Do we need the rat race?

We are so used to just running around, stressing, having hectic times, staying in traffic jams, the list could go on and on, but do we really need this rat race?

Being here on the ship and chatting with my hands and feet (at least till an Indonesian official helped me) with this fisherman from Komodo Island I see a more peaceful live style. His daily job is to get fresh fish, the family with him on board and hopefully sell enough to be able to buy some other goods necessary to live. His job is the actual fishing, throwing out the net and get the net back in...and of course he is the captain of the little fishing vessel. His wife's job is to get the fish out of the net, make sure the water gets scooped out of the boat (seems to be leaking quite a bit as she throws out a full bucket ever 5 minutes) and to make sure there is fuel in the engine. And I think the little boy just has a good time. If I could do it myself? I doubt it as I do like a little bit the hectic live, action around me....but I do enjoy time out, very much so

Seeing all that fresh fish we decided to buy his whole catch and after a very short negotiation we agreed on a set price, 100'000 Rupee, the equivalent to 10 USD. He wanted more, but that was actually all the money I had left and we mutually agreed that he can have my last money. We got about 7 kg of really fresh fish for it, all small, some mackerel, bass and snapper. Not that I just wanted small fish, but it is just what they have here. The lady next to him tried to sell us some fresh squid, but unfortunately there was no money left, I first have to change again in Bali.
The choice is nice here, the next fisherman came about an hour later with three stunning trevally for sale....yes we bought them all. Ian, the hotel manager bought two and donated them to the crew. We will cook them whole, but I will write about that later. As usual there will be a fight of who will get the head, my opinion is that the honour should go to Ian! And then the carpenter bought one as well for the deck guys, this one will be cut in steaks and then fried. I think today everybody will be feasting somewhere on the ship.

The small fish I cook very simple, just sea salt and pepper, then fried in olive oil, just delicious. We gutted it first and rubbed a little bit lemon juice on it, just to give it a bit more flavour.

With that we made a simple chunky tomato sauce, onions, garlic, capers, olives, fresh and very ripe tomatoes, just all roughly diced, then fried in a bit olive oil, add a pinch of sea salt, basil and black pepper from the mill and let it simmer for 5 minutes. It must be cooked quickly to preserve the freshness and acidity of the tomatoes, it is just gorgeous.

I got some baked potatoes, so we serve that with the fish, a simple Mediterranean feast.