Friday, August 20, 2010

We Got Crabs!

One of the great things about traveling is that you come to appreciate the tastes home just that much more.  We have encountered plenty of good eats while cruising the East Coast and the Caribbean. We encountered the Conch for the first time in our lives as we sailed to Bahama and have enjoyed them ever since.  Fresh fish is always a favorite from Grouper to Mahi Mahi and Tuna the selection is great.  Goat stew is my go to dish at most lunch counters, and Sunny has taken a real liking to Papaya which I still think tastes like dish soap.  

There are a few items which we don't get back east though and one reason why we were so eager to come back for the summer.  We both had a need for some specific foods and one of those was fresh Dungeness.  Opinions vary on the best way to prepare these great crabs but our favorite way is to catch and steam them them in salt water, followed by cracking the warm legs and throwing the pieces to the fish behind the boat or dock.  The flavor is perfect and butter would only diminish the flavor.  When I first encountered one of these I was with my grandparents in Neah Bay, Wa and we had just finished smelt fishing.  I was about 14 and after eating some smelt they broke out a fresh Dungeness and let me have at it.  After I had finished they broke out a fresh blackberry pie and just like that I was hooked on NW cuisine. 

Our good friends, Jim and Mary, whom we've cruised the Puget Sound with quite a bit were nice enough to invite us along to Anacortes for the Latts and Atts party where we spent three days in the grip of a huge pirate invasion complete with wenches, canon fire and of course Bob Bitchin himself.  The highlight for us though was two days of crabbing where-in we all limited and had all we could eat fresh crab.