I am sure may have heard of our eccentric neighbor Lambus. If you have yet to have the pleasure of meeting him, let me tell you he is a difficult man. Kinda grumpy and likes to give people trouble. One of my goals while staying in Greece was to win this man's heart over. Not because I think I can change him, he is way too set in his ways, but to learn a few things from him and make our stay more pleasant.
So after many meetings, and sucking up, telling him he is so hansom, smiling and playing the "you are soo important and interesting game" he finally caved in and said he would teach me how to hunt octopus.
The date was set. Saturday we would be going out at 4pm to catch our eight legged creatures for dinner.
So to my surprise, he showed up at 3:45, handed Jillian 3 Octopus already caught, and said we were heading out for more in 15 minutes.
Aaron and Jillian roused me from my nap with a plateful of creatures in my face. I awoke with a bit of shock, then complete excitement as I jumped out of bed and headed to find Lambus at his house.
Jillian, Lambus and myself headed out to the ocean in flippers, mask's and snorkels to pursue our prey and hunt for our dinner. Lambus had a buoy in hand, a large 4 sided hook with a bit of frozen octopus on it for bate.
Jillan and I pretty much just tagged along after him as he searched "many empty octopus houses" on the ocean floor. After about 15 minutes, he pointed to a cluster of half oyster shells on the sea floor, which he claimed had an octopus waiting in it. I could recognize the octopus home, but did not see the smartly camouflaged animal.
As he lowered the hook towards the hole, I could see tentacles stretching out towards the bait. One tentacle at first, then two tried to grab the bait, then then the whole octopus emerged from it's hole grabbing the bait fully with all eight legs.
That's when things started moving fast. Lambus yanked the hook up pulling the animal from it's home, making a ripping sounds as the tentacles held on for dear life to a rock. Lambus pulled up the rope fast taking in about 20 feet of rope till he had his hands on the octopus. With one quick movement, and the octopus spitting ink, he turned the head inside out and ripped out all the vital organs, took the creature and put it's head through a wire that was hanging from the buoy, secured the octopus, and took off in search of another "house". All while the octopus was still sucking onto his arm.
Jillian and I were shocked at this. We were amazed, and a little scared. I was terrified because it was soon approaching my turn to kill the next catch.
Off we went following Lambus before we lost him, our flippers kicking away to keep up. He had located another catch, and before we knew it he was pulling up another octopus while motioning for me to come near.
The thing stuck to my and climbed my arm, all while trying it's best to get away. I had an okay grip on the thing, but they are strong and slimy. I didn't know where to flip it's head over and struggling just to hold the thing was tough, so Lambus ripped the suckers off my arm, took the head part, flipped it over and held it out for me to rip it's brains out. Who was I to say no? So I did as I was told, put it on the wire, and without a blink, Lambus was off looking for our next victim.
We couldn't find anymore poor prey, so we took out catch, slammed them against the rock until they were completely dead, then mushed them around on the rocks to clean and tenderize them. Lulu was standing by happy as can be getting octopus juice splashed all over her!
We grilled it up later at our party and it was a huge hit! Everyone tried a bit which is the most important part, and most said it tasted great! Might be a while before i try that on my own, but will keep you updated.
