When you think of crabs, do you think Red Lobster?
Have I ever mentioned that I am originally from southern Maryland? Oh, that’s right. About a million times.
Yes, I am proud to be a Maryland boy. Born and raised, I bleed yellow and black. I actually know my state flower and bird; Black-Eyed-Susan and the Baltimore Oriole. Go O’s.
Now, before I get a horde of neighbors outside of my front door holding pitchforks and torches, let me say that I do love my new home in N.C.
If it wasn’t for the fact that Maryland houses the Chesapeake Bay, I wouldn’t be so married to my home state. You might ask, “What is it about Maryland and The Bay that keep you talking about it and boring us to death about it?”
Maryland blue crabs.
That’s it.
Crabs.
If you haven’t sat around a newspaper-covered picnic table on the Fourth of July with a bowl of drawn butter, Old Bay, a pile of steaming Silver Queen corn and your favorite beverage in a can or bottle, then you haven’t had the TRUE blue crab experience.
When I talk to others about eating crabs, they tell me, “ I love crabs. I could eat crab legs at Red Lobster all night long.”
I get a quick shiver down my spine and find myself trying to explain the difference between “eating crabs” and eating crab legs at Red Lobster.
Have you ever eaten a really tough and fatty piece of steak? Have you ever savored a perfectly cooked filet mignon?
Yes, they are that good.
Growing up in the Del-Mar-Va area, you grow up eating crabs. It is just a way of life.
As a child you sit at the “kid’s table” and eat the legs that the adults don’t want, corn drenched in butter and black pepper, make little sculptures with all of the discarded crab shells and make “potions” with all the different types of sauces, liquids and any other ingredient to make a stomach-turning concoction.
As you get older, you are allowed to take on a crab all by yourself. This only happens under the close watchful eye of an adult and experienced peeler. Usually a family member directs you down the path of proper crab peeling techniques.
Nothing is wasted and every part of the succulent bottom feeder is cracked open and mined of its tender meat.
In North Carolina, you have pig pickin’s. In Del-Mar-Va, we have crab feasts. They are so very similar in their order of operations and boyh strive toward the same goal.
Start preparing early, at least a week or two in advance. An order for the main course is called in and reserved. Friends and family are invited and the calendar is marked.
During the day of the event, there is usually a small group that just can’t wait. These are the ones that get together early to start preparing. They set up tables and chairs, pre-heat the grills and find the perfect spot for the horseshoe pit.
As family arrive, some gather around the grill and there are usually a handful of “pros” that instruct you and let you in on their “secret, award-winning, best way” to cook the pig or crabs.
It’s all part of the fun.
This is where the two events take different paths.
When the pig is done people line up, dress their plate and get a serving or two of their favorite cut of pork. The meal is finished, some dessert is ingested and then we push away from the table to make room for our stuffed bellies.
A crab feast, on the other hand goes a little like this.
Everyone gets a comfortable seat around the newspaper-covered table. The cook dumps a large stock pot full of steaming crabs into the middle of the table and those in front of the pile pass out crabs to the left and right of them.
A hush usually falls upon the table and is followed a few minutes later by a round of “oh-man” and “Mmmmmm” as the first taste of backfin meat graces the crowd’s mouths.
This process is repeated for about four hours. I am not kidding. Three to four hours is an average length of time set aside to eat crabs. I’m not talking about cooking and then visiting afterwords. I mean just eating.
It is very important to keep your cooler next to your seat, a personal roll of paper towels in front of you and try to position yourself at the table so that it is difficult for you to get up. This is a strategy I employ to keep everyone from asking me to get them this or that.
This is why it is so important to be around good friends and family, have plenty of time on hand and have activities for the youngsters to do so that the adults can enjoy the feast to it’s fullest.
I am not knocking the pig pickin’ at all. I enjoy attending and cooking all the same. I just love my blue crab tradition. When summertime comes around, I tend to think about nothing else but crabs until I finally get to a table of ‘em piled high. I don’t even care if I have to sit at the “kids table.” I’m just ready for crabs.
Bryan Pinkey can be found pacing the docks impatiently waiting for the crab boats or at bpinkey@nccox.com.
Tuesday, May 26, 2009
Tuesday, May 19, 2009
5-21-09
Summer road trip adventures are just around the corner, just add 1 large car
Summer is coming, it’s just around the corner. How do I know this? It says so up top.
This is the time that the outside air smells the best. Fresh cut grass can be smelled all over. Flowering trees permeate the air, and during the first five minutes of a summer rain, the pavement expels a distinct aroma that makes me think of driving long distances.
Yes, folks, it’s road trip season.
About this time every year, I start to think about the joys of hopping into a large vehicle and hitting the highway.
There is something soothing about the sound of the road when you know that you have nine hundred miles and two days ahead of you. Add in all of the truck stop drink and bathroom breaks and the “scenic route” detour that adds 2 hours to the trip and a lifetime of memories and stories to tell.
When I was in first grade, I went on my first memorable road trip. For five weeks or more, dad, mom my sister, Jess (who was about 1 1/2 years old at the time) and myself, drove from our home in Maryland and ended up in San Diego, California.
My father was in the Navy at the time and had active duty in Gulf Port, Mississippi. This was going to be our midway destination and our home for two weeks where we stayed with my grandparents.
I remember being young and thinking that it was strange but exciting to be temporarily living in a different house for two weeks. I went grocery shopping in different stores, went out to eat in different restaurants, went to different parks, flew a kite with my dad and uncle on the shore of the Gulf of Mexico and even made it to New Orleans for the day and kicked pigeons and wandered into a strip club when my parents weren’t looking. Don’t worry, the bouncer shooed me back out the door laughing before I could see anything bad, or good.
When Dad was done with his “Ac-Dutra”, we continued west. From Mississippi we traveled to my father’s uncle’s house in Oklahoma. We only stayed the night, there but I vividly remember wearing an authentic Indian Chief’s head dress that he had hanging beside his fireplace.
We then visited the Grand Canyon. I ended up back there three more times on three different road trips after this trip. It’s that amazing.
There are pictures of me, somewhere, running with a Navajo Indian boy that was the same age as me. Mom said that I told everyone that “I played with a ‘Hobo’ Indian.”
Close enough.
His mother was selling turquoise jewelry on the side of the road at a scenic pull off. We didn’t speak the same language but we both knew how to play and laugh.
San Diego. We made it. Dry, beautiful weather and a huge beautiful zoo.
Aunt Nora took us in for I can’t remember how long. What I do remember is that we were sitting in a hot tub one night and hearing that a blizzard hit the DC area with four feet of snow. My parents thought it was great to be in the warmth of California while everyone back home was freezing and running out of power. I, on the other hand, was mad. All of my friends were at home playing in an unimaginable amount of white powder.
I have now turned a short story into a long one. I think what I am trying to say is that this is the time to pack the family up, pick a destination and hop in the truck.
Smell the smells of different states. Buy groceries in a different store. Collect rubber magnets that are in the shape of each state that you pass through. Eat lunch at roadside diners in the middle of nowhere... and get someone to take a picture of you all standing out front.
Make it an adventure. The memories that can be made from even a three-day weekend will live with you for a lifetime.
Believe me, I still look through my photo album of the time that I bought a ‘78 Caddy and drove across country by myself when I was 22. My family and I still look at the slides from our San Diego trip on a large projector screen when the mood hits us. My friend Steve and I still talk about driving from Arizona back to Maryland in two days. Leigh and I talk about all of our trips from Boston to Maryland and North Carolina.
A lifetime of memories, I tell you. A lifetime.
Bryan Pinkey can be found mapping out his next trip and searching for that next Caddy or at bpinkey@nccox.com.
Summer is coming, it’s just around the corner. How do I know this? It says so up top.
This is the time that the outside air smells the best. Fresh cut grass can be smelled all over. Flowering trees permeate the air, and during the first five minutes of a summer rain, the pavement expels a distinct aroma that makes me think of driving long distances.
Yes, folks, it’s road trip season.
About this time every year, I start to think about the joys of hopping into a large vehicle and hitting the highway.
There is something soothing about the sound of the road when you know that you have nine hundred miles and two days ahead of you. Add in all of the truck stop drink and bathroom breaks and the “scenic route” detour that adds 2 hours to the trip and a lifetime of memories and stories to tell.
When I was in first grade, I went on my first memorable road trip. For five weeks or more, dad, mom my sister, Jess (who was about 1 1/2 years old at the time) and myself, drove from our home in Maryland and ended up in San Diego, California.
My father was in the Navy at the time and had active duty in Gulf Port, Mississippi. This was going to be our midway destination and our home for two weeks where we stayed with my grandparents.
I remember being young and thinking that it was strange but exciting to be temporarily living in a different house for two weeks. I went grocery shopping in different stores, went out to eat in different restaurants, went to different parks, flew a kite with my dad and uncle on the shore of the Gulf of Mexico and even made it to New Orleans for the day and kicked pigeons and wandered into a strip club when my parents weren’t looking. Don’t worry, the bouncer shooed me back out the door laughing before I could see anything bad, or good.
When Dad was done with his “Ac-Dutra”, we continued west. From Mississippi we traveled to my father’s uncle’s house in Oklahoma. We only stayed the night, there but I vividly remember wearing an authentic Indian Chief’s head dress that he had hanging beside his fireplace.
We then visited the Grand Canyon. I ended up back there three more times on three different road trips after this trip. It’s that amazing.
There are pictures of me, somewhere, running with a Navajo Indian boy that was the same age as me. Mom said that I told everyone that “I played with a ‘Hobo’ Indian.”
Close enough.
His mother was selling turquoise jewelry on the side of the road at a scenic pull off. We didn’t speak the same language but we both knew how to play and laugh.
San Diego. We made it. Dry, beautiful weather and a huge beautiful zoo.
Aunt Nora took us in for I can’t remember how long. What I do remember is that we were sitting in a hot tub one night and hearing that a blizzard hit the DC area with four feet of snow. My parents thought it was great to be in the warmth of California while everyone back home was freezing and running out of power. I, on the other hand, was mad. All of my friends were at home playing in an unimaginable amount of white powder.
I have now turned a short story into a long one. I think what I am trying to say is that this is the time to pack the family up, pick a destination and hop in the truck.
Smell the smells of different states. Buy groceries in a different store. Collect rubber magnets that are in the shape of each state that you pass through. Eat lunch at roadside diners in the middle of nowhere... and get someone to take a picture of you all standing out front.
Make it an adventure. The memories that can be made from even a three-day weekend will live with you for a lifetime.
Believe me, I still look through my photo album of the time that I bought a ‘78 Caddy and drove across country by myself when I was 22. My family and I still look at the slides from our San Diego trip on a large projector screen when the mood hits us. My friend Steve and I still talk about driving from Arizona back to Maryland in two days. Leigh and I talk about all of our trips from Boston to Maryland and North Carolina.
A lifetime of memories, I tell you. A lifetime.
Bryan Pinkey can be found mapping out his next trip and searching for that next Caddy or at bpinkey@nccox.com.
Wednesday, May 13, 2009
5-14-09
Hitchcock and Jimmy Stewart were ahead of their time
I recently logged into Facebook. I swear that these social networking sites are going to be the downfall of mankind.
People don’t write letters to each other anymore. There are less phone calls and more e-mails than probably should be allowed. Personal contact is at an all-time low.
A year or so, ago, my friend Steve and I were talking about friends of ours that were on Myspace and Facebook and how it is a huge waste of time, impersonal and generally stupid.
We are very cynical and “holier-than-thou” like that when we get together. Don’t judge.
I have a couple of good friends that I have lost touch with over the years and have tried everything except hiring a Bogie style private eye to track them down.
One day, a light bulb turned on. Everyone seems to be on Facebook, Maybe they are, I will see if I can find them there.
I signed my soul over to the site and never told Steve.
Quickly, I found one of my friends. “That was easy.” I thought to myself. One down, two to go.
During my endeavor to find these friends, I found other friends with which I also had lost contact.
One thing I noticed while I perused the Facebook site and “talked” with my friends is that people talk about anything and everything. The other thing that I noticed is that you can keep up with your “friends” and know what they are up to without even talking to them.
Talk about no personal contact.
I have learned more about fellow high school students, friends, and friends of those friends than I ever thought I would know.
One evening while I was having a bout of insomnia, I was thinking about all of these people that I had not talked with in over 15 years. We have all lived our lives, found careers, had families and are trying to grab a little bit of the good ol’ days through the process.
The other thing that I thought about was that it sort of reminded me of a movie I once saw.
Alfred Hitchcock wrote a little story about a man who broke his leg and spent his time looking out of his apartment’s rear window.
L. B. Jeffries, who was played by Jimmy Stewart, would watch his neighbors in the apartment complex behind his building by looking into their back windows.
The neighboring building was about the same size as his and he could see what everyone was doing in their own apartments.
Intrigued, L. B. spent his days watching the daily activities unfold. He would catch a glimpse of someone and could piece together stories of their lives through the short spurts of visual contact that he had with them. It was almost like he was watching multiple TV dramas unfold in every window.
He witnessed what he thinks is a murder, which is where the suspense comes in, but that is irrelevant right now.
You might be asking yourself, “Where is he going with this?”
While logged into Facebook, you can see the conversations that your friends are having and not even have to talk to anyone.
Now, this is sort of nice in the sence that you can “check in” on your friends and be up to speed as to how their day is going, if they had a bad day at work or what they are eating for dinner.
This site allows you to “look in” on each friend whenever you want and, as long as they feel like sharing their thoughts, you can peek into their “window,” just like Jimmy Stewart did.
There is a big voyeuristic pleasure in “checking in” on your friends. I know what they are doing and I can chime in when I feel like it and I can let them look into my “window” whenever I want.
Now yes, we are all in contact with each other. We are doing it in an impersonal fashion but staying in contact none the less.
I don’t think that the website will ever take the place of a good old fashioned phone call or a letter, but it is fun to keep up this way. Staying in touch with friends is nice anyway you slice it.
So, I guess I can live with myself for signing onto Facebook. After all, I’m still looking for my lost friends. If I happen to look in on some friends to see what they are up to, who could it hurt?
It’s not like anyone will get killed.
Bryan Pinkey can be found peeking in on his friends lives or at bpinkey@nccox.com.
I recently logged into Facebook. I swear that these social networking sites are going to be the downfall of mankind.
People don’t write letters to each other anymore. There are less phone calls and more e-mails than probably should be allowed. Personal contact is at an all-time low.
A year or so, ago, my friend Steve and I were talking about friends of ours that were on Myspace and Facebook and how it is a huge waste of time, impersonal and generally stupid.
We are very cynical and “holier-than-thou” like that when we get together. Don’t judge.
I have a couple of good friends that I have lost touch with over the years and have tried everything except hiring a Bogie style private eye to track them down.
One day, a light bulb turned on. Everyone seems to be on Facebook, Maybe they are, I will see if I can find them there.
I signed my soul over to the site and never told Steve.
Quickly, I found one of my friends. “That was easy.” I thought to myself. One down, two to go.
During my endeavor to find these friends, I found other friends with which I also had lost contact.
One thing I noticed while I perused the Facebook site and “talked” with my friends is that people talk about anything and everything. The other thing that I noticed is that you can keep up with your “friends” and know what they are up to without even talking to them.
Talk about no personal contact.
I have learned more about fellow high school students, friends, and friends of those friends than I ever thought I would know.
One evening while I was having a bout of insomnia, I was thinking about all of these people that I had not talked with in over 15 years. We have all lived our lives, found careers, had families and are trying to grab a little bit of the good ol’ days through the process.
The other thing that I thought about was that it sort of reminded me of a movie I once saw.
Alfred Hitchcock wrote a little story about a man who broke his leg and spent his time looking out of his apartment’s rear window.
L. B. Jeffries, who was played by Jimmy Stewart, would watch his neighbors in the apartment complex behind his building by looking into their back windows.
The neighboring building was about the same size as his and he could see what everyone was doing in their own apartments.
Intrigued, L. B. spent his days watching the daily activities unfold. He would catch a glimpse of someone and could piece together stories of their lives through the short spurts of visual contact that he had with them. It was almost like he was watching multiple TV dramas unfold in every window.
He witnessed what he thinks is a murder, which is where the suspense comes in, but that is irrelevant right now.
You might be asking yourself, “Where is he going with this?”
While logged into Facebook, you can see the conversations that your friends are having and not even have to talk to anyone.
Now, this is sort of nice in the sence that you can “check in” on your friends and be up to speed as to how their day is going, if they had a bad day at work or what they are eating for dinner.
This site allows you to “look in” on each friend whenever you want and, as long as they feel like sharing their thoughts, you can peek into their “window,” just like Jimmy Stewart did.
There is a big voyeuristic pleasure in “checking in” on your friends. I know what they are doing and I can chime in when I feel like it and I can let them look into my “window” whenever I want.
Now yes, we are all in contact with each other. We are doing it in an impersonal fashion but staying in contact none the less.
I don’t think that the website will ever take the place of a good old fashioned phone call or a letter, but it is fun to keep up this way. Staying in touch with friends is nice anyway you slice it.
So, I guess I can live with myself for signing onto Facebook. After all, I’m still looking for my lost friends. If I happen to look in on some friends to see what they are up to, who could it hurt?
It’s not like anyone will get killed.
Bryan Pinkey can be found peeking in on his friends lives or at bpinkey@nccox.com.
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