A Crabby Dinner

Last Sunday I went to Whole Foods to buy groceries for the week.  Like a renegade, I did not plan my weekly menu in advance.  Rather, I decided to just buy main ingredients (produce, poultry, fish) and find recipes to go with them.  At the seafood counter crab legs were on sale.  They were also sustainably fished (crabbed?).  The low price and the ethical karma of sustainability made me forget that crabs are boiled alive, which actually disturbs me greatly.  I shouldn't be eating them.  But they are delicious.  And in this case also inexpensive and sustainable.  Sorry little crabs.  I am sad that you were boiled alive.

Also at Whole Foods were beautiful bunches of locally-grown organic chard.  I could not resist.  So for Sunday dinner we had crab with Spicy Coconut Sweet Potato Soup with Chard (instead of spinach):
http://cookbookcooks.wordpress.com/2010/01/03/peter-berleys-spicy-coconut-sweet-potato-soup-with-collard-greens/

I think I've already reviewed this soup.  It is yummy.  The sweet potatoes and coconut milk really balance out the spice.  The chard went very well in it, assuming the flavor of the soup. 

My dinner intentions, then, were good.  The end result?  Not so much.  The soup takes 30-40 minutes to make.  While it was in its final simmer, I boiled a pot of water to steam the crab legs.  I know they cook quickly, so I also started browning some butter to make a butter/lemon/garlic dip for the crab legs.  My first mistake was throwing in the garlic while the butter was browning in the pan.  The garlic blackened immediately and tasted sort of burnt.  I guess it should have been added after the butter was off the stove, when I mixed in the lemon juice.  It was still decent, so I poured it into three ramekins and set the table while the crab legs were steaming in batches because my biggest pot really isn't that big. 

As I was setting the table, I realized we only have one crab-opening untensil.  How, you  might ask?  Aren't such things sold in sets?  Who eats crab legs by herself?    I have no idea.  In all likelihood, there was a set initially.  But now we only have one lonely crab-opener.  I decided to crack open some crab legs and extract the meat for Annika before we all got to the table, since Swede and I would have to share the crab-opener once dinner started. Opening Annika's crab took 10 minutes and did not help my mood.  Crab is a pain in the ass!  I extracted a nice pile of meat for her and announced the start of dinner, simultaneously announcing that we would not be eating crab again in the near future. 

I wasn't even done with my own first crab leg (I got the opener and Swede decided to use a steak knife - amazingly without severing a finger in the process) when Annika finished inhaling her crab meat.  By now, struggling with my own crab, which promised to be cold by the time I actually ate it, had significantly worsened my mood.  Annika demanded more crab.  When I declined and told her to eat her soup, she insisted that instead I needed to pour her a glass of water.  My mood went from "not so great" to "foul."  Indignantly slamming down my unopened crab leg, I poured her some water.  I then resumed my work  Completely oblivious to my declining mood, Annika then declared that her soup was yucky and refused to eat it.  (She ate it the last time I made it without issue.) 

Still laboring over my own crab leg, having not yet tasted the sweet fruit of my efforts, I snapped.  Raising my voice much more than I care to admit, I told Annika that I was sick and tired of her picking something out of every meal to complain about.  I further informed her that I had spent 10 minutes getting the crab meat for which she hand't bothered to thank me and I was now working on my own and didn't want to hear anything else from her thankyouverymuch!  A stony silence ensued. 

After my meltdown, I finally got to eat my crab meat and calmed down a bit.  I did the "choose a number between 4 and 20 and that's how many bites you'll eat" trick.  Annika chose 6, which is more than I would have made her eat.  That always makes me laugh.  My mood improved, she ate six bites of soup (declaring the greens "yummy" - go figure!), and I resolved to make the rest of the week better.  Crab will not be served in the Homstrom house for quite a long time, if ever again.