Rain Cuisine

Rain squall hit one afternoon a few weeks ago and shut everyone down for a few hours. When the sea is bad enough, all you can really do is hang on and you think that’d be enough for Dad but it wasn’t. He insisted we do Pen Patrol in the rain. “What’s the difference? You’re getting wet anyway.”

Thanks, Dad.

Underwater, the sound of boats thumping against each other is endless. Behind that is the dock system creaking and groaning as it gets shoved in weird directions. Underneath all the other sounds is the gentle hiss of rain hitting the water. It would almost peaceful if I wasn’t scared white about being crushed against some pontoons or something – the quality of my work is directly proportional to my fear of being killed while doing so. Dad pretended not to notice how quickly I finished…I think he was cold, too.

Bad weather on the sea is a fact of life and some people are better at coping with it than others. Some forget to tie their equipment down and it either blows overboard or the boat rolls and it goes over the side. Hopefully it doesn’t take your nets out along with it; otherwise you can find yourself missing a catch it took you two or three months to build.
After we were done and into some dry clothes, we headed to B-Ring where the Food Court is. Most of the stalls were closed but Uncle Chong’s Social Aid and Pleasure Club was doing a brisk business. He’d tarped off his outdoor dining area and it looked like half of the Colony showed up for dinner. Uncle Chong's place closed down after the Crash and I posted his Rain Pho recipe because I don't know when I'll be tasting his again. You might find it worth trying (if you can catch enough rain, that is). I'd give anything to be eating with my Dad again right now.

Uncle Chong's Rain Pho Recipe

Come eat at Uncle Chong's Social Aid and Pleasure Club - Located on B-Ring in the Food Court. Vietnamese, French and Creole cuisine a specialty!

Rain Pho

* 6 cups beef broth
* 1 (1/4-inch thick) slice ginger
* 2 whole star anise*
* 1 cinnamon stick**
* 1/2 pound piece boneless beef sirloin, trimmed of any fat
* 3 ounces dried flat rice noodles*
* 1/4 cup Asian fish sauce*
* 1/8 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
* 1 cup fresh bean sprouts, rinsed and drained*
* 1/8 cup minced scallions*
* 1/4 cup fresh cilantro sprigs, washed and finely chopped*
* 1 small thin fresh red or green Asian chilie, sliced very thin*
* 1/2 cup fresh basil leaves*
* Lime wedges for garnish*
* *Available at Uncle Chongs or Gramma Alice - some fees may apply.
* ** See the Spice Lady

Directions

In a 2 quart saucepan bring broth, ginger, star anise, and cinnamon to a boil. Reduce heat and simmer for 15 minutes.

With a very sharp knife cut sirloin across the grain into very thin slices.

In a large bowl soak noodles in hot water to cover 15 minutes, or until softened and pliable.

While noodles are soaking, bring a kettle of salted rain water [DO NOT USE LOCAL SEA WATER - IT IS POLLUTED] to a boil for noodles. Drain noodles in a colander and cook in boiling water, stirring 45 seconds, or until tender. Drain noodles in a colander. Set aside.

Strain broth into saucepan and bring to a boil. Stir in fish sauce, salt and pepper. Add sirloin and sprouts and cook 30 to 45 seconds, or until sirloin changes color. Skim any froth from soup.

To serve, divide noodles into 4 bowls. Ladle soup over noodles. Sprinkle scallion greens, cilantro, chilies and basil over soup and serve with lime wedges

Deleted Scenes - Going Down to the Docks - Part 1

Mom took the morning off to drive me down to the dock. We ate breakfast in a Denny’s off the 110 in San Pedro. The boat would meet us in the LA Harbor. I toyed with my pancakes and OJ. Mom was absorbed in her cottage cheese and eggs. I was desperately hoping we could get this over without having the conversation I knew was waiting. Maybe by the time I got back from Dad’s, I’d have a good excuse.

“Jim…” she began and I looked up at her.

“Yeah?” I said – might as well let her know that I’m not scared. She didn’t say anything for a few minutes. “What?” I asked. She shook her head and took a sip of coffee. The silence lengthened into minutes. I didn’t need to ask what she was going to say – we both knew what had happened.

I’m referring to the ‘last straw’, of course. Mom had held out on having me stay with Dad for at least two years. The problem was, a single mom in LA had a battle on several fronts as the nice house she worked to provide was the same reason she couldn’t be there to be my mom. I’m not saying she was a bad mom – it’s a bad situation; it is what it is.

Few Other Colony pics

Some assorted pics of the colony - this is the living room of Gramma Alice's place. She even has her own fireplace although she rarely lights it - wood is hard to come by out here. She's an artsy type who grows a lot of hydroponic plants.

As you can see here - we had to be creative after the drier broke down.

The News is Floating In...

What is Pen Patrol like?

I was talking about Pen Patrol earlier and then had someone ask me what it was like. I thought I'd show some people at the job and hopefully that would explain things better than me rehashing some dreck about building hours toward a commercial divers' card or our hookah rig. Every boat has their own method - fish farming is a pretty new business. Some guys go full-on SCUBA, like this joker to the left [by the way, this guy's an idiot...you can tell just by the smile]. But other people will do snorkeling, hookah and even free-diving.


A lot of it depends on the kind of fish you're growing, too - if you're on D-ring with us, you're growing larger fish like tuna. Inside the rings, you're growing smaller stuff that you might be able to take care of without getting into the water if your arms are long enough. Dad farms tuna fish - big suckers that could grow six or seven feet if we tried to keep them long enough. In that case you're out in the ocean and you're dealing with the fish, any trash that might make them sick and predator fish that might try to attack your nets to get at them.
My first summer out - Dad signed me up for some SCUBA safety course that they held in the shadow of our tender ship, the Phoenix. They snapped a picture of all of us - I'm all the way in the back with my hands in the air like a dork. We don't use SCUBA tanks, we use a hookah rig instead. It's pretty simple and a lot cheaper - otherwise we'd be refilling our air tanks every day or two and that gets cost-prohibitive.

Since Pen Patrol is different for every boat - my only recommendation is 'try it yourself' when you're out here. Take the safety courses and go with a pro the first few times. If it's cold out there in the water the first few times, just do what I do - pee in your suit.

The Steeplechase Flyer