Picture of the Week

Fishing at Blue Lagoon (Lagua Azul)

It was probably my last visit to São Tomé and these pictures will be the images that stick in my head whenever I think about the time I spent here.

Fisherman at Praia dos Tamarinos

Friday is “Fish Night”

Recipe for Trout And Vegetables In Foil

Ingredients:

Trout with Veggies

• 4 10″ trout
• 2 Carrots
• Juice of 1/2 lemon
• 2 sm Onions
• Salt and pepper
• 3 Ribs celery
• 1/2 ts Thyme
• 4 ts Butter

This delicious dish can be prepared for a noon campfire. If the fish is to be a sizable one, be sure to take enough foil in one piece; if the servings are to be individual for each guest, then cut the foil accordingly.

Clean the trout and sprinkle inside and out with lemon juice, salt, pepper and herbs. You can put vegetables through the food processor (if the camp has one in its kitchen or prepare before the trip at home) mix well and strain – or just cut your veggies small depending on the size of each trout.

Saute vegetables in butter until they are soft, and stuff each fish before wrapping loosely in foil. Place in ashes or on cookie sheet in 450 degree oven for 15-20 minutes.

Serves 4.

STP Series: A fisherman’s tools

Dug-out on Praia dos Tamarinos

In São Tomé the fisherman’s tools are often very basic, or at least that was my first impression.

Boats are more often than not, dug-out from a large tree trunk by a local craftsman, which must be dried for months.

Boat works

The amount of skill that goes into making a dug-out is much more than it appears, particularly the larger boats that can be outfitted with a sail or outboard motor. I found boat being prepared on the beaches, and way up in the mountains, wherever the appropriate raw material that the craftsman sought was found. Most of these dug-outs were over 14 feet long, and many were at least 20. That’s no small challenge to bring down a mountain once the work is complete.

I was also very impressed by the fishing lines. There are no fishing poles used here. Individual lines are hand tossed and bringing in the line is done by wrapping the line around a flat trip of wood. Many fishermen use multiple lines from the boat. This appeared to me to be a tangled mess of line, a nightmare for a bait-casting westerner. As I examined more closely, I could see that there was also a honed fisherman’s skill in this aspect of the activity also.

Picture of the Week

Alaskan Dream

This week the picture of the week comes from one of my favorite photographers, fishermen and off-road enthusiasts, Terry Gunn.

Wendy and Terry were recently fishing in Alaska. Que envidia tengo!!

Friday is “Fish Night”

Baked Northern Pike

Ingredients:

• 3 to 4 pounds of boned northern pike fillets
• 1/2 to 1 pound thinly sliced carrots
• 1 or 2 large white onions
• 16 oz. sour cream
• 1 can cream of celery soup
• 2 tablespoons bread crumbs
• Paprika

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Par-boil northern fillets wrapped in cheesecloth for about 5 minutes. Lie fillets in large baking dish. Cover with sliced carrots and then onions. Mix sour cream, celery soup and bread crumbs in separate bowl and pour over fish, carrots and onions. Sprinkle with paprika and bake for 35-45 minutes or until all liquid is bubbling through fish. Serves 4.

STP Series: Building Capacity

A catch, of sorts.

While working in the Port of Sao Tomé this week, I happened to witness this unsuccessful attempt by the local Navy to land one of their patrol boats. It was just off-loaded from a freight vessel. With almost 30 men and a Unimog this very heavy, boat couldn’t be pulled up the ramp. The armored Boston Whaler was donated to the Navy by a foreign government or other international body.

The way these donations usually work is that the donating organization procures the equipment in question, while the recipient country makes a committment to maintenance and infrastructure. It can be kind of like giving a puppy to a 6-year-old who promises to feed and walk it. The intention is there, but the capacity?