Mon 29 Jan 2007
I’m in the grocery store, standing at the fish counter, there’s a little sign:
“Fresh Farm-Raised
Atlantic Salmon
$9.99 lb
Chile”
Wait, I think, wasn’t I taught …? Don’t I seem to remember…? Didn’t I make an A in geography? Or a B? 
Drive home, drag out the atlas, blow off a little dust, find South America, let’s see, Argentina, Bolivia, Chile, right, here it is.
Just as I suspected, Chile is on the Pacific Ocean, not the Atlantic. Well, gosh, that’s a relief.
What madcaps, trying to confuse me that way.
Still bought the salmon, had it for dinner.
January 29th, 2007 at 9:52 pm
Maybe they’re colonizing Patagonia.
January 30th, 2007 at 5:58 pm
My understanding is that “Atlantic” refers to the species, not the geographic location of the fishery. Atlantic is one type of salmon, while Chinook (aka King), Pink, Sockeye, Chum, and Coho are others.
January 30th, 2007 at 7:14 pm
What did you wash it down with?
January 31st, 2007 at 6:57 am
A nice California Burgundy might have been good with that!
January 31st, 2007 at 7:49 am
Well, first, I obviously was in such a rush to be a smart-ass that I abandoned the jest at the station. As Andrew says, “Atlantic” is a species of salmon. My brief but apparently labored attempt at humor was about geographical anomalies, not inter-species confusion. It just struck me funny, seeing the sign with Atlantic salmon and Chile.
Second, we treated the salmon filets in simple Asian style with soy sauce, lemon, salt and pepper. With it we drank the Tablas Creek Grenache Blanc 2004 which was a disappointment, both with the fish and by itself. With over 15% alcohol, it felt blocky and disjointed. (I’ll be writing more about this wine on a post this weekend.) John is right, a light California pinot would have been better, or at least a bright, medium-bodied chardonnay.
February 1st, 2007 at 1:10 pm
…Or…a bit like “Champagne” made in California. What will they think of next?
February 1st, 2007 at 7:54 pm
I asked because salmon is the hardest food for me to find a good matching wine to was down with. I can drink almost any wine with almost any food and not find much to complain about but salmon makes most wines taste horribly like the inside of a tin can to me.
As for the 15%… I’m considering going on a strike against any wine higher than 13%. Not that there aren’t lots of high alcohol wines worth drinking but I’m getting tired of the rarity of low to moderate reds (and even whites! as you point out).