Imperial Beach
Carl Block
I learned cooking from my parents," says Imperial Beach resident Carl Block. "When I was younger, I would hang out in
the kitchen." Growing up in nearby Chula Vista, Carl and his family didn't spend all their time in the kitchen but much
of it was spent growing or pursuing food. "We always had a garden with tomatoes, vegetables, zucchinis, squash. So a
lot of the meals we had, we caught or grew." Carl adds, "We would go hunting and diving, so we always had lobster,
abalone, fish, a lot of seafood. My dad was the one who was certified and who did the diving. I'd go down there
snorkeling. We'd go fishing and diving."
In addition to their quests on the ocean he and his father would do a little hunting on the beach. "South of here,
between here and the border, we used to go clamming before it got too contaminated. You dig a little bit and you come
back with piles and piles of them," says Carl. "Soak them for a couple of days, boil them, clean them; they were good."
The contamination he talks about is "black water," the sewage that washes into the ocean from Tijuana. "I was fishing
here recently down in the bay and people were walking by telling me that the water was contaminated. We have always had
some of that in the bay but because of the recent rains, the runoff makes it really bad. I caught some really nice bass
but I ended up putting them back in. I wasn't that worried about it until I saw the signs that were posted."
Fortunately his garden is not affected by black water. Carl grew up with a garden in his backyard. "I would say it was
at least 12-by-18. At some point in time we had a hot house. We also had watermelon and cantaloupes." His current garden
is not as large as the one his family had growing up but it is plenty for him and Kimberlee. "We've been growing peas,
zucchinis, tomatoes, radishes and carrots. There's a big difference between what you grow and what you get in a store,"
says Carl. "There's a lot more flavor with what you can grow; it's almost generic what you buy in a store."
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Recipes: Mexican Spaghetti with Shrimp | Shrimp Soup | Carl's Criss-Cross Rib-eye | 10 Pepper Pork