Week of 3/21/12: first of the season halibut + shucked oysters on special

Hello Everyone!   We had a small crisis in our household on Saturday when the leprechauns failed to show up in the shoebox house that our daughter had built for them.  Sailor had them baited

Well decorated Leprechaun trap for next year's attempt.  Considering a 'do not swim into net!' sign to decorate the fishing boat...

with a selection of gold colored toys and miniature furniture, but they somehow slipped away.  Undefeated, she's decided that next year we simply need more decorations.  And if we'd like to ensure that the Easter Bunny will visit?  Yes, we need decorations.  And maybe, just maybe, if I *really* want some spring king salmon to show up, (are you following the 9 year old logic??),we should decorate for them.   The mind boggles...   Spring king salmon are usually the first sign of the season, but this year the halibut beat them to the shop.  Halibut season opened this past Saturday and our first fish made it here on Tuesday.  We've got several more on the schedule to arrive over the next couple of days, so if you like to participate in 'first of the season' seafood, now is the time!  Our halibut are nice big fat 50 pound fish and they look *amazing*.   Lots of other amazing in the shop this week too!  We've got our box of tropicals arriving Friday morning with fresh ono (wahoo) and fresh ahi tuna.  After a slow start to the week due to weather we do expect to have a full line-up of fresh true cod, rock cod, petrale sole and sablefish for Thursday morning on through the weekend.  The halibut are perfectly beautiful and for those of you who are cheek fans - we're scored a little dab of fresh halibut cheeks for tomorrow.  The very last of the Nisqually crab are on their way out and I've got an order in with my brothers for ocean crab.  Again, the weather is a bit snarly yet but they think the next day or two look doable so there should be lots of Dungeness for the weekend.  The Quinault's came through with some super-fresh wild steelhead and we've got that excellent FAS wild king salmon from Alaska keeping us going while we wait for springer.  Trout and lane snapper will be the whole fish for the week, and there are new batches of both the salmon burger and crab cakes ready to roll.  Oyster selection = pacific, kumamoto, kobashii and blue pool.  Clams and mussels are looking great!  The special this week (we'll do halibut next week!) is our shucked Hama Hama oysters.  Read on for all the oystery info and some recipes!  Hope to see you soon.  :) ~Kira