Gov Whitmer In Favor of Blocking Entry Of At Least Some Illegal Immigrants

So long as they are just fish, she's otherwise just fine with illegals coming to and staying in this state.

The Detroit Free Press:  Why stop-work order on Great Lakes carp barrier was suddenly lifted

Work on a more than $1 billion project to deter invasive carp from entering the Great Lakes is set to resume in Illinois, after the Trump administration lifted a stop-work order following a direct appeal from Gov. Gretchen Whitmer to President Donald Trump. 

She's in favor of effective barriers to keep invaders out, but again, just for fish. 

Funny, that. If only the invasive carp could just be relabeled as "Undocumented finned immigrants"  she'd be all for letting them flood in.

Smoked Trout - It's What's For Dinner

One of the benefits of working from home is you can keep half an eye on the smoker as you work.

Today the request was for smoked fish, and yesterday Tash had picked up some whole trout.

My first time smoking whole fish. I brinned them overnight in a water, salt, and brown sugar mixture.

I then took the out of the brine today around 4:30, drained and padded them dry, then broke a chopstick in parts and used it to prop the cavity each of the fish open.

Then I built the smoker fire using locally sourced mulberry wood. and some lump charcoal, which I found lights easier, burns better, and gives an overall better result than the Kingsford briquets.

This was my first time using mulberry wood alone for smoking. It gave off a rather delicate and sweet scent for smoking - quite perfect for the fish.

After two and a half hours on the smoker at 220, the fish was ready.

Really nice subtle smoke flavor and seriously good eating.

Quite a bony fish so serving it got a tad messy. The bones didn't want to separate and it took some effort to get it ready to eat.

Still, it was delicious and both kids liked it which was amazing. Especially so as Leah before the fish were smoked had declared the eyes on the fish kept following her and it was creeping her out, and she wouldn't eat it. Once the fish had been beheaded and she got to sample some she then dug in with gusto, separating the bones from the meat and enjoying it.

For a first attempt it turned out great, and I'd definitely make it again on the smoker.

Smoking Salmon In The Rain

On Sunday, Tash noted that I should smoke something.

Since she desired some fresh smoked salmon, some fresh smoked salmon she would have.

I bought a salmon fillet and after curting it in half as it was rather large, and washing it off covered it in a mix of 1 cup salt and 3 cups brown sugar, covered over the tray with saran wrap and left it in the fridge overnight. By morning there was a syrup-consistency and colored fluid all about it in the tray as the salt and sugar did their work to draw the moisture from the salmon. I drained it, flipped it and went to work.

Coming home from work last night I removed it from the tray and there was even more liquid, briefly rinsed it off, patted it dry and started the smoker.

It was rainy and cold and I found that peanut oil really helps get the coals going when you soak the newspaper in it.

I added boiling water to the smoking bowl and placed the locally-sourced apple wood in the smoker in the base and waited for the charcoal to be ready.

Then I took the fillet and placed it on the smoker.

Then I added the burning charcoal, placed the smoker top over the base and let it smoke away. It was hard to get it up to temp as it was cold and wet out but after 2 and a half hours of smoking it was ready.

It tasted great when served with some freshly mashed potatoes and all concerned, including the dog, were quite happy with the way the salmon came out.

Yes, the Salmon was most agreeable, I must say.

Smoked Trout - An Appetizer for New Year's Eve

Today Natasha requested that I make something different for New Year's and I smoke something different than usual. How could I say no?

Today's ingredient - Whole Rainbow Trout

Begin with a brine of water, salt, sugar, lemon juice, chili pepper and garlic powder, cover and brine overnight.

Get home and fire up the smoker with charcoal, cherry and apple wood, watch it take a lot longer to get up to temperature in this cold.

Place fish on the smoker grills, close it up and walk away (coming back to check on it occasionally).

Wait and voila:

Remove the skin and either eat the goodness right then and there (it's hard not to), or turn it into a salad, a smoked fish spread, or nice pieces ready for the table.

Not a bad special creation for the New Year's table.

Minnesota Carping Crazily Concerning Carp

I wish this was an April Fools Day joke, but it's not.

The Detroit Free Press: Minnesota may rename Asian carp to less-offensive 'invasive carp'

Yes, really, and of course it's a Democrat leading the morphological mutilation.

The troublesome fish currently known as Asian carp may get a new name in Minnesota over concern that the current one casts people from Asian cultures in a negative light.

Proposals advancing in the Legislature would require the Department of Natural Resources to refer to the fish as “invasive carp,” a reference to the threat the non-native fish pose to Mississippi River-area ecosystems.

Sen. John Hoffman, the Champlin Democrat sponsoring a bill in the Senate, said some people of Asian descent have complained about the name.

Look, it's classified as an Asian carp (there are two main subspecies, the bighead carp and silver carp) as it comes from - you guessed it - Asia!

It's also a fish that Asians have been known to use a food. The fish is a fish, its neither bad no good, it just is, and changing its name to the stupid sounding invasive carp isn't going to improve things.

What's next, renaming Zebra mussels to invasive mussels to spare the feeling of our African equid friends?

Imagine going into a restaurant and seeing an invasive carp on the menu. Sheesh.

Saturday Fishing Derby Fun

I took the kids to the old neighborhood to attend the annual fishing derby.

It was nice to see old friends and see how people are doing. The old neighborhood has a beach lot and boat basin on Cass Lake, and each year the homeowners association buys some trout, seals off the boat basing and has a fishing derby. As such trout could be taken, anything else was catch and release. As former residents we get invited to attend.

So I found, dusted off, and loaded the fishing rods into the car and off we went.

After we arrived, I then spent a while with them both teaching them how to cast. Abby picked right up on it and Leah took a bit more instruction which made sense. After awhile they got the hang of it and were happily casting away.

Neither of them wanted to handle the worms initially but Leah was soon having as much fun handling and scientifically examining the worms (which were huge) as she did fishing while Abby seriously concentrated on fishing. I was however the only one to put the worms on the hooks, as both girls asigned me that "yucky" job.

Here's one of the scientific worm exams:

Leah would carefully examine each worm and declare it fit for bait. With a fanfare of "Duh, duh, duuuuh - you're bait!" she would hand over the chosen worm to be hooked. She did however release a cute little worm onto the grass to escape being hooked up with destiny. Even worms can be cute to a six year old.

The first thing caught was by Leah - a dock with one of her casts. Since it wasn't dock season, we just removed the hook from the wood and got on with fishing.

After many a cast and many a worm was lost, Abby caught a three and a half inch bluegill, and was even able to reuse the worm after releasing it.

Then Abby caught the monster fish of the day - a nine and a half inch bass.

Leah then caught a three inch bluegill.

All three fish were released and swam off none the worse for wear,

We caught nothing further except for weeds and one piece of rope, but the kids were very happy with their achievements and had a very good time.

The snapping turtle that lives in the boat basin made a cameo appearance at the derby as he does every year.

After some snacking and small talk with old friends I took them home as they were happy but fried.

A really great day with the two of them.

Fish Tales and Life in the Aquarium

On Sunday we took the kids to a Purim carnival at temple where they could get a lunch and play games.

One of the games involved finding an "X" under a plastic duck, and if you found one you won a prize. Unlike most carnivals the game was rigged to make sure every kid got a prize - they could keep looking till they found an "X".

The prize was a goldfish in a plastic baggie. Yay! A prize you have to spend money on to keep.

This of course resulted in two excited and happy children, each holding a baggie with a fish that they promptly named: Lilly and Lucky.

So we headed home, stopping by the pet store to get a little plastic fish tank for the fish for $8. By then the fish, having been placed in little plastic bags with water by a well-meaning but really incompetent ADD teenager, weren't doing so hot.

In fact by the time we got home, Lucky wasn't, and Lilly's luck ran out soon after.

This brought the kids face to face with the death of a shortly-possessed but very dearly-loved pet. Pets that had been given names. There were tears, lots of 'em.

This necessitated a trip to another pet store, where we learned many other kids at the carnival had similarly come with their parents after numerous burials at sea for their short-lived goldfish friends.

So $17 on a nice big 10-gallon aquarium with filter special (gravel and fake cactus extra) and .15 each for two new goldfish later, the kids now are proud owners of new pets with the responsibility to feed them twice a day.

Abby helped with cleaning the tank and adding the gravel and water.

All is right with the world again and Mom and Dad made it all better, Which is what we're here for after all.

So introducing the new fish - Graciella and Liliana.