September 13, 2021 Small World Seafood Update

So many of you had so much fun with mahi tacos and those amazing sea scallops! I gotta say, the scallops the past couple of weeks were unreal. We have to get more! And we will!

This week, we are going to get our hands on more beautiful swordfish! These are local USA swords and we are super excited to be seeing them come around right now. Fresh sword is one fine steaky fish than can be very moist and tender if it is fresh and ours has always been ridiculously good. This fish would go great with a touch of our miso glaze ir our Mediterranean marinade. In fact, after playing around a bit with the marinade and sword, we discovered that 30 minutes of marinating followed by the cooking method of your choice (grill, pan sear, roast) was explosively enhanced in flavor by another brush of marinade over the fish after it was done. OMG... For those feeling a little stuck with just grilling sword, try the sword recipe on the website for swordfish cooked in tomato sauce or use the Monkfish curry recipe with turmeric but replace the monkfish with swordfish. Changing the preparation creates a whole new dish!

Secondly, seeing so many people so happy with the frozen sushi grade hamachi loins we offered a few weeks back, we thought it was time to bring it back again! Crudos, sushi, maki rolls, you guys are having too much fun with it! We will offer nori sheets (seaweed wrappers) this week as well to help you along. We have a couple of great recipes on our site for that. And don't forget our excellent Unagi too.

Speaking of sushi grade fish, this week's salmon will be coming from Chile. This particular 'salmon salmon' comes from a particular farm further south from colder waters that produces a fattier (and more flavorful) meat. Plenty of Omega-3s and great for pokes but also will melt in your mouth when roasted or grilled. Yum!!

Mussels are the shellfish ofthe week. Oysters will be something out of Maine. Not quite sure yet. Shrimp shumai are around. Another round of smoked fish including smoked salmon, chunky whitefish salad, smoked trout, kippered salmon and trout roe. oh, and the cheese selection will be available again but limited quantities so if you missed out, don't.

So, Saturday evening, my wife and I went out see our first indoor show at the Keswick Theater in Glenside. It was not a sold out show but Valerie June (I highly recommend her music) was terrific. The reason I even bring this up is that sometimes things happen that make you see those things in a completely different way...

As we were sitting waiting for the show to start, I saw one of our customers, Ilene, stroll up the aisle. I called out to her and we happily chit chatted for a few minutes. Ilene is awesome. She told us that her cousin was in the band playing keyboards. Wow! About five minutes later, Another customer, Elaine, walked up to say hello. She told me that she happened to be Ilene's aunt and heard I was at the show and wanted to say hi. As she walked away, she mimed playing the piano and lipped out 'my son' toward us. Proud mom.

Well, besides feeling the warmth from both of them, I found myself enjoying Valerie and the band but I couldn't keep my eyes off of David playing keyboards in the back of the stage. I would have never paid so much attention to one musician but I was vicariously feeling proud of the way he was playing as if he was a member of my own family. And, in a way, it felt like it. It made my experience watching the show so many degrees richer. Thank you Ilene and Elaine for inviting me into your shared experience. It enriched my night.

This got me thinking about a few things. I never would have known that Ilene loves XPN as I do. I never would have known that Ilene and Elaine were related. I never would have known that this keyboardist had one degree of separation from me. Yet, knowing these things in that moment made me think of all the connections that not only may exist but that are yet to be discovered. There are links many of us share that haven't manifested to us yet but they may be there. As we emerge from a period of isolation and disconnection, it is time for me to open my eyes and delve deeper into the ties that bind us. I know they are there somewhere. I feel it with your smiles. I feel it with the photos of the food you email us offering us a peek into your dining rooms. I feel it with your responses to these emails. We DO have ties that bind us right now. I can't wait to discover how many more we have. It's a Small World after all.

Look out for the order form Wednesday at 11am for Fairmount/444 N 4th St

or 9am for Fitler/Rittenhouse/Washington Squares

Peace,
 

Robert Amar

Small World Seafood

Owner