Saturday 4/5/03             Gone Shrimp Fishin’

 

        Debby got all the girls together for our next “healthy” (non-clubbing) activity, shrimping.  Friday night at 10PM I got her SMS:  “OK girls, let’s meet at my place 7:30-8 tomorrow.”

 

        I don’t know anything about shrimping but was imagining we were going to some dock or pier by the sea and had to start out early.  But 7:30-8 in the morning?  Considering we’re all a bunch of night owls I wondered if everyone was going to change their minds about going.  I called her and found out she meant PM.  “Um, we’re going shrimping at night?”  She said Yeah, as if to say Naturally, and I figured she’s done this before so she knows what she’s doing.  Now I was picturing those little shrimp pools at the night markets where people sit, pay a few NT and catch tiny shrimp with paper clip hooks and string. 

 

         We took the MRT to ShiLin then a cab to a street all lined with shrimping places.  She was a frequenter of one where the owner really liked her and always gave her free shrimp (“So no pressure to catch that many.”)  Inside were two big pools and people sitting around them with poles and nets.  You pay per hour and whatever you catch is yours to eat free.  First we had to get bait from the fridge, chicken livers and hearts, and tiny shrimp.  We wondered why shrimp would want to eat other shrimp, but it’s because they’re a different kind.

 

        We cut the bait into tiny pieces, hooked a piece on each hook (2 per rod), cast it in and waited.  You have to “tease” the shrimp by moving the hook around a little bit so they think the bait’s alive.  If the bobber dips under the water, you’re supposed to give a short quick tug to get the hook into the shrimp’s mouth, then slowly pull it up.  It sounded kinda complicated, the art of shrimping.  And the water’s rather um, opaque.  How sanitary is this?  I think the shrimp originally were caught in the Tamshui River, which isn’t known for its cleanliness.  “Well, we’re basically eating chicken livers and hearts too.” 

 

        Susan and Stella hooked some right away, Daisy soon after.  The shrimp were huge, about 7” long and 1” wide.  Ginger got a leg and right after, Daisy caught a shrimp missing the leg. The front legs snap and can pinch so you have to rip them off right away.  Everyone except Debby was squeamish about doing that.  The body feels pretty muscley and squishy and writhy.  After the first hour we only had four, pretty pitiful.  Susan was chatting with a local man next to her and he said he doesn’t eat them, just catches them for fun, so he’d give all his shrimp (a huge netful) to us!!  Sweeeet!

 

        I was the last to finally catch one (was lifting up one huge one, which got away) and later got one more.  

 

Then we washed them in the sinks, and skewered them which is probably the grossest part.  You have to jam a wooden skewer up its butt through the length of its body until it comes out the head.  You feel it squirming and spazzing in your hand the whole time.  Stella reprimanded us for animal cruelty then after watching us awhile, said “OK now I wanna try.”

 

        Then you coat the bodies with coarse sea salt and place them on the grills, turning them. Their legs still move a bit as their bodies turn from gray to pink.  Finally when done, they look really yummy.

 

        They’re good enough with just the salt, but some people also dip them in soy sauce/wasabi.  Daisy and Christina like the head and brains best, so we gave them all of ours.  Our bits of conversation during the day would have sounded rather strange out of context:

        “I’m really good at teasing.”

        “Rip his legs off!”

        “Did you stick it up the butt?”

        “I like sucking out the brains from the head.”

 

        It was delicious; I’ve never had shrimp that fresh.  Anyone who thought we were a bunch of little Asian girls who can’t eat, would have been impressed with the carnage at the end.