Christmas Crab

In our neck of the woods....er, Coastal Redwood Forest, that is.... Dungeness Crab is a December delicacy. The fishing fleet braves winter seas, rain and wind to bring us Dungeness Crab. You'll find them in every grocery store, the local fish markets and every restaurant will be serving their December Crab specials. Crab manicotti, crab cakes, crab salad, crab melt sandwiches and more.
I came home from work on Saturday weary and hungry. Mr. Scottie Dog had been out to Woodley Island Marina (in the bay just a stone's throw from downtown Eureka) and purchased Mr. Crab (pictured below) from a crab fisherman.

Mr. Dog brought home this fine creature....notice he's making a sideways run for it off the tray. I guess he knew there was a big pot of hot water heating on the patio. Bill likes his crab fresh. That means buying it off the boat, dripping wet and then rushing home and putting him into the boiling pot within an hour or so. Dungeness crab is quite sweet and they are meaty too. This big guy yielded enough crab meat to feed the two of us....quite full!
Look at him...he's wearing his beautiful deep orange "suntan" all ready to be cracked, cleaned and eaten. Bill put his share on a salad and I just seasoned mine with a tiny bit of seasoned salt and a generous grind of the pepper mill. Yum!
Liz and I went to a bridal shower tonight for our friend Jammie and Mr. Scottie Dog invited Sydney to dinner. She brought prawns and another crab. When we got home she exclaimed, "I like crab better than shrimp and even better than mac 'n cheese!" High praise indeed from a 5 year old.
It's been stormy and rainy around here and the weather report is for more of the same. If weather permits we'll have Crab on Christmas Eve.