My mother worked the very early opening shift at a convenience store for much of my childhood. She was usually home from work well before I got home from school. Oftentimes, dinner would already be on the table when I walked through the door at three o'clock. We had the same eating schedule as old people who go to sleep before it's dark outside because my mother took to bed fairly early.
Jordan's house is just the opposite, especially when the whole crew is home. Usually we eat around 7, which is my preferred time; not too late and not too early. There have been times, however, when our meals weren't ready until 8 or 9 o'clock. Sometimes it's because the guys will suddenly decide to leave at 7 and we try to keep dinner for their return. Sometimes it's because we (read "I") don't read the recipe through all the way and miss the fact that whatever meal I'm putting in the oven needs to bake for two hours. But, one time, we didn't eat until nearly 10 p.m. just because our food hadn't arrived.
A family friend went to the Jersey shore for the day and promised to bring back crabs for our supper. So we had a late lunch and went about the rest of our day anticipating the arrival of our clawed meal. Josh is notorious around here for being late, so his promised arrival at 8 happened around 9. Pots of water were already boiling on the stove, full of Old Bay seasoning. Within minutes of their arrival, at least a dozen of our crustacean friends had met their fate, but only after giving our chefs a few love bites with their powerful pincers.
To eat, we dumped the cooked crabs on a newspaper covered patio table. The porch light was dim, but everybody (except) me could have torn apart and eaten their crabs without any help from the sun. They dove in. I was slightly more reluctant. In the low light, the crabs looked as if they were still alive. Their beady eyes stared at me, their claws appeared at the ready. With a little help from Jordan, I managed to eat one whole crab, but after the first one, I couldn't bring myself to touch another, so I stuck with the legs that had fallen off and were scattered about the table. I promised I'd try again...in daylight.
For now, I'll content myself with the pictures I got of these little monsters before they went into the pot. Just look at that blue. And, I'll give you a gold star if you know what movie I'm quoting in my title.
Before the Water, originally uploaded by kate e. did.
Jordan's house is just the opposite, especially when the whole crew is home. Usually we eat around 7, which is my preferred time; not too late and not too early. There have been times, however, when our meals weren't ready until 8 or 9 o'clock. Sometimes it's because the guys will suddenly decide to leave at 7 and we try to keep dinner for their return. Sometimes it's because we (read "I") don't read the recipe through all the way and miss the fact that whatever meal I'm putting in the oven needs to bake for two hours. But, one time, we didn't eat until nearly 10 p.m. just because our food hadn't arrived.
A family friend went to the Jersey shore for the day and promised to bring back crabs for our supper. So we had a late lunch and went about the rest of our day anticipating the arrival of our clawed meal. Josh is notorious around here for being late, so his promised arrival at 8 happened around 9. Pots of water were already boiling on the stove, full of Old Bay seasoning. Within minutes of their arrival, at least a dozen of our crustacean friends had met their fate, but only after giving our chefs a few love bites with their powerful pincers.
To eat, we dumped the cooked crabs on a newspaper covered patio table. The porch light was dim, but everybody (except) me could have torn apart and eaten their crabs without any help from the sun. They dove in. I was slightly more reluctant. In the low light, the crabs looked as if they were still alive. Their beady eyes stared at me, their claws appeared at the ready. With a little help from Jordan, I managed to eat one whole crab, but after the first one, I couldn't bring myself to touch another, so I stuck with the legs that had fallen off and were scattered about the table. I promised I'd try again...in daylight.
For now, I'll content myself with the pictures I got of these little monsters before they went into the pot. Just look at that blue. And, I'll give you a gold star if you know what movie I'm quoting in my title.
Before the Water, originally uploaded by kate e. did.
1 comment:
Your story and the photo bring back memories. When I was a kid, we'd go to the Jersey shore every summer, and we'd go catch crabs and then have a big feast ....
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