Winter Time is Kitchen Time

The onions, garlic, celery and fennel were already sauteing in the big pot when I started slicing up this glorious geoduc, a giant clam that came from the beach below our house on a super low tide. If this had not been my first ever attempt at geoduc chowder, I would have whacked that thing into tiny bits. Since it has always been quite tender as a barely cooked appetizer, I simply sliced it into thin bands. The chowder was delicious, fragrant, creamy and rich but how did those ultra-chewy rubber bands get in there!! Today, I strained out all the broth and fished out all the clam strips and chopped them into those very necessary tiny bits! Much better. I ate two bowls.

Back in the Kitchen Again

Dumping old pickled carrots into the sink caused this little seductive still life to take form. Do you ever put carrot sticks into the pickle jar when the pickles are all gone?





Fresh clams sauteed in butter -- treasure from the sea! We dug these horse clams at a minus low tide. The "gooey ducks" (geoducs) got away. Special equipment is indicated, a tubular thing called a clam gun. (Does that come with NRA membership?)

http://vault.sportsillustrated.cnn.com/vault/article/magazine/MAG1076720/index.htm

That's a link to a nice piece on the geoduc and Puget Sound.