A Different Path Part Three
Guest
Join Date: Jan 2013
Location: Ashburn, VA
Posts: 30,196
Well, my son and I just ordered pizza, because my husband and son are working on my son-in-law's deck, and my daughter is feeding them herself.
I had good food available, but in conversation I forgot--and by the time we realized they weren't going to come and do our grilling for us, I was just too beat and succumbed to the seductive lure of Dominos!
So while I'm waiting I'll give details of the day.
We drove to Baltimore. My son had heard that this place, Locust Point Steamers, served the "best crabs in town."
I had heard that this place was in the area of Inner Harbor, which is all gentrified. I was wondering if it might not be more of a sit-down seafood restaurant, maybe a bit upscale.
I was hoping not. I wanted a no-frills crabhouse with brown Kraft paper on the tables that you could throw the crabs right down and make piles of limbs, bodies, and trash.
Well, sure enough! It took us to a working-class downtown neighborhood called Locust Point, and the place was old and half the size of an average McDonalds. The place smelled like heaven, and the paper was there on the table--along with big buckets for shells!
We were early enough to get a booth (the place only had about ten). My son ordered a beer, which is classic with crabs (he's a normie). He did ask my permission first, and I said "go for it." I was happy with nice ice water to cool the spice.
To begin with, I ordered three raw oysters. They had a choice of "local," $2, or "premium," $2.50. I asked the waiter the difference. He said the local ones were right from the bay and had less flavor, but the premium, being from the ocean, were saltier. I got three premium.
I tasted one and it was great. My son asked if he could try one. He showed great daring: no one else in the family would ever try a raw oyster! As soon as he put it in his mouth, I saw the wheels turning--I told him to go ahead and spit it out if he didn't like it--but he ate it. He said he really liked the flavor, but the looks and the texture--not so much. Fried oysters he loves! I think in the future he'll stick with fried.
Time for pizza.
I had good food available, but in conversation I forgot--and by the time we realized they weren't going to come and do our grilling for us, I was just too beat and succumbed to the seductive lure of Dominos!
So while I'm waiting I'll give details of the day.
We drove to Baltimore. My son had heard that this place, Locust Point Steamers, served the "best crabs in town."
I had heard that this place was in the area of Inner Harbor, which is all gentrified. I was wondering if it might not be more of a sit-down seafood restaurant, maybe a bit upscale.
I was hoping not. I wanted a no-frills crabhouse with brown Kraft paper on the tables that you could throw the crabs right down and make piles of limbs, bodies, and trash.
Well, sure enough! It took us to a working-class downtown neighborhood called Locust Point, and the place was old and half the size of an average McDonalds. The place smelled like heaven, and the paper was there on the table--along with big buckets for shells!
We were early enough to get a booth (the place only had about ten). My son ordered a beer, which is classic with crabs (he's a normie). He did ask my permission first, and I said "go for it." I was happy with nice ice water to cool the spice.
To begin with, I ordered three raw oysters. They had a choice of "local," $2, or "premium," $2.50. I asked the waiter the difference. He said the local ones were right from the bay and had less flavor, but the premium, being from the ocean, were saltier. I got three premium.
I tasted one and it was great. My son asked if he could try one. He showed great daring: no one else in the family would ever try a raw oyster! As soon as he put it in his mouth, I saw the wheels turning--I told him to go ahead and spit it out if he didn't like it--but he ate it. He said he really liked the flavor, but the looks and the texture--not so much. Fried oysters he loves! I think in the future he'll stick with fried.
Time for pizza.
Guest
Join Date: Jan 2013
Location: Ashburn, VA
Posts: 30,196
I finished one slice of pizza. I instantly got a pain in my stomach!
The spice in the crabs didn't give me a bit of pain, but one slice of pizza did.
My nurse says to watch out for ulcers--don't eat spicy food. Never in my life would I have considered Dominos spicy food!
Anyway, we ordered a dozen crabs.
I'll cut to the chase here and state that I ate eleven of the crab bodies.
My son did his best to eat one gingerly--but I think when he saw the process up close and personal, he just kind of lost interest.
OK, he wanted to hurl!
When he made this date, he had in mind the merry times I used to have with my dad at our kitchen table when he was growing up! He'd sit with us as a child while we brought home a couple dozen steamed crabs. We'd toss him good morsels of claw or backfin, and he'd have a good time with us as we laughed and hit claws with a mallet and ate and quaffed beer (before I gave up alcohol). He could appreciate that my dad and I were enjoying an arcane ritual.
It must have looked pretty cool: you lift up the "key," pry the crab apart, then chow down and laugh! What a fun ritual: we'd sit there for hours milking the good times!
The hot crabs arrived. He took one, dutifully pulled off the claws and legs, then tried the backfin--and then he was stymied. The waiter and I showed him how to pry open the key, then grab the body with one hand and dig in to the top with the other thumbnail and pull the shell away from the body.
Looked pretty cool from a distance--but when you see it up close, you notice that there are guts involved. You have to take your thumb and dig them all out the bottom. Then get the gills off--uh-oh--better get 'em all or you'll get violently ill!
Again long story short, he ordered himself a gigantic burger for $3, and I pulled off the claws, legs with decent meat, and whatever backfins I could from the other eleven and gave them to him.
I dealt with the carcasses using my new YouTube skills!
I discovered a new trick on my own for getting the backfin meat out intact: I had success about 70% of the time by pulling them back toward myself, in the direction of the orange shell.
From the video, the trick i learned about taking each half of the body and squishing it in half, then breaking it apart worked a lot better than anything else I ever tried for getting knuckle meat out of neat compartments. For the tops of both halves the meat came out in a textbook way!
Alas, for the bottom halves it was still covered with cartilage, which I continued to make a mess of and get all over my tongue, which is a pain in the butt.
Maybe the fast pickers call the tops a win and throw the bottoms away, like most do the skinny legs.
I'll obviously have to study the video again and develop a different strategy!
Actually, I only ended up eating seven bodies and taking the rest home for the 1 1/2 hour trip in the hot sun. I'm not the speediest eater, and i felt that my poor, goodhearted son had been tortured enough watching me fiddle with that mess!
I kept giving him claws and he eventually said, "No, Mom--no more, Mom!" LOL!
You might think that any sane person would suspect that the crabs had spoiled during the trip home and might discreetly throw them away.
Oh, no! No way! I was bringing those babies in for a crash landing!
I got them done in about 15 minutes, then very carefully cleaned up all evidence so certain other household members would not find a piece of intestine or "yellow mustard" and freak!
Anyway, the crabs were very good, the seasoning was not Old Bay, but tasted very much like it and just as good--and thicker!
And the adventure and company were great. My son and I had many laughs--and he liked his burger. His main goal was to give me a day of fun, and he definitely achieved it!
And I did not get in any way sick from the crabs! Neither did my son!
Only the tiniest bit of a headache and nausea on the way up because I had an empty stomach and was trying to post on the car ride up. But I stopped and took several deep breaths and things calmed down. What did I expect?
On the ride home I did not get carsick at all.
The spice in the crabs didn't give me a bit of pain, but one slice of pizza did.
My nurse says to watch out for ulcers--don't eat spicy food. Never in my life would I have considered Dominos spicy food!
Anyway, we ordered a dozen crabs.
I'll cut to the chase here and state that I ate eleven of the crab bodies.
My son did his best to eat one gingerly--but I think when he saw the process up close and personal, he just kind of lost interest.
OK, he wanted to hurl!
When he made this date, he had in mind the merry times I used to have with my dad at our kitchen table when he was growing up! He'd sit with us as a child while we brought home a couple dozen steamed crabs. We'd toss him good morsels of claw or backfin, and he'd have a good time with us as we laughed and hit claws with a mallet and ate and quaffed beer (before I gave up alcohol). He could appreciate that my dad and I were enjoying an arcane ritual.
It must have looked pretty cool: you lift up the "key," pry the crab apart, then chow down and laugh! What a fun ritual: we'd sit there for hours milking the good times!
The hot crabs arrived. He took one, dutifully pulled off the claws and legs, then tried the backfin--and then he was stymied. The waiter and I showed him how to pry open the key, then grab the body with one hand and dig in to the top with the other thumbnail and pull the shell away from the body.
Looked pretty cool from a distance--but when you see it up close, you notice that there are guts involved. You have to take your thumb and dig them all out the bottom. Then get the gills off--uh-oh--better get 'em all or you'll get violently ill!
Again long story short, he ordered himself a gigantic burger for $3, and I pulled off the claws, legs with decent meat, and whatever backfins I could from the other eleven and gave them to him.
I dealt with the carcasses using my new YouTube skills!
I discovered a new trick on my own for getting the backfin meat out intact: I had success about 70% of the time by pulling them back toward myself, in the direction of the orange shell.
From the video, the trick i learned about taking each half of the body and squishing it in half, then breaking it apart worked a lot better than anything else I ever tried for getting knuckle meat out of neat compartments. For the tops of both halves the meat came out in a textbook way!
Alas, for the bottom halves it was still covered with cartilage, which I continued to make a mess of and get all over my tongue, which is a pain in the butt.
Maybe the fast pickers call the tops a win and throw the bottoms away, like most do the skinny legs.
I'll obviously have to study the video again and develop a different strategy!
Actually, I only ended up eating seven bodies and taking the rest home for the 1 1/2 hour trip in the hot sun. I'm not the speediest eater, and i felt that my poor, goodhearted son had been tortured enough watching me fiddle with that mess!
I kept giving him claws and he eventually said, "No, Mom--no more, Mom!" LOL!
You might think that any sane person would suspect that the crabs had spoiled during the trip home and might discreetly throw them away.
Oh, no! No way! I was bringing those babies in for a crash landing!
I got them done in about 15 minutes, then very carefully cleaned up all evidence so certain other household members would not find a piece of intestine or "yellow mustard" and freak!
Anyway, the crabs were very good, the seasoning was not Old Bay, but tasted very much like it and just as good--and thicker!
And the adventure and company were great. My son and I had many laughs--and he liked his burger. His main goal was to give me a day of fun, and he definitely achieved it!
And I did not get in any way sick from the crabs! Neither did my son!
Only the tiniest bit of a headache and nausea on the way up because I had an empty stomach and was trying to post on the car ride up. But I stopped and took several deep breaths and things calmed down. What did I expect?
On the ride home I did not get carsick at all.
Member
Join Date: Nov 2016
Location: Anywhere USA
Posts: 2,100
what an awesome day! brought back memories of Gramp and I on the beach in Washington State, he would grab an oyster pop the shell and down the hatch! Straight outa the ocean!
I can agree with your son though, the guts and gills are disgusting, yuckers,,,,,
oh but so worth it!
badge
I can agree with your son though, the guts and gills are disgusting, yuckers,,,,,
oh but so worth it!
badge
Marchia in Aeternum
Join Date: Mar 2013
Location: Georgia
Posts: 11,094
In the backwaters around Savannah, you can just walk into the oyster beds(carefully!) and stand in the water and eat. Upon discovering sushi, I amazed people by catching shrimp by hand and chowing down on them, too.
under new management
Join Date: Jun 2015
Location: Calgary, Alberta
Posts: 2,339
I was totally immersed in your crab tale, Kathy!
I am with your son on the ick factor with the guts
I also wanted to let you know the tv channel that Corner Gas is on, it's called Comedy Gold. There are episodes on youtube, as well. Brett Butt is a comic genius and so are the rest of the cast.
I am with your son on the ick factor with the guts
I also wanted to let you know the tv channel that Corner Gas is on, it's called Comedy Gold. There are episodes on youtube, as well. Brett Butt is a comic genius and so are the rest of the cast.
Guest
Join Date: Jan 2013
Location: Ashburn, VA
Posts: 30,196
Thank you, Rose!
Comedy Gold--I'll make a note of it!
I'll watch on YouTube as soon as I get through this early morning surf.
I have seen several episodes of the "Red/Green Show," too, speaking of fun stuff from Canada.
Comedy Gold--I'll make a note of it!
I'll watch on YouTube as soon as I get through this early morning surf.
I have seen several episodes of the "Red/Green Show," too, speaking of fun stuff from Canada.
Guest
Join Date: Jan 2013
Location: Ashburn, VA
Posts: 30,196
Wow, you guys!
One thing I sure can't do is "pop" an oyster shell.
Even with the right shucking knife I have a real tough time.
With some you can tell right where the real crack is, and you can get right in there--but for many, I either misjudge, or they're slammed shut so hard that it's impossible for me to get in with a knife!
Do you people on the scene know how to master those, or do you just do what I'd do--throw them back in and try another?
One thing I sure can't do is "pop" an oyster shell.
Even with the right shucking knife I have a real tough time.
With some you can tell right where the real crack is, and you can get right in there--but for many, I either misjudge, or they're slammed shut so hard that it's impossible for me to get in with a knife!
Do you people on the scene know how to master those, or do you just do what I'd do--throw them back in and try another?
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