We cleaned the four-dozen or so sea snails in cold water and then boiled them briefly in salted water. After they cooled a little, Kathy and I began using little two-pronged forks to pry the critters from the shells. Their anatomy was much like the Conchs, but on a smaller scale. We trimmed the hard disk-shaped operculum they use to close up their shells, and trimmed away the obviously undesirable parts, then trimmed off the dark skin, and what was left was a tiny piece of white meat. The four-dozen sea snails yielded about a cupful of Winkle meat.

Thinking we probably needed to have something else besides just snails for dinner, we put together a nice mock clam chowder, made with potatoes, onions, garlic, bacon, chicken broth, and evaporated milk. Oh, and snails.

The chowder was really tasty. The mock clams were even chewier than real clams, however, and we both decided that Periwinkles, while interesting and fun to collect, where probably not going to sustain us while at the Pink House. So it was back to the drawing board on the foraging act.