It was late June 1984. I had not seen my father for 4 years until yesterday when I drove the 2279 miles from Connecticut to Port Aransas Texas. We met Captain Rick Gaston at Woody’s Boat Basin.  His Charter Boat, the Orca had just arrived.  Word was that Rick had a large Tarpon on a line that he was fighting to land. They all said it was unusual for Rick to call anything in. He was not a man to cry wolf. When I met Rick he was a small guy with a big personality. Standard 1984 South Texas look. Jeans t shirt ball cap with wrap around sunglasses on. Rick did not come back with a tarpon but he did have a story about how a girl jumped out of the boat because he pulled the shark into the boat and it was flipping around. He told us how he’s very excitedly explained to her that there were a whole heck of a lot more of them in the water than there was in the boat. Rick filleted a shark right there on the dock for us and we took it home and hence my first shark McNuggets experience happend. My father had 1 of those woks that had the grate on the side to set the fish on after it’s cooked. The batter with a sweet light beer batter and it was delicious. I do wish I had his recipe today. So why am I thinking of my dad and his famous shark McNuggets? I took shark out of the freezer yesterday and it looks like I’m going to have to cook it tonight. I’ll let you know how that goes.
… well made the shark last night. I use my usual quick pancake mix and sirracha method. Well I could say it wasn’t bad it wasn’t great either. Perhaps dad famous shark McNuggets recipe is gone forever or maybe Brooke has it.

Maybe some things cannot be duplicated. A hot June evening in South Texas, a couple of ice cold Lonestar beers, 1984 MTV playing in the background, and of course a father and son forging a new friendship. It’s the kind of day that would make even my shark McNuggets from last night taste good.