it was before. You don’t even have to put a lot of condiments to create a great tasting fish soup!
From 6 a.m. to 7 a.m. we would wait for boats to arrive and buy fish straight from the fishermen, bring it home to remove the scales and innards, wash, and boil it together with onions and tomatoes, add a little bit of salt and done! The taste is clean and refreshing. It is a very satisfying breakfast. Guilt free and healthy! Buying fish by the beach is way cheaper compared to the market because they cost three times there.
There are different ways to catch sea foods in my area. Some use reels on a boat in the middle of the sea, where big fish like tuna are usually caught. Some cast a net along the sea shore, where a variety of fish, squid, octopus, and crustaceans are caught. And some use spears where they can catch whatever they see swimming and whatever they find under the rocks. Dynamite fishing is a double no in this area.
The sea here is rich with lobsters, eels, sharks, and many expensive fish that you can order in restaurants and hotels. Coconut crabs are not very common but you can pay a fisherman to catch one for you from the areas on land where there are many coconut trees and from the cliffs where various plants that coconut crabs eat grow. They are not a common dish here since most of the locals are not fond of eating them.
Every day life here is like vacation but there are times when we get busy with our business and work so we take time to rest and enjoy the weekend by swimming, riding the paddleboard, make sand castles, and sunbathing. We place a wide banana leaf on the table, put rice in the middle from end to end of the leaf and surround it with crabs, shrimps, fish, and squid. We cut the watermelon in many triangular shapes and put them on the sides of the banana leaf as well. Voila! Boodle fight!
Wintershins 