LIfe brings strange opportunities sometimes, and learning occurs often when you least expect it. This wasn't the blog post I had planned for today, but it is the post that feels most appropriate.
Thanks to my friend, Rebecca, I ended up doing a task that while I have been taught this skill, it's been many decades since I have had to use it. While growing up, I was taught to dress meat and fish, to prepare all kinds of animal protein for food consumption. I have had the luxury in my adult years of not really having to deal with this aspect of food preparation. The plethora of good quality markets in the area in which I live combined with having the means to purchase fish and meat already dressed has been lovely.
So, when I was offered some fresh caught Alaskan salmon from a great fish market in Half Moon Bay I said yes - forgetting that fish from a real fish market needs just a *bit* more preparation than I have become accustomed to! After looking up several recipes for whole salmon, I headed into the kitchen to start preparing the fish...and then I realized that I would have to scale the fish at the very least!
Oh my, I had created a great case of amnesia about scaling fish!
It took me a few minutes to remember the "use short, enthusiastic strokes" as one web site said to bring the scales up. The first half of the fish took me three times longer to do than the second side! Removing the fins was more exciting than I remembered since I haven't the knives sharpened since December; removing the tail got a lot easier when I remembered that I owned a large cleaver! I had to hip the dog out of the way; her dog food is a salmon and sweet potato mix and I'm sure the smell of this fish being prepared was just delicious to her! (Did I mention that my dog is tall enough to put her face on the counter? Talk about exciting food prep! Fighting for my food in my own kitchen!) I also found myself growing shaky towards the end. The reminder, as I finished with the carcass, that this had been a living animal only a few days ago, a fellow inhabitant of this blue marble on which we live, struck a chord in me. I had to breathe and talk my way through the final moments.
Nonetheless, I feel really proud of my efforts. The resulting fillets looked lovely on a tray waiting for garlic butter and lemon. There is a small mound of flaked salmon rescued from the rest of the body after I removed the fillets that I have gently poaching on the stove.
The theme I felt running through all this was remember: Remember where we come from, that we are all interconnected and interdependent, and any idea that we are separate and can afford to mindlessly use up our world without Love and Honour are just very dangerous and expensive illusions. Times may come soon where I need to remember these skills again, and I wish to do so remembering the honour and thank that which has given it's current life for me to continue to walk this path.
Remember, remember, return to Center. Reach out, breathe, and feel the interconnectedness between all the beings of our Universe. We come from the same Source, and we will return to the same Source, and only the loving actions we take in between make any difference in the end.
Namaste.
Comments