An Update to Yesterday’s Post Concerning Local Seafood

A friend of mine recently contacted the South Carolina Seafood Alliance and passed along some additional pertinent info that deserves public exposure. The most shocking is that 83% of the seafood we eat, comes from waters not our own. Not only are we missing out on local and fresh “taste”, we’re contributing to the downfall of our local seafood industry by not supporting it.

State House Bill H 3028. If enacted it will provide for punishment to those that misrepresent the identity of food or food product that is served. Call or write your representative and tell them food origination and integrity is important to you.

Here’s a link to The SC Aquarium’s Sustainable Seafood Initiative. This is another organization that seeks to promote good business practices while promoting a healthy environment for local businesses and wildlife. Look for the restaurant list that identifies local establishments who support sustainable local seafood.

The South Carolina Seafood Alliance (SCSA) is working with the South Carolina Department of Agriculture to certify sellers of local seafood and have them display the new "SC Brand." Look for this label as a sign of assurance for a quality local food product.

**EDIT**

Just because a business claims to support local seafood doesn't mean you can shop or order without worry. I noticed a local eatery on the "good restaurant" list and yet their menu is almost completely devoid of any local fair. As always, buyer beware.

South Carolina's Dirty Little Secret.

Fresh local seafood (with the exception of oysters and maybe some shrimp) is a farce in South Carolina. The way the state regulates commercial fishing and game fish designators makes it nearly impossible to obtain fresh locally harvested seafood, unless of course, you go out and pull it from the water yourself. In fact, the majority of “fresh seafood” one would find at a market here is of the same quality (and origination) that one would find in say Kansas City or Denver… which is to say, from foreign waters (farmed or otherwise) from a delivery truck, empirically not a local fisherman’s net.

If you’ve been to any of the higher priced establishments around Beaufort County you’ve probably noticed fancy wording for otherwise ordinary fish. This is not just for the air of sophistication; it likely has a lot to do with the fact that the ordinary (aka local) version of the very same fish is not available commercially. Case in point: An area restaurant sells “Dorado” (for almost $30 a plate). Dorado is the South American import version of Dolphin fish or mahi-mahi (all are the same fish by the way). 30 bucks for some frozen South American fish? How fresh is that?

Some restaurants claim to “specialize in fresh local seafood” but that’s a far cry from guaranteeing the locality (maybe one dish on the menu entails local oysters or shrimp) and is misleading at best. At any rate most seafood restaurants are banking on customers assuming that since they are located close to the water, therefore must have fresh and/or local seafood… which in actuality is not the case at all.

That’s not to say the area is devoid of tasty seafood fair, but my point is just because you’re this close to the water doesn’t mean you’re getting fish from that same water, which is a damn shame.

There’s a glimmer of hope. The backlash from cheap Chinese imports has caused outright bans and brought prominence to quality local shrimp.

It’s time we demand better. Make informed food choices and assume nothing. Ask for local seafood from your food server or fishmonger.

For more info checkout the South Carolina seafood Alliance.

Classic Film Friday: Neptune's Daughter

Here’s a story about a man, a woman, and a bathing suit. No kidding. I must admit I saw the preview for this movie on TCM and knew I would miss it so I Netflixed it instead. Neptune’s Daughter takes us all the way back to 1949, and boy were sexist and racist stereotypes all the rage back then. There’s the black maid, and the simple minded Latino (who I swear sounds EXACTLY like Speedy Gonzales) and of course the hope that a girl, above all else, will find a husband.

The story pairs workaholic swimsuit designer (and model) Eve Barrett (Esther Williams) with Polo star/playboy José O'Rourke (Ricardo Montalban). Eve’s dingbat sister Betty (Betty Garrett) accidentally knocks out masseur and bonafide loser with the ladies Jack Spratt (Red Skelton) while predatorily seeking a Latin polo player, which she then mistakes Jack for Jose, because you know they could practically be twins.

The two couples struggle through all kinds of sticky situations because of the mistaken identity and somehow figure it out before it’s too late.

This is definitely a period piece and it might not be the best in the synchronized swimming genre, but there’s singing and dancing and swimsuits galore! The extras on the DVD include a short film detailing some pretty hairy water stunts and a deleted scene with Betty Garrett singing “I Want My Money Back”.

Here's a clip to "wet" your appetite.

Note to Banks, Mortgage Brokers, etc.

This whole mortgage debacle has got me nervous. Not so much for fears about my own home loan, but more related to how this might affect my ability to sell my house if needed and/or the risk it poses to my neighborhood. I hear stories of whole communities becoming ghost towns and even those who have great credit and manageable house payments are financially ruined because of so many foreclosures all around them.

Maybe I’m completely naive or maybe I’m simply overstating the obvious but isn’t the solution to the home loan rut to just back off on the insane ARM monthly increases? What good does it do for a mortgage company to own a bunch of houses that won’t sell because the area is depressed from their own predatory lending practices? Instead of trying to milk people for unattainable amounts of money, wouldn’t it make sense for these loan companies to simply let whatever deal they had before ride or at least only bump up the loan payment slightly? It sure beats having nothing, but again, I’m not a mortgage guy.

Up until these 2 year ARM loans got to the “meltdown” stage people have been paying their mortgages and otherwise been model citizens, but even somebody with stellar credit isn’t going to try to keep up with $200-300 increases every month. I know the onus is on the person who signed up for these ridiculous loans, but perhaps a reality check could save all of us a lot of pain and suffering. Sure you might not make as much money as originally planned, but it beats sitting next to the people you foreclosed on in bankruptcy court.

Random Thoughts

I’ve been busy. Well not so busy that I haven’t been able to get online, but busy enough that I haven’t been able to formulate my thoughts concisely enough to warrant a full-fledged post.

Beaufort County School Board Meeting:

I only caught the back half but a few things came up worth mentioning.

Smart boards are good. I’m a big fan of the technology, but I wonder how/why it costs just over $1,000 per room for installation. I’m not talking about purchase price, because the units have already been procured. I’m referring to mounting the projector and wiring the unit to a computer/ providing electrical power. Over a grand per room, to the tune of 86,000 (and change) for 72 units seems a bit much. Not millions and millions like other projects, but still…

Fred Washington, the board chair seems hell-bent on getting out early. I’ve no doubt that those folks work hard and would like to get home to the family, but incessantly telling everyone to be brief only seems to cheapen the efforts of anyone who actually bothered to show up and make a comment/present a report. If it’s important enough to be brought up at the school board meeting, the only openly public meeting related to our schools most citizens have the opportunity to get exposed to, is it asking to much to demand more than the Cliff notes?

Moving on... It’s hot.

Miserable hot. The wife keeps mentioning something about Satan and buttocks creases. Anyway, many an air conditioning system is having trouble keeping up with the demand of the heat outside. I almost became a heat casualty over the weekend while working in the yard. The key is not over doing it, and as much as it pains me to say it and I’m not that old, but I’m not as young as I used to be. The bones and joints and tolerance to temperature extremes just aint what it used to be.

While organizing my Ipod play list…

I rediscovered the Black Eyed Peas. The band’s panache certainly isn’t for everyone, but their commercial success and the retooling of their songs by corporate America means they must have gotten something right. There’s just enough ghetto vernacular to make the Black Eyed Peas adult only fun, but they ride the line just enough so as to not seem juvenile. Regardless the licks are catchy, in fact they’re damn near infectious. I call it a guilty pleasure that only our free society can provide. Everybody get stoopit’ just not in the school board meeting (unless only briefly) or in the direct heat of the day. Just sayin…

Classic Film Friday: Kiss Me, Kate

I’m not setting this in stone, but I’m going to at least attempt to post a classic movie review once a week, thereby creating Classic Film Friday. Sounds catchy doesn’t it? Today’s pick is Kiss Me, Kate. This is a 1953 silver screen version of the Tony Award winning Broadway musical inspired by Shakespeare’s Taming of the Shrew.

The movie stars Kathryn Grayson and Howard Keel who play a divorced couple that really want to get back together but have a breakdown in the middle of their on stage performance (a show inside of a show as it were). The only thing that keeps the show together are two mobsters with a case of intentional mistaken identity.

It’s everything you want from musical; singing, dancing (some really great performances here, especially by Ann Miller and Carol Haney), a bit of comedy, and spanking. Yes I said spanking… what’s not to love?

Disconnect

I took a trip recently that included a short stay in our nation’s capital. The kind of money one needs to throw around to have a good time, much less simply survive is astronomically out of whack with a majority of the county. An annual salary of $50,000 in South Carolina (good money by most respects) would have to be at least $65,000 + in DC. It’s so expensive to live (or visit) our nation’s capital it’s not hard to understand how our politicians (most of them anyway) cannot relate or connect with the everyday “normal” person.

Some are better than others at SAYING they know our trials, but seriously those cats are so far removed from our everyday life, can any of us realistically expect an elected official to keep the proper perspective (especially in a world of “favors” and money wielding lobbyists) while living in a completely different world away from home? As far removed as that sounds, I’m willing to bet NONE of them even remotely understand what is taking place in a war zone.

I’m fairly certain a senator or congressman has never had to budget groceries or fore-go a 401k payroll deduction to make the mortgage… much less life on food stamps. What drives the disconnect even wider is the sense that organizations… PACs, unions, corporations, people with money are the only ones in the politicos’ ear. It’s gone so far as to trickle down into pop culture. John Mayer’s (a great artist BTW, especially in the Trio format) Waiting for the World to Change is catchy vanilla pop, with a dark undertone of reality.



This isn’t exactly 'Anarchy in USA' type fair. John Mayer, while extremely talented, isn’t known for political prowess. But the song underlines a common cynicism among younger voters that isn’t going away any time soon. Add to that newspapers and other media that have proven to be less than trustworthy and it quickly turns into a quandary of doubt, which only exacerbates the disconnect.

Which brings me back to DC (sorta). Of all the American heroes out there, I admire Thomas Jefferson the most. It’s hard for me to believe this man ever suffered from a lack of perception. Below are some of his quotes that are well served to us all... even some 200 odd years later.

“All tyranny needs to gain a foothold is for people of good conscience to remain silent.”

“Advertisements contain the only truths to be relied on in a newspaper.”

“Educate and inform the whole mass of the people... They are the only sure reliance for the preservation of our liberty.”