Fish Motorcycles

The International Seafood Show is surreal. A bizarro combo of sea critters and commerce, it takes place at the cavernous Boston Convention Center, which I visited last week while in town to be interviewed for a documentary film at the nearby New England Aquarium. On display was this machine called the “Shrimpster.” I’m having a hard time…

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The Rites of Spring

I know spring is here when my former boss, lobsterman Bruce Fernald of Little Cranberry Island, Maine, loads his pickup truck with this many traps. His wife Barb snapped this photo the other day, just as Bruce was heading for the harbor to begin the year’s fishing. Bruce and Barb are both real-life characters depicted…

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Whale: To Eat or Not to Eat?

On Sunday, the documentary film The Cove, which exposes dolphin hunting in Japan, won an Oscar. On Tuesday, the film’s production team attracted front-page coverage in the New York Times with a cleverly timed sting that exposed whale sushi being served not in Japan, as you might expect, but in Santa Monica. Almost two decades ago in Japan,…

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Ruining Regular Sushi, One Meal at a Time

Last night I hosted a private dinner at Jewel Bako in New York for a gentleman named Eric and his wife Michelle, to celebrate her birthday. They were both fairly experienced sushi eaters, but Michelle in particular had been playing it safe over the years. With my guidance Michelle ended up trying things Eric had…

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Why I Love Hosting Historical Sushi Dinners

Feeling happy this morning: Last night I hosted a private dinner at Jewel Bako for a gentleman named Eric and his wife Michelle, to celebrate her birthday. They were both pretty experienced sushi eaters, but Michelle in particular had been playing it safe over the years. To Eric’s great delight, Michelle ended up trying things…

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Fashion Trend Update

The paparazzi have spotted a new fashion trend this week when recording artist Lady Gaga and author Trevor Corson were both photographed wearing lobsters on their heads. Gaga sported hers as she emerged from her limousine to attend her after-show party in London, and Corson was apparently wearing his when he emerged from his Brooklyn…

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In Vegas, Anything Goes, Except …

This sign was brought to my attention by the ever-vigilant experts at the Mote Marine Laboratory in Sarasota, Florida, after they spotted it on the blog Oddly Specific. The blogger comments: “Something has to be illegal in Nevada.” The post reads: This is one of those things I had to look up, just to make…

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Kinky Sea Slug

A “nudibranch” is not, it turns out, a local public library where patrons walk around without any clothes, as I’d always believed. “Nudibranch” actually refers to a “taxonomic clade of soft-bodied, shell-less marine opisthobranch gastropod mollusks noted for their often extraordinary colors and striking forms,” according to Wikipedia – a description that I still think…

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One of the Small Perks of Being a Sushi Concierge

Being a Sushi Concierge is hard work—last night I hosted a nearly 3-hour dinner for ten guests at my Monday-night dinner class series at Jewel Bako restaurant. But there are some perks. I don’t get to eat during the meal, but the maître d’ wouldn’t let me leave without taking a box of sushi home myself.…

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Small Perks

Being a sushi guidance counselor is hard work—last night I hosted a nearly 3-hour dinner for ten guests (okay, I admit they were delightful) at my Monday-night dinner class series at Jewel Bako restaurant. But there are some perks. I don’t get to eat during the meal, but the maître d’ wouldn’t let me leave without taking…

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