...the spoons -- but then that'd be more like teaspoons (or even coffee spoons, if you have separate ones for purposes of espresso snobbery). I'd guesstimate that dessert spoons are closer to 150 mm, and teaspoons perhaps around 120?

Yeah, at least up here in Scandalahoovia the limes we get are more like your small ones; perhaps sometimes a teeny bit bigger, but usually well under two inches, I'd say.

Hmm... Canned-anchovies brine, perhaps? That's what we use up here to give a powerful fishy flavour to stuff. Note: I think what's called "anchovies" in the Nordic countries is not actually the same species as the genuine Mediterranean anchovy, and probably doesn't taste exactly like it either; all the more so, as it is usually sold pickled in some spicy brine based on, I think, an originally Dutch herring pickle... Something like that. Anybody besides me ever tried anything like that? Sven, perhaps?

Idunno fersure, but with [link|http://www.thefreedictionary.com/sprats|an English dictionary calling sprats] Clupea sprattus and [link|http://sv.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ansjovis|the Swedopedia talking about our fakechovies] as Sprattus sprattus, "of the family Clupeidae", I'd guess they're different variants of Latin name for the same critter; wouldn't be the first time that's happened.

Checking the [link|http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sprats|English-language Wikipedia on Sprats] and [link|http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Herring|on Herring], it doesn't seem to recognise any "Clupea sprattus"; seems more like it follows the same Latin-name system as the Swedish-language Wikipedia.

So yes, it seems your "sprats" and our "ansjovis" are at least mostly overlapping groups of actual species. (N.B: Our "ansjovis" are invariably smaller than the ones sold as "sardines" [or, nowadays, "brislings"]; they are, to connect back to the start of this thread, usually about as long as a Key lime [and thin for their length; the canned fish fillet is just a sliver of flesh, just like the real anchovy]. :-)