Monday, November 29, 2010

This Lil’ Vegan had Me Some Crabs!

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It’s been just over a year since I switched to the vegan lifestyle.  I’ve surprised myself by becoming very devoted to a very new way of nourishing my body.  Even over the recent Thanksgiving holiday I managed to eat vegan about 95% of the time – even while away from home.

However.

Sometimes a big ol’ exception has got to be made, and tonight’s dinner was one of those times.

Michael, his cousin Rafael, and two of his friends, Kyle and Chris, went crabbing today.  Around mid-morning I got a text message from Michael:

“Be advised we have 50 crabs.  Pound and a half each or so.  Be hungry!”

No way was I missing out on THAT meal!

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Clockwise from Michael (in the back), Kyle, Mike, Rafael, and Chris.  We had to expand our table to hold all the bowls of crabs, bowls of melted butter, bowls for the shells,  bowls of coleslaw and mixed vegetables, and a plate of cornbread.

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By the time the crabs (and the guys) arrived here the crabs had been cooked, cracked, and cleaned – awesome!!!  Some we simply ate cold, others we warmed by steaming them or baking them in the oven.

Since we’d had warning that the crabs would be arriving, Mike had time to make a big bowl of coleslaw, and I made a pan of cornbread when I got home from work.  With cocktail sauce, tartar sauce, melted butter, and lemon slices, we were all set for a feast.

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Photo proof that I ate crabs!  Yeah, that’s a big ol’ pair of pliers next to me.  We are not equipped at our house with shellfish pliers so we made do with what we could find.  They worked great and the big roll of paper towels was also heavily used!

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I have not had crab this good since visiting New Orleans a couple of years ago.  In fact - dare I say it - but these California Dungeness crabs were BETTER!  Now I know why many people in this area serve up these crustaceans instead of turkey on Thanksgiving Day.

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We all put away a LOT of crab and yet we still had at least three bowls like this green one full of leftovers.

I have a feeling I’m going to be an omnivore for a while . . .