Fish and Seafood

As a child growing up in the Berkeley Hills, one of my deep passions was fishing. I spent hours on the Berkeley pier. In the 1950s, the city of Berkeley pushed the pier almost a third of the way into the Bay, a bountiful fishing ground. We would pull in flounder, rockfish, sardines, and even a striped bass or two. I really did understand fish cookery as a child, and I enjoyed an occasional fish and chips. I loved Dungeness crabs from an early age. We would go on salmon fishing trips to the Farallon Islands off the coast of San Francisco, and there I would fish with my dad and brothers. I felt we were in another land, the sea churning about us and the seagulls squawking.