My mom used to get annoyed when I was a kid and we'd go to a seafood restaurant, and while we were waiting, I'd watch the lobsters in the tank and name them all and then tell her what I'd observed about their personalities -- which ones were fighting, which ones stayed in the corners, which ones were swimming around a lot, and so on.

Though I have seen abalone in the wild and it's yummy that it's a temptation.

I held a big lobster one day before the season where they were nabbable. But she was pregnant and I did not even consider keeping her because she was bringing new noms into the world.

But diving off the CA coast it's hard enough to SEE what's there.

True enough. Mexico and Hawaii are better for dinner browsing. California is just hoping you aren't going to shiver out of your wetsuit for me.

I just got an early reservation link for Chicago Restaurant Week. 3 course meals, $32 bucks. Any Chicagoistas interested in checking any of them out?

I'm available from Feb 19 - 24. (On the 25th, I'm leaving on a jet plane.)

Oh, I love abalone. Takes a lot of prep, though, you've got to tenderize the hell out of it. We went on a huge group abalone dive once, everyone took their limit and we prepared most of them the traditional way - sliced, tenderized, breaded, and pan-fried. A couple of them, though, we left whole after we popped them out of the shells, whacked them with two-by-fours a few times, marinated a while in lemon juice for a while, and then barbecued them. My god, that was good.

I've only had it twice in restaurants - once it was awful, just ridiculously tough, but the other it was delicious and much like I've had it at home.

I hear they are farming abalone in Monterey, now. I'm excited about the prospect of being able to buy it whenever I want.

I suspect my Canada goose informant didn't cook it properly. That fits with what I remember of him.

The mountain lion taste thing, though, I'm thinking that is a not-so-urban legend I absorbed in my youth. Or my grandfather pulling my leg, which I would have accepted as gospel truth because I was that type of child.

I have cauliflower leek soup now. And I will be going to bed now. Why I realize I have to cook or something will go bad just at bedtime, I don't know.

Like who sees the giant sea bass and then thinks, "MMMM... bass = good eating"?

At the DC F2F I got hungry in the crustacean house. I am not proud of this.

I have never had abalone.

I've had moose/elk/deer, which are delish.

I've eaten fish I caught and cleaned. I've also eaten a lot of fish I cleaned, because my dad Tom Sawyered me into believing it was fun. They're better than less fresh fish, but they're still fish. I've eaten plenty of venison shot by people I knew, but I never pulled the trigger myself. Having had a garden in deer country, I doubt I'd hesitate.

Seared abalone at a sushi restaurant - excellent.

Pretty much deer and fish caught by people. duck and goose, too.

When I was 7 or 8, we were served rabbit. My dad waited until I tasted it to reveal what I was chewing. He didn't say it was rabbit, though. He said it was Midnight - which was the name of the bunny I had raised from a teeny baby bunny. I spit it out.

Then there was the time my mom boiled deer meat the whole day that I was home sick with an upset stomach. I've never been that sick in my life. The gamey smell was disgusting.

Needless to say, I mostly stick to beef and chicken. Or sushi.

ION - I'm sorry I won't get to see you in Feb, Sail. Originally, DH was going to fly in and we were going to make a mini vacation out of it. Which is why we've been calling the cat Chicago ever since we brought him home from the vet.