@ The Bingham's:
Sophiana stands by "My Lady"
Who needs a fishing license when you can drive down to the marina and guarantee fish!!!
(and support the local fishermen)
Rebekah's not too sure about what's gonna happen next...FISH SURGERY!!!....Autopsy rather....
Bob has this cool fish cleaning station in the back yard made out of saw horses and plywood. Complete with hose holder to keep the work surface constantly clean and free from flies and yellow jackets. Very handy and at work level. Easy on the ol' back. No bending over.
SASHIMI!!!
Jackie Gable, Pat Barton and her sister, Judy (sporting the traditional tuna canning ensemble) and Bob Bingham.
Really! It was THIS Big!
Zooey says the canner is full!
Bob can take the heat.....and the pressure.....
I realized that when an opportunity to learn something at the hand of the masters appears it's a great idea to seize the moment. For years now, decades even, I've known about Bob & Judy Bingham's tuna canning talents and had never yet witnessed this for myself. The last time I canned Tuna was 2002 and I have to admit, I had the fisherman fillet it and bought the meat all clean and pretty right off the boat. Now, granted it is absolutely delish and still a big job to can (and clean up) I knew I was missing something. So, on Friday I dropped off the girls at school and went straight to the Bingham's where I found Bob in the back yard in his bright yellow hip-waders with a large pile of tuna in the grass being showered all shiny and fesh with the garden sprinkler! Judy was no where to be seen (off on her morning walk) but the kitchen table was masked off with a black plastic garbage bag and bejeweled with open mouthed jars, dozens of them, hungry for fish. After watching Bob fillet out two huge beauties I had to give it a try. See one, do one...teach one? I'll have to admit I did a pretty good job (thanks Dad for taking me fishing as a child and for making me clean my own fish sometimes) but didn't come anywhere near Bob's ten minute whirlwind! I think mine was closer to a half hour. Point the knife toward the nose of the fish, find the soft spot on top, cut around the gills to the throat, cut out the little fins, slit up the belly, grab hold of the head and pull it towards you....the head should come off and all the entrails with it! Then start the work of running your fingers along the ribs separating off the meat...that's the gist of it. Not meant to exactly instruct. After a fish is done, bring the bowl full of fillets to Judy the Expert Jar Stuffer. 1/4 tsp of salt. hot lid. wipe the rim. screw on the lid and into the canner. Bob is the Pressure Watcher----in the shed of course---NEVER make the mistake of canning tuna in your house. Enough said? (s-t-i-n-k-y) Well, I was so impressed with my new skills that I went and picked up the girls after school and we headed straight for the Dock at the Woodley Island Marina. When we got there a pal George (really a fisherman looking guy in the parking lot) said to go to Dock A and see his friend Manny. Well, we saw Manny's nephew Jeremy on "My Lady". When the boats come in from deep sea, the fish are all frozen solid to keep them fresh and require twenty four hours to thaw. Since we were arriving around 4:30pm that would mean canning tuna in the dark the next day, but I was determined. It's always amazing to me how God tends to our needs and desires. I had set in my mind that I would buy two or maybe three fish. Guess what....Jeremy happened to have a lot of frozen tuna-sicles and....THREE tuna that had just finished thawing. What an amazing blessing. We bought the fish. 19lbs. 18lbs. and 12lbs. We called the Bingham's, stopped at our house to scramble for jars and lids and rings, filleted, stuffed, pressured and shut the heat off at 8:15pm. Done. The next day I went back and unloaded the canner to reveal all the sealed treasures. I am happy. I can check "Tuna with the Bingham's" off my bucket-list!....for this year ;-) Line caught, Dolphin free and Local!
Now that's a great fish tale.........
p.s. Sophi took many of the photos!
