TravelOZ has made a fascinating video about the crabs of Christmas Island (especially Coconut Crabs, which can climb trees and crack coconuts in their massive claws) which you can see below (or here).
If you enjoyed that video, you won’t want to miss the one below which shows what a massive influx of tiny baby crabs into the area looks like. The streets literally run red with millions of new baby crabs…quite an extraordinary sight!
There is nothing quite like an oyster roast. Standing elbow to elbow with fellow oyster lovers we await the bounty about to be served; oyster knives at the ready, shucking gloves tucked in our belts, bowls of crimson hot sauce scattered across the rough-hewn tables.
A popular coastal tradition, the best oyster roasts are both sacred and informal celebrations of the natural flavors of the sea that ideally take place not far from the waters from which the oysters were taken.
If you’d like to hold your own oyster roast, you’ll have to order several bushels of oysters from your local seafood supplier, but it’s much better to harvest them yourself if you’re lucky to live in an area with an abundance of oysters. There’s a nice article here about the finer points of gathering oysters and running a traditional oyster roast.
If you prefer to grill your oysters instead, Coastal Living has some good tips and recipes here.
According to Charlestonlowcountry.com, oysters are an excellent source of vitamins A, B1, B2, B3, C, and D. Four or five medium size oysters supply the recommended daily allowance of iron, copper, iodine, magnesium, calcium, zinc, and manganese. Charlestonlowcountry.com also has some nice in-home recipes here.
After you’ve held your roast, don’t forget to recycle your oyster shells so that they can be used to form new oyster beds for the next generation of oysters. South Carolina residents can recycle their oyster shells at various DNR oyster shell recycling locations. North Carolina also has an excellent oyster shell recycling program.
(Here’s a photo we took of an oyster bed vista in McClellanville, SC.)
Also, below is a taste of a few of the many photos we took at Pethelpers’ 2008 Sucking It Up to Save Lives Oyster Roast at Bowen’s Island in Charleston, SC. The event raised over $13,000 to benefit the new no-kill animal shelter.
While we were at the oyster roast, we were fortunate enough to come across something small and hard in one of our oysters…a pearl!
Alas, unlike Florida’s George and Leslie Brock who were lucky enough to come across a really valuable purple oyster while eating our Apalachicola Selects, our “Pethelper Pearl” is small and rough textured; a rare specimen mainly remarkable for its extremely high sentimental (if not financial) value.
By the way, if you’re curious about how oysters make pearls, click here.
With its sleek modernist lines reminiscent of Bauhaus architecture, South Carolina’s Sullivan’s Island Lighthouse may be less charming than its neighbor, the Morris Island Lighthouse, however it still provides a useful service.
According to the Sullivan’s Island Lighthouse Page at LighthouseFriends.Com:
“When erosion threatened the Morris Island Lighthouse, located south of the entrance to Charleston Harbor, the decision was made to place a replacement beacon on Sullivan’s Island, north of the harbor’s entrance. Although the triangular tower, built of concrete and steel and clad in a skin of aluminum, doesn’t have much Southern charm, it does have some redeeming qualities. Inside the tower, the keepers of the light are treated to air conditioning and an elevator that can quickly whisk them skyward. After the elevator ride, it is still necessary to scale a small staircase to reach the lantern room, where a powerful light source is housed. Originally, the light produced an amazing 28 million candlepower, but this powerful beam proved dangerous and was downgraded to a light of just over a million candlepower that has a range of twenty-six miles.”
By the way, with the exception of Boston Light, the oldest station in America, all lighthouses in the U.S. are fully automated, although some properties may have on-site caretakers to help prevent vandalism or to run tours through the facility.
You can read some interesting lighthouse trivia here. If you’re interested in learning more about the historical role played by lighthouses in both South and North Carolina, you can read excerpts online from Terrance Zepke’s book, Lighthouses of the Carolinas: A Short History and Guide.
Want a taste of what it’s like to live in a lighthouse? Below are 3 cookbooks full of recipes from lighthouse kitchens,
Here down South (especially in Charleston), we’re lucky for much of the year to have access to fresh local seafood. However, other parts of the country are not so lucky.
As it says in an article on AirCargoWorld.Com…
“In order to dine upon day-old Copper River salmon in a trendy New York City bistro or freshly farmed shrimp in the comfort of a Manhattan, Kansas, household, air cargo shipping is necessary to ensure quality of fish and shellfish…
According to the National Fisheries Institute, Americans eat 16.5 pounds of seafood annually per capita, 74 percent of which is of the fresh and frozen variety…
Alaska plays a significant role in transporting fresh Alaska seafood, flying more than 26 million pounds of it to the lower 48 states and beyond each year.”
You can read more of the article here.
What about a recipe?
How about Mustard-Broiled Salmon With New Potato Salad from RealSimple.Com?
Spotlight on a good cause…
Help preserve South Carolina’s beautiful Morris Island Lighthouse by purchasing the rare, limited edition print pictured above or by making a donation to Save the Light.
“Save The Light is pleased to offer Jim Booth’s print, “Carolina Legacy”, a homage to the importance of the Morris Island Lighthouse to South Carolina and Charleston, and was created to help support Save The Light’s goal to protect and preserve this irreplaceable historical landmark.
Jim’s painting depicts the Morris Island Lighthouse as it looked in 1896. This venerable tower still stands to remind us of the noble legacy of our treasured maritime history. The sales of this new print will enable Save The Light to begin the Protection and Preservation Project.
The Save The Light Edition of “Carolina Legacy” is signed and numbered with an edition size of only 400 prints.
All sales will be through the Jim Booth Art Gallery. Payments by cash, check, or credit card will be accepted. Please let the gallery sales people know that you are a member of Save The Light when you order. The cost of the print is $200.00 plus $2.00 for protective shrink-wrapping and $10.00 for shipping if necessary. Please call the Jim Booth Gallery at 1-800-696-5772 or access his website, www.jimbooth.com, to purchase your print.
The Save the Light edition of the last print sold out in two weeks, so we urge you to act quickly if you would like to reserve prints.
The sales of the first print Jim Booth released for Save The Light in 1999, “First Light”, raised the funds necessary for us to purchase the lighthouse from a private owner and donate it to the people of South Carolina.
We are very excited to begin the multi-phased project to preserve this, the most beloved symbol of South Carolina’s maritime heritage.”
You can find out more about artist, Jim Booth here. Memberships in Save the Light are available for as low as $25 and entitle you to receive a variety of great lighthouse related memorabilia.
More Related Links:
A letter to the editor by Frank Blum, executive director of the S.C. Seafood Alliance raises some interesting points about a state truth-in-advertising bill (H3028) that if passed, would make illegal for restaurants to market the seafood on their menus as local while substituting higher profit margin imported fish in its place.
Published in Anderson, SC’s Independent Mail, he makes the point that just about everyone benefits from the passage of this bill; restaurants benefit from the freshness that can only be obtained by selling truly local seafood, the fishing industry benefits when it can fairly compete with imported seafood, and diners benefit because they can have confidence that they are getting exactly the fish they ordered.
The SC Seafood Alliance website states that more than 200 varieties of fish and shellfish are native to South Carolina and approximately 30 of them are used in the kitchen. According to Blum, passage of House Bill H3028 will, “tend to level the playing field for imports vs. local and after a few offenders are caught and exposed in the media, others will be reluctant to lie to their customers.”
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