The theme of todays post is "tentacles". Yes, tentacles. Those ropy, limb-esque things that stick out of the side of an octopus. Not sure how we got ourselves into this one. I suspect it has something to do with one of those 1.5 litre bottles of retsina and some particularly good calamari. "I can do that. In fact, I can do that on the barbecue!" That's probably how the train of thought left my boozy little station. Anyway, now that we're here we might as well make the best of it...

Embarrassingly, it seems that I misunderstood what a tentacle was. I assumed that all the limbs involved in a "cephalopod" (the species of mollusks that include octopi and squids) were tentacles. Nope. Get this: octopus have eight arms (no tentacles), squids have eight arms and two tentacles!

So...while this post is supposed to be about tentacles what it's really about is cooking octopus and squid on the barbecue. I know that you're probably not surprised by this lack of professionalism. To make it up to you, here are some interesting facts about tentacles and the critters that use them:

• Some plants have tentacles. Those jeezly painful strings that hang off the business end of a jellyfish are tentacles. Why, there's even a mammal with tentacles - the star nosed mole. Learn how to knit one here.
  
  
• For an extremely cool, if disturbingly thorough, site dedicated to all things squidy ("squidesque"?), click here.
  
  
• All 800 species (approximate) of cephalopods are carnivores.
  
  
• No cephalopods live in fresh water.
  
  
• Some cephalopods taste good when you grill them.

Give this recipe a try!

• Grilled Squid and Vegetable Salad

Not feeling squid? Check out some other seafood recipes here!

• Grilled Fish Tacos with Mango Salsa
• Grilled Tilapia with Crispy Kale and Tomatoes
• Spicy Garlic Tiger Prawns
• Salmon Burgers with Coleslaw