I have gone on and on in my blogs about the wonderful lifestyle here in Paradise.  Occasionally I have exaggerated, enhh but not much.  However today is one of the perfect examples.

Labour Day Monday.  Still celebrating the Rider victory yesterday.  Rider Pride means celebrating the record 8-1 season.

Back in Ontario, if you knew anyone with a cottage, you would have driven 4 to 5 hours to their place on a lake this weekend to spend a couple of days with parties on the water and then spent 6 hours on Monday driving home.  During the weekend you might have had a BBQ of steaks and hamburgers, but if you were really sophisticated, the host would have offered BBQ Salmon.  A frozen lump of salmon that came from a farm or was caught many months ago in Alaska.  And you would have thought that you were experiencing the High Life.  Aw those Ontario people.

Back here we were planning a simple meal for Monday evening.   A German meal with Bratwurst sausage from a local butcher, Sauerkraut, new potatoes and veggies. Great concept.

Late in the afternoon our friends Harry and Marie phoned and asked, could they drop off a gift.

Harry has a boat that he loves to take out fishing.  Over the weekend they were out beyond Ucluelet and caught their limit in Spring and Coho Salmon.  (I am sure they only kept the big ones.)

Anyway Marie brought over a freshly caught Coho salmon fillet the size of a hardcover book.

We are nothing if not flexible, so we abandoned the German  sausage meal, and switched to West Coast.

I did the salmon on the BBQ with a Teriyaki glaze.  Edamame beans as an appy with rice and lots of fresh tomatoes from the garden.

I have never been a fisherman, but over the years I have been told that freshly caught fish tasted better than frozen and re-thawed.  Great restaurants in Paris and New York may serve what they call fresh Coho salmon , but they lie.

Freshly caught Salmon does tastes different.  Not that there is anything wrong with thawed Salmon, but fresh tastes better in some way.

I make fun of my buddy Harry about why he spends $500 to catch a salmon (in fuel and dock fees and maintenance on his boat).  He replies, “Fish you have caught yourself does taste better.”

Now I have to agree with him.

Realize that I am not about to buy a big boat and set off at 4 AM to catch fish, but I do agree that Harry.

But living in Paradise allows us to have a friend who does the fishing and give us a portion now and then.  It is nice.