Well, it was less his ‘‘true love’’ - more so a series of delivery trucks that arrive on December 23 and 24 - but it is a welcome gift all the same.

Each year, the deliveries mark the beginning of the end of the silly season for Bonanno, who by then, is working 19-hour days at his Fairy Meadow seafood shop.

The Aussie tradition of ‘‘throwing another shrimp on the barbie’’ ensures it is always a busy time for Harley and John’s Seafood - something which comes as little surprise to Bonanno nowadays.

‘‘Sixteen years ago, on my first Christmas, I couldn’t believe how quickly the prawns would go off the counter,’’ he says.

‘‘You’d put 40 kilos up, you’d spin around and they’d be telling you to hurry up to put another 40 kilos up. By now I pretty much know what we’re going to sell - oysters, snapper, lobsters, bugs, blue swimmer crabs and smoked salmon - but the one thing that people come back for, year after year, is cooked tiger prawns.

‘‘We move close to two tonnes of them in the days before Christmas.’’

Recipe: Salad of king prawns, asparagus and peas

Recipe: Potato wafers with smoked salmon

Bonanno, who began working in the seafood industry as a teen, says many people turn to cold seafood platters or light seafood meals at Christmas because of the warm Australian climate.

Others, like Bonanno, just love the taste.

‘‘I absolutely love seafood - I can’t get enough of it - so for Christmas we do prawns, oysters, smoked salmon, some bugs and lobster,’’ he says.

‘‘The fresh prawns I do with a bit of lemon juice and seafood sauce and the smoked salmon I enjoy just natural on crackers.

‘‘A lot of people like to get the lobsters and do the mornay, but with our local lobsters I think it’s a waste, because they just taste so great, so all you need is a little bit of cracked pepper and lemon juice.’’

Recipe: Grilled snapper with roast capsicum and olive salsa

To get the best bang for your buck, Bonanno says to ask the person serving you where the seafood is from and whether they could touch the flesh of the fish to indicate its firmness.

If the flesh is firm and the skin is shiny, the fish is likely good quality.

Clear eyes are also another indicator of quality stock, but can sometimes be misleading because they tend to cloud when fish are stored in ice.

Once a purchase is made, Bonanno recommends taking the seafood out of the plastic bag and storing it on a plate or glass bowl with cling wrap loosely fitted over the top, to allow the seafood to breathe.