Opening the door of my refrigerator to pull out ingredients for a new recipe I am trying or walking the path in my garden checking the progress of a newly planted flower gives me great joy. A new leaf or flower bud makes me smile and a cinnamon bun rising in my oven along with a cup of coffee, well, nothing can get better than that!
As we grow older and, hopefully, wiser, we begin to realize what is important to keep and what we need to leave behind. Sometimes walking away is a step forward. There is an ancient Asian expression that when your mind becomes so cluttered with extraneous trivia, there is “no room to swing a cat.”
I have discovered that being happy is a matter of choice. How you protect that choice you have made will mean having to say “no” at times to people you love; not an easy thing to do.
I have found that sadness will happen, it’s part of the equation, and loved ones will die. This sadness will pass if you have made the choice to be happy and have made room to “swing a cat.”
When I was in my early teens, there was a great deal of empty space between my ears, which seemed to require “things” to be happy. Somewhere between my 40s and 50s, I began to realize all that was needed was to sort out the trivia that was creating stress and unhappiness. Today that step is called “decluttering.”
If my sweet Hubby, Norm, would catch me looking unhappy, he would say to me, “put it behind you Colly and make room for that cat.”
I was unhappy when last November, the Fish and Game department let us know that the Dungeness crab season would be postponed at least until Jan. 5, a decision that crab-lovers all up and down the California coast did not want to hear. Traditional crab feasts that usually happen during the holidays were put off…no crab cocktails, crab crepes, cioppino or crabcakes were to be had.
Neighbor Mike has been checking daily with H&H Fish to see if they would be selling crab on the 5th, and finally last Saturday Mike showed up at my front door with four live and beautiful Dungeness crabs. Each crab’s weight was just a little over two pounds each, and once cooked and cleaned, each crab produced a full cup and a half of crab meat, which was enough meat for five crab cakes and a quart of crab bisque per crab.
Dungeness crab for cocktails is best served right after cooking and chilling. However, if you are making crab cakes, crepe filling or cioppino, frozen crab works fine. I have held crab meat and crabcakes in my freezer for six months; any longer, I am afraid the meat texture would begin to break down.
If you are new to cooking and cleaning a “live” crab, there are many websites with detailed instructions. And no, a crab does NOT scream when it is dropped into the pot of boiling water.
The Perfect Crab Cake Recipe
(Makes 4-5 Cakes)
Try to keep the crab meat in large pieces by adding the meat in last.
• 1-1/4 cups cooked crabmeat
• 2 well-beaten large eggs
• 1 cup of Panko
• 1/4 cup diced red onion or scallions
• 1/4 cup diced red or yellow bell pepper
• 1 minced garlic clove
• 1/2 tsp. salt
• 1/2 tsp. black pepper
• 1/2 tsp. Tabasco sauce
Mix together and refrigerate for at least 2 hours.
Directions: Preheat oven to 350deg.
Add 1 inch of vegetable oil (I prefer peanut oil) in a frying pan and bring temp. up to 375deg.
Pack crab mixture into a 1/3 ounce measuring cup.
Turn out into palm of your hand and carefully place crab cake into hot oil and cook until lightly browned. Turn over crab cake and cook until browned (each side should take about 2 min.)
Place browned crab cakes on a pan fitted with a rack and bake about 10 minutes or until thermometer inserted into cake reads 160deg.
Tartar Sauce
• 3/4 cup mayonnaise
• 2 Tbsp. minced red onion or scallions
• 2 Tbsp. dill relish
• 1 Tbsp. Worcestershire Sauce
• 1 Tbsp. lemon juice
• 1 tsp. Tabasco sauce
• 1 tsp. dill weed
Mix well and refrigerate.
Colly Gruczelak, a Ben Lomond resident, loves people and loves to cook. Contact her at cz****@*****st.net.
