More gifts from the Fishermen

The other day we got a surprise visit over the fence from one of our fishermen Nexar, I had been in the house and heard him whistle for my attention, I went out and saw him holding this...

I'd seen this type of crab before, once at the Manta fish market, it had been the size of a backpack, and the man said it cost $10. (Turns out it's a Southern King crab) Well this one wasn't that big, but it was free! Nexar kept trying to hand it to me, but I just couldn't get my hands to grab hold of it, thank goodness Mike came out at that point and took it.

I had just been talking about wanting some cangrejo so I was bound and determined to find out what to do with this monster. First, we had to kill him, because, yep you guessed it, he was still alive! We put him in the shower to sit while I looked online about killing, cleaning, and cooking. Here's the ever inquisitive Shadrach checking him out.

He was so furry, like the algae that grows on pilons and piers, how was I ever to get him clean? And how necessary was it to get his outside clean? Mike and I researched Google and Pinterest and formulated a game plan, a pot of water went on to boil, and he went in the sink to get a bath and a scrub. After the water boiled, we plunged him in for a minute to kill him, then we could work on cooking. It turned out to be quite a bit of work, and for not much pay off...

My idea of crab salad sandwiches for lunch was not going to happen. But, plan B was save the crab salad for Happy hour and eat with a cold cerveza at sunset, yep, that worked!

Several weeks ago Fernando Father Fishermen gave us these fish, I tried to tell him we didn't know how to filet or clean them, and he said "just scale them, gut and throw them in a  soup".

And these...

Langosta, yum! I'd already looked them up, so I knew how to clean and cook these. I don't remember, but I think these went into a lobster Alfredo.

So much fresh food and time to mess with it! Because it's papaya season, I've started adding papaya to my morning smoothies, getting healthy benefits and vitamins, and I don't even know it! I've started buying real butter, and gave up on margarine, just one more packaged, manipulated food product not going in our bellies anymore...

Welł, that's it for the gifts, for now! Can't wait to see what we will be given next. I've got oranges, and will make a batch of orange water to pass out to the fishermen in the morning when they are doing their nets in the sun. I'll leave y'all with this, a cute picture, and epitome of Ecuador...when something doesn't work, go with plan B

Stay tuned! The adventure continues!!