The first night
Hi from here.
I should clarify: not here exactly. These photos were taken at our dinner table, but I’m currently sitting at my desk. I would much rather be there than here. Oh well.
These shots are from the first night of 2012, with our friends Ben, Bonnie, and Sam. We had wanted to go crabbing and catch our New Year’s dinner ourselves, but Ben and Brandon wound up with food poisoning on New Year’s Eve, so we decided to scale back the plan. We bought the crabs instead. We cooked them and cleaned them and heaped them in a bowl, and then we covered the table with garbage bags and set out cutting boards, crab picks, and ice cream scoops-cum-crab mallets. That, plus couple of baguettes, and we had a feast.
And this afternoon, that’s where my head is.
Wherever yours is, I hope you’re well.
I should clarify: not here exactly. These photos were taken at our dinner table, but I’m currently sitting at my desk. I would much rather be there than here. Oh well.
These shots are from the first night of 2012, with our friends Ben, Bonnie, and Sam. We had wanted to go crabbing and catch our New Year’s dinner ourselves, but Ben and Brandon wound up with food poisoning on New Year’s Eve, so we decided to scale back the plan. We bought the crabs instead. We cooked them and cleaned them and heaped them in a bowl, and then we covered the table with garbage bags and set out cutting boards, crab picks, and ice cream scoops-cum-crab mallets. That, plus couple of baguettes, and we had a feast.
And this afternoon, that’s where my head is.
Wherever yours is, I hope you’re well.
posted by Molly at 2:42 PM
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38 Comments:
You're such a sweet person, Molly. Every time I read one of your posts I like you even more. :)
Looks delicious! As a South Carolinian currently living in Chicago, I really miss fresh seafood.
my head is definitely not on work, which is why i'm reading your blog right now. ;-) nice to know i'm in such good company for procrastination!
Really enjoyed this post and your photographs. It looks like so much fun. . .would want to do it sometime :)
By the looks of it, you're in for a good year!
My favorite feast. Like mine with an Anchor Steam beer and a loaf of sourdough for the full San Francisco meal. Yum.
I turned allergic to crustaceans in 2001, so posts like this are the only way I can enjoy now. Thanks!
Love the candles, love the wooden cutting boards and I loved this post. Thanks for posting Molly, even when your deadline is looming.
Oh my goodness! It looks like pure heaven to me.
Well, thank you, I am doing well. And now my head is at your table...looks so perfect.
Ours is out in tofino - where we drop our crab trap when the tide is out with hot dogs as bait (they work!) and if we're lucky feast on fresh crab, steamed in sea water, with garlicky butter and corn bread. With friends! No better way to eat crab.
Just this week I finally subscribed to Spilled Milk and have been listening from oldest to newest. I'm flying through them SO much. Thank you for making my work week that much brighter (my current fave is scary foods where you elucidate my fear of yogurt perfectly)
I love this - in my world, shellfish and laughter are New Years requirements! When I was young, my father started the now-grand tradition of the New Years lobster bake. We would trek down to the quaintly gourmet grocery store in the city and I would press myself up against the tall glass seafood case while my father ordered 3 aluminum roasting pans each containing one whole lobster, a pound each of clams and mussels, potatoes, onions, carrots and corn cobs. Watching the ball drop with my parents, all of us covered in butter and lobster shrapnel remains one of my favorite memories
I carried this tradition into my adult life for the first time for me and my husband's first New Year. As I am wont to do, I upped the ante by doubling the amount of clams and mussels. Try as we might, neither of us could make a dent in our respective troughs of deliciousness. Don't worry, there was no waste - those leftovers made possibly the best manhattan-ish clam chowder I've ever had!
Funny how our heads and hearts can snag on a memory and not let go for a while. A good way for our inner selves to send messages, I think. I think this one might say, "You are well loved!" Cheers, and keep on truckin' At That Desk! I'm write there with ya, har har :)
Oh that looks fantastic! We had crab on NYE too, but I am pregnant and I guess the baby didn't like it. I'm happy you thoroughly enjoyed yours, and I hope you have a blessed pregnancy, filled with all your favorite things to eat (and otherwise).
Mine is all over the place but here at work :)
I see you guys are doing this very seriously, aprons and all :)
I'm a movie addicted, and one of the scenes I really love is when people gather around a table with huge napkins and a wooden cum to eat crabs.
I've always wished to sit at that table one day, so I do love this post, and the feeling behind!
I have always wanted to go crabbing, but this sounds like a way to curb my desire AND like a ton of fun. Thanks for sharing!
Thanks. I often find my head is somewhere else too. It's sort of what blogging and reading blogs is all about.
Well, I was eating jellybeans and looking at the return of the yellow finches but now I'm dreaming of crab and lovely people to share it with. I am way too susceptible. And where you are in your heart is so very sweet.
We use newspaper on the table instead. Then we roll it all up when we are done. It looks like you had a lot of fun. I hope to put out some crab pots do that and have enough left over for crab cakes too.
Perhaps just the interlude we both needed, eh?
Back to work, then.
I've always loved your blog but now that I'm pregnant (not quite as far a long as you are but close) and thinking about food - ALL. THE. TIME - I'm even more in love with it. Much of my procrastination effort is also spent on reminiscing about outstanding meals with people I love. Must be the hormones...
Mmmm... now that's livin'!
Don't worry about the head; your heart's in the right place.
this is what happens with pregnancy.....and I'm afraid it doesn't seem to go away after that......but that's a good thing! :)
I became allergic to shellfish a few years ago so it's a little painful to see pics like this. Makes me really miss seafood! Looks like a nice way to celebrate the New Year.
Lovely photos! Looks like a great time!
The perfect feast! I love that you covered the table in garbage bags first. You just know the kind of grotesque messy delicious pleasure you're in for with that kind of prep!
Wonderful feast, reminds me of eating swimmer crabs sitting outside a Sidney resturant one spring, going back to late autum in the UK after that was hard.
Just reading "A Homemade Life" waht a great book, keen to try out lots of the recipes too. Having a story for a recipe makes it even more appealing to me.
i ADORE your blog, orangette.
I can't imagine a better place for your mind to be resting.... :)
Love your black and white pics. The crabs look wonderful. A perfect way to eat them. GG
Looks like such fun!
These pictures are gorgeous! Reminds me of setting crab pots on Whidbey Island and eating them on a make-shift table on the deck. Eating with your hands is so satisfying... primal and nuturing at the same time.
Foodiewithalife.blogspot.com
looks like this is gonna be a good food year
THIS site is where i go to, when i am stuck at writing and need a visual and writing break. so, thank you for that. also, for making me super hungry, and also laughing at the garbage bags on the table, bc there's not a lot worse than cleanup.
I would like to be there too! Crab + black & white photos = two things that go together well... your posts are always a delight to read!
Gorgeous b/w photos Molly! I love a table full of food and friends.
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