Sunday, August 15, 2010

Fish Dinner for the Eagle


The Boy is making a big push right now for the rank of Eagle Scout in the Boy Scouts of America. You must have 21 merit badges (12 are required, 9 are elective) and complete an Eagle Project by your 18th birthday. He has about 6 1/2 months left and (as of this writing) still needs 4 merit badges and the Eagle Project. He just completed summer camp 2 weeks ago and was able to crank out 5 merit badges there to get down to the 4 he still needs.

I'm very impressed with his ability to get this done in such a short amount of time, although he has put himself behind schedule more than a couple of times because of "other priorities". He didn't join Boy Scouts until he was almost 15 (most scouts join at 11). And he didn't realize he really wanted Eagle (and all the honor and weight that it carries) until he was 16 1/2. Needless to say he's on a fast-track schedule. If he can hold it together and get done in 6 1/2 months, I will be very impressed and very proud. I never made Eagle when I was in scouts (I made Life, one rank below Eagle) and have always regretted it.

Anyway, of the 4 merit badges he needs, 3 of them are about 3/4 of the way completed. One elective merit badge he almost has completed is the Fishing Merit Badge. One of the requirements is to clean and cook a fish. He also needs to show evidence that he caught a fish too. The merit badge counselor (who is also his Scout Master) said that the cleaning and cooking requirement allows for a store bought fish. Because quite frankly, I wouldn't want to eat a fish caught in one of our local lakes and we don't have time to do any ocean fishing.

So off we went to the local Asian Food Market. They had a pretty good selection of whole fish. We chose Striped Bass (with guts in) and Red Snapper (with guts out).

Here he is cleaning the fish. This will be sent to his MB counselor as proof.

Here he stuffed the fish with butter, lemon slices, salt, pepper, fresh thyme and fresh rosemary. Salt, pepper, lemon juice and butter were placed on top of the fish, then it was sealed in tin foil.


After about 15 minutes on the grill, it's ready to eat.

I made some glass noodles and added them to a wok with eggplant, onion, green and orange pepper, jalapeno pepper, teriyaki sauce, garlic, salt and pepper. This came out really good and the Boy and I dusted off all thie fish. The Mrs won't eat fish but had seconds on the vegetable lo mein, so I guess that was a success too.




All he has left for this badge is to catch a fish and demonstrate some fishing knots. I'd say he has this one is in the bag. Now on to the remaining badges and the dreaded Eagle Project.

15 comments:

Heff said...

I gave up on Scouts after Webelos. NICE KITCHEN SINK !

Dani said...

I have my dads eagle scout ring and some of his other stuff. He was always so proud of being a scout and later on a leader.

Karl said...

Good morning Buzz Kill,

It's always good to see kids motivated to do challenging things. Good for him, I hope he makes it. What is the dreaded Eagle Project?

I find it more than a little sad that you can't fish in the lakes around you. If you do Sea Bass again, rather than clean it, try filleting it it's easier than cleaning and faster.

By the way, I was kicked out of the cub scouts for eating brownies.

Milk River Madman said...

Bk, Great for The Boy. When I was 4-wheeling in the Little Belts I came up with a great eagle scout project. They have totally changed the road system (what is accessible by what kind of vehicle) and need to make the existing trail signs accurate. It would be a great way to spend some QT in the 41st state. Also, if you have Eagle Scout on your resume, its an instant interview with me. Have worked with a few over the years. Always great young men. Makes me want to renew my subscription to Boys Life.

Buzz Kill said...

Heff
Scouting isn't for everyone. I like the sink although I wish I had enough room for a 2-section one.

Dani
Eagle Scout is very honorable and something you carry with you your entire life. It's sort of like the Marine Corp without all the killing.

Karl
He hasn't selected the project yet. It will have to be an indoor thing because he probably won't be doing it until Jan - Feb. And it will probably be work for me too.

"By the way, I was kicked out of the cub scouts for eating brownies." - badum-tish

Madman
Eagle also looks good on college applications too. As explained to Karl, it will have to be an indoor project. He will probably look to the church that sponsors our troop for some sort of renovation job.

"Makes me want to renew my subscription to Boys Life." - Dude, that's just wrong.

pam said...

Hey good going there to your son! I have seen a couple of Eagle ceremonies and prepared citations of congrats, but never realized the work involved until recent years. I hope he sticks to it and achieves the time goal, that will really help prepare him for 'life after school' ...

Anonymous said...
This comment has been removed by a blog administrator.
Anonymous said...
This comment has been removed by a blog administrator.
Buzz Kill said...

Pam
He's got such a tight schedule that if he pulls this off, I think he has a future as a project manager. Not to slight the process of achieving Eagle, but it is a little easier these days because of technology. Internet access really helps with a lot of the written parts of the merit badges and tranferring said information to the merit badge councelors. All I had was the library and a set of out-dated encyclopedias.

Aunty Belle said...

now how really cool is this?? Go Jr Buzz!

Eagle Souts are fine citizens--congrats to the dad of the scout too>

Yeah, it is beyond sad that you cannot eat from local lakes--in centrl Florida, we have many decent lakes still in the urban areas where one may fih...however I have seen some recent signs:"no swimming, no fishing".

Aunty Belle said...

uh....sorry fer misspellins;Granny is in hospital fer a spell an' I'se typin on a toy.

LaDivaCucina said...

Wow! How cool is your son, so motivated and committed! You must be really proud of him! And it is teaching him to be self sufficient!

And kudos to you for going to the Asian store and making the lo mein! Good job, Buzzy!

Buzz Kill said...

Aunty
All the local public lakes are in residential areas and with pesticides and the Canadian Geese problem we have, I just don't trust the water. We practice cath and release in the lakes anyway. Hope Granny is doing better.

Diva
Sometimes I almost need a cattle prod to motivate him. Summer Camp was a big milestone because he was able to earn so many merit badges. If he can finish up the 4 remaing merit badges in the next month or so, he'll have about 5 months to do his Eagle Project. Getting down to just the eagle project should be encouraging for him.

His younger brother is benefitting from this. He wants to be Eagle by the time he's 16 and I think he's motivated enough to do it.

fishy said...

Well done to Buzz II.
I can always tell when I meet an adult male who earned his Eagle. They carry thier character a bit differently. Admirable. Very admirable. Kudos to you and Mrs. Buzz for supporting this goal and timeline.

WOW! I love the photograph. Really powerful.

Buzz Kill said...

Fishy
The boy just had his scout master conference last night for the rank of Life. He needed to make Life at least 6 months before his 18th birthday. So another milestone on the road to Eagle has passed successfully. The photo is not mine but I thought it was pretty cool.