trippin' part 6: being barbaric and lovin' every minute of it (well, sort of)

"There is perhaps a direct relation between the cooking method and the eating etiquette. Most dishes take time, labor, and constant juggling of different tasks to create the perfect palate teaser. Contrast this with cooking crab where the best way to cook it is to simply boil or steam it. The effort is minimal. However, when it comes to eating, other dishes are a simple affair.

Eating crabs on the other hand will make you look like a barbarian. It is a very messy affair. For how do you relish something that is served with its shell, legs, and claws intact?"

- taken from some website with instructions on cooking crabs :)

I insisted on taking Zac here for crab. I like crab a lot and being on the Chesapeake Bay, I just couldn't resist the opportunity for fresh local crab. Yummmm. Zac, however, had never eaten anything beyond a crabcake. Until now.

You know you're in for an experience when you sit out on a picnic table on a pavilion by the water, table covered in brown paper with no more plates or utensils given you than a wooden mallet and a knife.

And a plastic bucket next to you for your trash.

We ordered a dozen steamed spiced crabs, dumped out in a pile onto our table. Tasty, tasty. :)

Zac didn't quite know what to make of it, though. (He also wasn't quite as thrilled about the hush puppies as I was either.) But I loved it.

(you might be able to tell from Zac's expression in the above pic that he found the whole thing revolting and somewhat nauseating. Or maybe you can't. But I sure could. hahaha.)

But I think it's kind of fun to have such a messy intimate eating experience with someone. It's definitely not something you want to do with someone you're not comfortable with. And I like having to work a little for a tasty reward. I just like it.

So I loved every minute of it. And it tasted sooooo good.

And I am so thankful to be loved by a man willing to subject himself to barbaric disgusting crab-feasting, even when he had no desire in the world to do so, just to indulge and appease me. All to make me happy. And I was . . . very happy. Thanks, Zac. :)

(In return, just so you know, I have promised him Chinese for his birthday. My absolute least favorite food. I'm not sure it will quite make up for it, but I will try.)

And then we walked back to the hotel along the waterfront, where this gorgeous huge moon was rising up over the water.


It was beautiful.

And I was happy.

So yay for crab! :)

right?