We didn't get to celebrate the new year last weekend after all, so Bubba told me early in the week that we had a date for tonight to go eat "all you can eat crab legs."
Eating crab legs is one of our favorite things to enjoy. They were good tonight, we stuffed ourselves, and now I smell like crab. But O the pleasure to look forward to and actually eat these tasty crustaceans.
My love of crab goes way back. Before dining on crab legs in a restaurant became so "in vogue," we had to go out in a boat and catch our own crabs, and believe me there is no better way to spend an afternoon.
We would pack a lunch and our crabbing gear and head for the river. After loading the boat we would search for just the right spot to put down our anchor. When that was done, we would put chicken necks on our lines and drop them overboard.
Then the excitement and fun would begin. As we very carefully raised our lines we could feel the heaviness of the crab nibbling on the bait. If we were lucky, the crab would come up far enough so that someone else in the boat could scoop it up with a net. If it was a male it was thrown in the "keep" basket. If it was a female, she would be thrown back into the water to swim away and produce other crabs for future harvests.
The elation in the boat was raucous.......we would shout "it's an el mingo" if it was small, and if was large we shouted "EL MONGO"........the best of the best.
When our basket was full and we were sunburned and lethargic we would turn the boat toward home.
In the early evening we would start a fire outside and throw those prizes in the pot when it started boiling. They would turn bright orange.
Tired and hungry we would eat the succulent meat just caught in the river until we could eat no more.
A move to Atlanta and a very busy life ended those days..............hopefully in our retirement we will be able to have "crabbing" days again.
Maybe we'll buy a little boat because we enjoy fishing as well.
We did it the lazy way tonight..........but it was soooo good.
1 comment:
ONCE WHEN WE WERE ON 49TH ST. i WENT "CRABBING" WITH SOME TELEPHONE FRIENDS, CAME HOME WITH A BASKET FULL, MAMA WAS AT WORK AT WALGREEN SO THERE WAS NO ONE TO HELP ME WITH THESE VERY DELICIOUS LOOKING CRABS SO I GOT MY WATER READY AND MARY ANN WHO WAS VERY PREGNANT AT THE TIME CAME BY JUST AS I WAS READY TO "TRY " TO GET THEM INTO THE WATER. SO I IN LONE OF MY BRILLIANT IDEAS DECIDE TO GET A SHOVEL TO TRY TO GET THEM INTO THE HOT WATER,,,,PICTURE THIS NOW THIS VERY PREGNANT LADY HOLDING THE BASKET AND ME AND MY SUNBURNED SELF WITH THE SHOVEL TRYING TO LET THEM OUT WITH THE SHOVEL.....2 ESCAPED AND WE HAD A BATTLE WITH THEM AS THEY APPARENTLY KNEW WHAT WAS COMING AND DID NOT WANT TO GET BACK IN THE BASKET.
HOW I DON'T KNOW BUT WE WON AND THEY WERE RETURNED TO THE BASKET AND EVENTUALLY INTO THE HOT WATER.
MARYANN AND I WERE LAUGHING ABOUT THIS EVENT THIS PAST SUMMER.
THOSE WERE THE DAYS!!!!!!
NOTHING BETTER THAN CRABBING ON A SUMMER DAY.
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