Crab People!

I am a Maryland girl, born and raised, and every summer there is one thing that I MUST do.... eat crabs!

It's true, it's a law somewhere.

I was never a big seafood eater when I was younger... with two exceptions: shrimp and crab - both with a GENEROUS serving of this stuff:

Mmmmm makes my mouth water thinking about it!

For those of you that have never tried it, Old Bay is the stuff that makes Maryland crabs what they are... it has a distinct taste and is far better than (in my opinion) other seafood seasoning out there. According to the website it includes spices such as celery salt,  mustard, red pepper, bay leaves, cloce, allspice, ginger, mace, cardamom, cinnamon, and most importantly, paprika.

Old Bay can be found on nearly everything around here: seafood (and crab dip), popcorn, eggs, corn, french fries, potato chips, and a few restaurants use it as either ingredients in or on the rim of a Bloody Mary.

I bring up crabs because I had the opportunity this past Sunday to get some friends together for a crab feast, and a college friend is coming in to town this weekend so I am pretty sure there is more crab eating in store for me. 

I'm fortunate that a friend of mine's husband works for a seafood restaurant in Baltimore, so we were able to get the "too small to sell" crabs easily and without much hassle for the crab feast. I invited about 20 people, and about ten of us tucked in to the crabs, going through nearly 2 bushels (that's 8-10 DOZEN crabs).

Ever had a crab?

The taste is, in a word, delicious. Crabs are meaty and sweet and delicate and when steamed with a more than generous topping of Old Bay, they are perfection.

The only trick, however, is that you have to work for your food. If this is not something you are fond of, either find someone to do it for you or move on.

It is a process to open up a crab, but as you get better and better at it, you can go through a crab in under 10 minutes. Everyone has their own technique, and I highly recommend Washingtonian's "Get Cracking" guide because it has some great pictures that will make the process easier.

from wellsphere.com (even though I can tell these definitely need more seasoning!)

Here are my top 10 crab eating tips:

1.  If you have any cuts on your hands, put a bandage on that seals all the way around. Trust me, you DO NOT want to get any old bay in to your cuts. It will burn and will impact your crab-eating time. 
2. Don't wear a white shirt. It's a bad idea and it will ruin your shirt if you get any Old Bay on it. Stick with easily washable dark colors. 
3. Be prepared to sit for a while. Have lots of water (or beer) handy to drink, and make sure you have a couple of rolls of paper towels handy (see tip #6). 
4. Eat outside. Have a trashcan with a trash bag ready or two. It will stink up your house, your car, and anywhere else the crabs hang out. 
5. Newspaper or brown craft paper. People refer to it as the "Maryland tablecloth" for a reason. It will protect (mostly) your table tops, and make clean up a snap - just roll up the paper with shells inside! 
6. Paper Towel Tip - Get crabs out of your way faster and make room for the eatin'. pre-tear several paper towels in front of you. Open the crabs on these towels, and once you've gone through one or two, fold up the crab in the towel and just toss. Bam! Instant clean. 
7. Mallets and knives - have both at the ready. Mallets are for claws, and the knives are for two reasons - to pry off the top shell, and to help with claw opening. Set your knife across your claw and whack the blade with the mallet. It will produce a cleaner, easier way to get to that sweet sweet crab meat. 
8. Take off all of your rings before you start. Old Bay really does get everywhere! I have been known to wash my hands periodically while eating crabs - otherwise it gets too messy. Avoid touching your eyes for a while after eating. The seasoning could linger and it burns....
9. Don't confuse the gills with meat! It can make you sick. Gills are gray, the meat is white. Also, some people will eat the "mustard" inside the crab. If you really want to try it, go ahead, but it's part of the crab's digestive system. 
10. Use lemon juice when washing your hands to get rid of the stink. 

So now that you have these tips and the summer is almost over, get out there and EAT SOME CRABS!!! You'll thank me later.


I will admit, however, that I haven't always been a crab lover.

Once, when I was in elementary school, we went on a family vacation to the Outer Banks, NC. We even went to the pier and caught our own crabs for dinner. My parents steamed or boiled the crabs, and when we sat down to eat them, and I opened one up... it was a female that was pregnant. I didn't eat crabs for about 3 years after that... and even to this day, I won't eat females. It's weird enough to me that they have eyes that stare in to your soul.....

Give me a Z!

First off, I am so sorry that I have been lacking in the updating part of this blog. Let's blame my busy schedule, along with the current cold that has ravaged my body. I feel like death. No lie. In fact, every minute something new starts hurting. Just now, the left side of my throat started hurting unbelievably. Why? Who knows.

But I'm not here to geek out about my sickness. I'm here to talk about my all-time favorite junk food.

The Zebra Cake.

What? Did angels just sing?

For those of you who live under a rock, zebra cakes are the greatest Little Debbie snack ever made. A zebra cake is made up of two moist hexagon shaped white cakes, with a sweet and smooth white frosting layered between, covered in a melt in your mouth vanilla frosting and striped lightly with milk chocolate.

These cakes are my favorite thing to hoard. When I treat myself to a box, which isn't often, I hide them around my room, so that no one knows I have the coveted snack. I close my door and bundle myself up in bed, nibbling the cake while I read or watch something on my computer. I take small bites, so that I may enjoy the pure and perfect sweetness slowly and for a longer period of time.

People love them so much, they make them ART.

The other day, I discovered that the corner store between Joshua's and my apartment sells zebra cakes by the cake. For fifty cents you can get one, slightly larger than normal, perfect zebra cake. I bought one and tucked it into my pocket. As soon as I left the store, I ripped open that plastic wrapping and took a bite of the piece of heaven in my hand. It had been a while since my last cake.

As I walked to Joshua's, I savored the creamy frosting, the perfectly baked cakes and the almost flaky icing. Each bite washed through my mouth in a whirlwind of pleasure, and I even found myself moaning out loud. I finished the cake before I made it to Joshua's, for fear of his jealousy. (I later learned he does not like them. HA!)

So, since I have been feeling ultra lousy the last couple of days, I think I may treat myself to a zebra cake today. You should too.

And God said, on the 8th day, let there be Zebra Cakes!

Makin' the (Pita) Dough

I know I mentioned it before, but I am totally digging on this meatless monday thing I'm doing this year. I'm sure it will be difficult at times, but right now I love being able to make and eat new foods.

 

Well, not only am I trying to eat vegetarian one day a week, I'm also trying to save money. When Monday rolled around two weeks ago, I wasn't planning on grocery shopping for at least another week and I had very few high-protein low-fat foods laying around. I knew I had a can of chickpeas in the pantry, so I thought I'd try my hand at making falafel (which, when it is good, is one of my favorite things to eat). I had all of the (relatively inexpensive) ingredients for the falafel patties (chickpeas, herbs and spices, an egg, and some panko). The problem? I had no pita!

 

As anyone who has ever eaten a falafel or gyro, you know that often times the pita is the best part. It's not anything like the dry, bland pocket bread you ate as a kid (don't get me wrong, I love a good pita pizza when camping or a pita tuna melt), it is something soft and chewy and light, with a lot of flavor.

 

So I set out to find (and make) an delicious pita recipe. I hopped on to my favorite recipe web site, typed Pita Bread in to the search bar and came up with this recipe. I tweaked it a little bit (used 2/3 white flour, 1/3 whole wheat), and was so impressed when it turned out to be really tasty. The first one off the stove was gobbled up by my boyfriend in about 2 seconds. In fact, that night he ate a dinner of just pita bread and some tomato sauce.

 

That night was January 11th. We ate leftover pita bread for three days, I made more dough to share with some friends this Monday, and I made another batch for a potluck dinner that I had to go to this evening.

 

I'm serious. You need to make this recipe and then eat all of the pita. Don't share. You too will become obsessed with this super cheap/easy/tasty recipe!

 

The Recipe: 

 

1 packet of yeast
1 1/2 c warm water
2 tsp sugar
3 c flour (I did 2 cups white, 1 whole wheat)
1 tbsp nonfat dry milk powder
1/2 tsp salt
6 tbsp oil (I used a good olive oil)

 

 

 

 

 

Directions

1. Mix sugar, water, and yeast together and set aside to proof (10 minutes)

2. In your mixing bowl, combine other dry ingredients.

3. Once the yeast is foamy, add to dry ingredients along with oil. Mix well.

4. You may need to add some more flour or water, to get a slightly stiff/tacky dough. If you're using a stand mixer, you want the dough to pull away from the sides of the bowl.

5. Turn dough out on to a floured surface and knead (or, if you're me, just let the dough hook on the mixer do it's thing. You don't need to kneed for a long time. 5-10 minutes should be fine.

6. Divide dough in to 18 egg sized balls and place on a floured surface. Cover and let rest for 20 minutes.

Cooking:

1. Roll dough balls (one at a time) between two sheets of wax or parchment paper. You want to roll at least 1/4 inch thick.

2. Place each dough sheet on to a preheated skillet (medium low) and cook until it bubbles

3. Flip over and continue cooking until slightly golden brown.

4. Place pita in a large plastic bag to keep warm and moist while you cook the rest of the dough.

You can also freeze the dough after it rises (I flattened the dough balls slightly and layered them between plastic wrap). When you're ready to cook, let them defrost and come to room temperature before rolling out then cook as directed above.

Four (Other) Things

Taking a page from Diana's book, I too shall write a short passage about the four things that are making me geek out major right now.

1. Vintage/Retro Clothing
Much like my counterpart, I love dresses. And skirts. And cute shoes. I have a sick obsession with the website, ModCloth. So sick, in fact, that over the span of 2.5 months this past fall, I spent over $1000 on it. Yes folks, that's how much I geeked out. However, it resulted in me getting gems such as these:



Lovely, aren't they? I won't show anymore now, you'll have to wait until I geek out about the site later.

2. Cambridge Culinary School
I'm not geeking out about the school as much as the Back-to-Basics course that I am taking there. The class is six weeks long, once a week, for fourish hours. We study things such as knife skills, eggs, entrees, soups, etc. My teacher's name is Dave, and he's pretty easy on the eyes, and therefore I get to combine pretty boys with cooking. I'm enjoying it a lot. Plus, I am gaining great skills to assist with my dream of becoming an amateur chef.

3. Coffee
Yes, I know. But coffee is so, so, so, so, soooooooooooo good. I am currently looking into buying a grinder and a big ol' french press, but moolas is tight. My little brother got me coffee for Christmas, a pound of the best smelling coffee EVER called "Hair Bender". I am drooling in anticipation of drinking said coffee. I'll let you know how it goes.

4. The Gym
I might write an entire entry about this, but I am truly obsessed with my new gym. I go to Healthworks, a Boston-based women only gym. It's right around the corner from work, and has a sauna and a hot tub. SOLD. Plus, I got two free personal training sessions just by signing up. I've worked with Shauna twice, and am excited to start my regime so I can look like this:

Except I don't tan.

There are so many other things I am geeking out about, such as: my friend Leyla, book club, books in general, nachos, etc etc. I'll write about them later (well maybe not Leyla, cause that'll probably creep her out.)

These Are Two of My Favorite Things

Eggs Benedict:
Nachos:

Great, now I'm hungry.

Four Things

So as my first post, I thought I'd write a short post about four things that make me geek out right now.

1. Dresses with pockets.
Right now I LOVE these things so hard. Do I own a dress with pockets right now? Nope. Do I want one (or five)? YES! I don't know what it is about a cute girly dress with pockets, but I covet.

Take, for example, these dresses (Mori Lee and modcloth respectively)

Aren't they awesome? There is something that is so simple and comforting about having pockets on a dress! In fact, I was wedding dress shopping with a friend when we even came across a wedding dress with pockets at David's Bridal. Amazing.

2. Glee
Ok, I know it's on hiatus until April, but this show is stuck in my brain. I have downloaded the songs on to my iPod, and I even follow @gleeks on Twitter. This show is everything that the drama nerd inside of me loves. Music! Choreography! Geeks triumphing over evil! If you like any of these things, you should be watching this show. CATCH UP!

3. Jen Lancaster
I am sure that Emily will agree with me that Jen Lancaster is amazing. She is a high powered exec turned unemployed broke person turned successful author. Her memoirs "Bitter is the New Black," "Such a Pretty Fat," Bright Lights, Big Ass," and "Pretty in Plaid" are funny and poignant and she feels the exact same way I do about Rachel Ray*! I find myself laughing out loud at everything she writes on her blog, on twitter, and in her books. Buy them. You won't be sorry.

4. Meatless Monday
Every few years I seriously debate turning vegetarian. Then I get a craving for a hamburger or some chicken and that's over. I've got a few friends that are vegetarian (and some that are even vegan, but that's a whole other level) So as part of my "resolutions" for 2010, I've decided to institute one meat-free day a week. Did you know that going meatless one day a week can help out not only your own health but the environment as well? Check out MeatlessMonday.com for more details. For me, I'm LOVING getting to try to eat new things. I even made (from scratch) baked falafel and pita bread for dinner last night.






*I am not someone that "hates" a lot of things, but Rachel Ray is up there. Right next to pickles (sorry Snooki).