Crab fest!

By now, you may have noticed my obsession with seafood. Although J doesn't actually share my obsession with seafood, he is very accommodating in allowing me to pursue my passion. So today when we were at the Buford Highway Farmers Market and we saw how huge the crabs were, he indulged me and let me buy some for dinner.

The best crabs are females. They are the ones with all the roe and tomalley. And what do I love? Roe and tomalley, you got it. So as I picked through all the crabs to get the biggest and most active, I was also checking them all to ensure I was picking up only females. The BHFM is great for crabs whereas I'm always disappointed at the ones from the Dekalb Farmers Market. At the latter, all the crabs are usually male and usually small. Female crabs have a mostly rounded thorax (I think that is what wikipedia said) with a little rounded point. Since I purchased only females, here's a picture of how it should look. The males have much longer, pointier thoraxes, but I can't find a good picture. You'll know one when you see one!

So, I brought home six of the fiestiest and largest crabs I have ever purchased, excepting only the crabs I ordered online from The Crab Place (http://crabplace.com) in Crisfield, Maryland. They hung out in the sink (pictured) fighting with each other. Several lost claws and legs in this process.

I was going to take a picture as I put them into the steamer three at a time, but you wouldn't believe how fiesty they were! Each time, at least one of the crabs tipped the perforated metal tray and then crawled out. At one point, one had fallen to the floor and scuttled into a corner. J and I were chasing them down with tongs. After 15 minutes though, they were docile and ready for munching.

This photo to the right is called crabs_heaven. All of the crabs were succulent and packed with meat, but this was the only one that was perfect! Chock full of roe, so much that you had to scoop the spoon into the shell to get it all! J was disgusted by this photo when he saw it. I guess that's why when we get lobster, I get the whole body to myself. :)

After eating, the shells go from my big bowl into a nice bag to go into the freezer. In the fall, the shells will go into the base for a nice lush gumbo.

  

After my crab feast, J got to work making his own dinner. It's always interesting to see what he chooses to prepare when he's on his own. It's amazing, but he chooses to make chicken probably 9 times out of 10. I guess that says something but I'm not sure what. Here's what he had.

I'm still sorting out the pictures we took from St John, but you should get to see them soon. Last night, we had rack o' lamb and it was probably the best we ever had -- owing, I think, to letting it rest for 10 minutes instead of 5. We've been eating out since we got back since we've been working too much and had no groceries. J said that it wasn't until he put the lamb into his mouth that he felt that he was really home. That was nice of him.