Fishing News: Lake Erie Charters, and the Pacific Salmon Ban

Posted on 11 April 2008 under Canadian Food, Fish, Food In The News, Michigan Cuisine | 2 Comments


Some of the Lake Erie charter fishing captains who work out of the Luna Pier
Harbour Club at their annual fish fry in the marina’s store in December 2007.
The captains were kind enough to invite Mary and myself to this event.

MLive.com reported yesterday afternoon that Lake Erie fishing charter captains won’t be required to contact U.S. Customs and Border Protection with client lists if they venture into Canadian waters. From the article:

Customs officials told charter operators in March that they would need to call ahead an hour before they crossed into Canadian waters and provide a passenger list so that the government could conduct background checks … They also said everyone on the boat would need a a passport or two forms of identification … Customs officials decided last week to change their mind and now say U.S. citizens will need only to report if they plan on stopping at a Canadian port — not if they just plan to fish or drop anchor. Proper identification will be needed only if boaters visit a foreign port.

This directly affects a number of fishing charters operating out of marinas in Luna Pier, Bolles Harbor, LaSalle and other coastal areas along the lake. Mary and I have met a number of these charter operators and frankly, the majority have enough going on to have to deal with the extra amount of busy-work this regulation would have generated.

In more distant news that affects salmon availability, the Associated Press is reporting progress on a ban on Pacific salmon fishing for the 2008 season. From the AP report:

West Coast fisheries managers voted Thursday to cancel all commercial salmon fishing off the California and Oregon coasts this year … The council’s decision still must be confirmed by NOAA’s National Marine Fisheries Service, the federal agency in charge of salmon management … The governors of Washington, Oregon and California have already signed letters seeking a disaster declaration. Congress will be asked to make a fast decision on money to alleviate the suffering of fishermen and any other negative effects the cutback might have, said Brian Gorman, a NOAA Fisheries spokesman.

As I mentioned in previous posts, it’s great to see governments and fishermen alike agreeing on these issues in a vast effort to ensure future fishing, looking at long-term goals while dealing with short-term problems.

Revisiting the Tomato-Mozzarella-Mushroom Appetizer

Posted on 25 February 2008 under Canadian Food, Chefs, Corrections, Food on TV, Recipes | 5 Comments

One of the more popular recent posts here on Luna Pier Cook has been Eat This Blog: Tomato-Mozzarella-Mushroom Appetizer. If you look back at that post this morning you’ll find Chef Daniele Palanca, who’d made the dish on an episode of The Great Canadian Food Show I’d seen, has left a comment offering a couple corrections to how I’d made the dish:

The only correction to the recipe you posted was the mushroom component. I don’t place mushrooms but instead thinly sliced fresh truffles. I also place basil under the buffalo mozzarella.

Thank you, Chef! While I could probably locate decent truffles around here somewhere, I’m not so sure buffalo mozzarella would be so easy to locate! Fresh basil is also simple to find, at Ciolino’s over on Lewis Ave., so that’s not an issue. I’d have to likely contact someone at the Michigan Bison Association to find out if buffalo mozzarella is available in Michigan but it doesn’t seem that way. For now, I’ll stick with John Aylward’s handmade mozzarella from the Boulevard Market over in Tecumseh.

Mary’s visited Leamington, Ontario once, and I’ve always loved visiting the province. I think this summer she and I need to head over there for a visit of the city of Leamington together. It seems to be a rather excellent idea.

Eat This Blog: Tomato-Mozzarella-Mushroom Appetizer

Posted on 10 February 2008 under Canadian Food, Eat This Blog, Photos | 15 Comments

I have a confession to make. My favorite food show on television isn’t American. It’s on the Food Network, but it’s Food Network Canada. The Great Canadian Food Show is hosted by actor Carlo Rota and runs on the CBC from 3 - 3:30 weekdays. Rota lends a great humor to the program (currently in its 5th season), making the show a lot of fun to watch.

This past week the CBC ran the Leamington Tomato episode of The Great Canadian Food Show. Toward the end of the episode, at Spago Trattoria & Pizzeria in Leamington, Ontario, Chef Daniele Palanca made this simple but elegant appetizer for dinner. Slices of fresh mozzarella topped with slices of tomato topped with slices of mushroom, drizzled with truffle oil and sprinkled with Kosher salt and fresh-ground pepper. It was simple, beautiful, very elegant … I decided to try it.

The only place to get fresh mozzarella around here is from the Four Corners Creamery, part of the Boulevard Market in Tecumseh. I’ve been enjoying John Aylward’s handmade mozzarella since almost the first day he started making it there in the store in June of 2006. He now makes a number of other cheeses and cheese mixtures.

This past Friday I asked John to pack up a half-pound of his handmade mozzarella into my order. Saturday morning, I picked up some decent tomatoes and some baby portobello mushrooms. This afternoon I put together the appetizer from the Leamington Tomato episode, substituting a good extra-virgin olive oil for the more-expensive truffle oil.

This simple snack is simply amazing! The flavors mesh and compliment each other quite well. I can see this at a small party, possible being also stacked on a thinly-sliced toasted rye bread.

Yeah, I might have to try that, too.