Office of Steam Forum for Model & Toy Steam Gas & Hot Air Engines

Quote from: Jim on February 14, 2021, 06:14:39 pm

They're King Prawns, depending on the size there would be about 15-20 to a kilo and in the seafood shops would be about $35 to $45.00 a kilo depending on the season.

I guess they’re not quite as big as I thought then... The ones we served were U-15’s (under 15 per pound) and 16-20’s for “early bird” dining (16-20 per pound).

The ones I ate 210 of were 45-50’s, so I ate about 4 pounds of shrimp and probably a pound of butter with it 😂

[ Guests cannot view attachments ]

First off Jim, I've got to ask if there's any nice properties for sale in your vicinity these days?

Next off, I said shrimp and that is unfortunately what I meant. Nick summed it up well with the Lobster Tail comparison. Yes we do know about Prawns, but that's not what we generally get to be able to put on the Barbie.

Also, I don't think Paul misspoke either, as he likely wasn't trying to promote anything to you Aussies ... but rather he was sending a message to us 'mercans, and shrimp was likely a better choice for the message, a bit of "tongue in cheek there" I suspect, though clearly what he's holding doesn't qualify as shrimp .... not in my book anyway!!!

There was quite a commotion when Hoge's (a truly famous Aussie who used to have an extremely funny comedy TV show called the Paul Hogan Show loooooong before Crocodile Dundee fame) called the humble Aussie prawn a 'shrimp'.

https://theculturetrip.com/pacific/australia/articles/why-australians-disown-the-phrase-put-another-shrimp-on-the-barbie/

Also another thing certain to confuse, lobsters are for the majority of Aussies called 'Crayfish' in Australia or 'Spiny Crayfish'. But are marketed overseas as Southern Rock Lobsters (mainly to Asian markets). They don't have those two big nippers that your American lobsters possess -


[ Guests cannot view attachments ]


P.s Daniel.....there's some vacant blocks of land for sale that owners moved on from after the fires. They have been cleaned up now.

Quote from: Stoker on February 14, 2021, 07:46:25 pm

First off Jim, I've got to ask if there's any nice properties for sale in your vicinity these days?

Next off, I said shrimp and that is unfortunately what I meant. Nick summed it up well with the Lobster Tail comparison. Yes we do know about Prawns, but that's not what we generally get to be able to put on the Barbie.

Also, I don't think Paul misspoke either, as he likely wasn't trying to promote anything to you Aussies ... but rather he was sending a message to us 'mercans, and shrimp was likely a better choice for the message, a bit of "tongue in cheek there" I suspect, though clearly what he's holding doesn't qualify as shrimp .... not in my book anyway!!!

There was quite a commotion when Hoge's (a truly famous Aussie who used to have an extremely funny comedy TV show called the Paul Hogan Show loooooong before Crocodile Dundee fame) called the humble Aussie prawn a 'shrimp'.

https://theculturetrip.com/pacific/australia/articles/why-australians-disown-the-phrase-put-another-shrimp-on-the-barbie/

Also another thing certain to confuse, lobsters are for the majority of Aussies called 'Crayfish' in Australia or 'Spiny Crayfish'. But are marketed overseas as Southern Rock Lobsters (mainly to Asian markets). They don't have those two big nippers that your American lobsters possess -


(Attachment Link)


P.s Daniel.....there's some vacant blocks of land for sale that owners moved on from after the fires. They have been cleaned up now.

I don't think that thing NEEDS big nippers, he's scary as he'll looking 😲

Ours are really similiar Nick, but are called Yabbies. Nearly every farm pond has them and a yabby trap or even a stocking with a piece of meat in it and its pretty easy to catch them. They are farmed in their millions.

The freshwater creeks around here have another type, the spiny yabby and he's a much bigger yabby. Getting up to a small lobster size. But they aren't farmed (as far as I know) like the smooth shelled smaller yabby is.



[ Guests cannot view attachments ]


[ Guests cannot view attachments ]

As another aside, I used to dive for Abalone here off the Kaliphoney coast back in the day, and yes we were only allowed to snorkel after them too, but they are protected now as they are a favorite food of the also protected, and seriously booming sea otter population. Even if you could still go after them, good luck ever finding one on a single breath, as those greedy little otters have just about wiped them out now for sure.

As for eating Abs ... I did enjoy them, but don't think they were anything like the end all / be all of sea food in any way. Tough as shoe leather unless you pounded the holy hell out of them with a waffle faced mallet, I'd generally dip them in a little lemon juice, Teriyaki sauce and Hoisin sauce, before rolling them in cornmeal, and baking or pan frying. Damn good, but not to die for .... speaking of which ....

Last time I went after Abalone, they were already getting real scarce. Went up to dive off the Mendocino coast which was a very rugged coastline and very cold water. There was a goodly surge running, and after about an hour of moving around I found a long narrow crack between two huge rock faces. I let the surge carry me in and out of that crack half a dozen times checking out both walls for abs, slowly getting deeper and deeper with each breath. I came upon one of the biggest red abs I'd ever seen about as far in as the surge could take me, down near the bottom of the crack. Went back up for one last breath and bee-lined for that ab .... and just as the surge brought me even with it and I was carefully guiding my ab iron toward the edge of its shell, because I knew I'd only have the one shot at this big guy, I found myself staring at a face mask full of Moray Eel teeth, as one seemed to be living in the crevice just above the ab, and took aggressive offence at my proximity. It was all I could do to not try and take a huge breath, which would have been pure seawater of course, and retain my composure enough to get the heck out of there. Fortunately, because I was only in the crack that far due to the surge, and only at a pause for an instant, the surge took me right back out of that crack .... and I didn't bother trying to go back in again! That was the only ab I saw that whole trip, and that was the last time I went out for abalone. Yep, that eel did scare me some, but the reason I quit diving for abs, was there were no longer any abs to dive for!

As another aside, I used to dive for Abalone here off the Kaliphoney coast back in the day, and yes we were only allowed to snorkel after them too, but they are protected now as they are a favorite food of the also protected, and seriously booming sea otter population. Even if you could still go after them, good luck ever finding one on a single breath, as those greedy little otters have just about wiped them out now for sure.

As for eating Abs ... I did enjoy them, but don't think they were anything like the end all / be all of sea food in any way. Tough as shoe leather unless you pounded the holy hell out of them with a waffle faced mallet, I'd generally dip them in a little lemon juice, Teriyaki sauce and Hoisin sauce, before rolling them in cornmeal, and baking or pan frying. Damn good, but not to die for .... speaking of which ....

Last time I went after Abalone, they were already getting real scarce. Went up to dive off the Mendocino coast which was a very rugged coastline and very cold water. There was a goodly surge running, and after about an hour of moving around I found a long narrow crack between two huge rock faces. I let the surge carry me in and out of that crack half a dozen times checking out both walls for abs, slowly getting deeper and deeper with each breath. I came upon one of the biggest red abs I'd ever seen about as far in as the surge could take me, down near the bottom of the crack. Went back up for one last breath and bee-lined for that ab .... and just as the surge brought me even with it and I was carefully guiding my ab iron toward the edge of its shell, because I knew I'd only have the one shot at this big guy, I found myself staring at a face mask full of Moray Eel teeth, as one seemed to be living in the crevice just above the ab, and took aggressive offence at my proximity. It was all I could do to not try and take a huge breath, which would have been pure seawater of course, and retain my composure enough to get the heck out of there. Fortunately, because I was only in the crack that far due to the surge, and only at a pause for an instant, the surge took me right back out of that crack .... and I didn't bother trying to go back in again! That was the only ab I saw that whole trip, and that was the last time I went out for abalone. Yep, that eel did scare me some, but the reason I quit diving for abs, was there were no longer any abs to dive for!

Diving for abs....loved reading that anecdote Daniel.

The jetskis have opened up some more grounds to us and I don't get seasick (boy oh boy do I suffer mal de mer) on them like I do in a boat outside. Never been sick inside, doesn't matter how choppy or rolling it is, but outside....within minutes I'm green and as sick as a dog in any sized boat 

Moreys...there's moreys that live in the rocks just outside our front door. I can see them every night if I go out with a torch, but they look really nice looking down on them and not like you mentioned above! Move some kelp around or in a crevice or cave of a roof looking for crayfish or some abs 15' or 20' down and they look really frightening when all you can see in your mask is that gigantic menacing face!

Abs have been over harvested here as well, there's a VERY strict limit of only two per person per day and they have to be a minimum of 12 cm (Fisheries policed and high fines).
Glad you mentioned that they are overrated for eating, as I mentioned earlier I have had them every which way (even by self professed ab cooking experts who state "Wait till you eat them the way I cook them up") and I'm still puzzled why they command such ridiculously high prices in the fish markets.

Quote from: Nick on February 14, 2021, 08:09:32 pm

Our crayfish are these little guys (5 gallon square bucket)

I caught these out by my grandpa’s place and they taste more like shrimp than lobster

Kind of small and you get hungrier eating them because it’s so much work for so little meat 😂

Nick are they what you guys call 'crawfish' I've heard heaps of reference to crawfish in US movies and shows.

We always say crayfish, I think down south they say crawfish/crawdad. I believe they suck the middle of them out too, I just eat the tiny tail