Serious Eats - seriouseats.com

agreed with Simon, and a comment for schmonsequences: when more and more chain stores are picking up on organic (i.e. the stuff we USED to eat, before chemically altering everything became the norm), why not buy it? half the time it costs the same, sometimes it costs even a little less than the name brands, especially if it's a store brand organic. Wegman's and Super Fresh/A&P have their own brand of organic foods, and they're little more expensive than the major brands.

i don't get why attempting to be healthy is considered such a bad thing by some people.

i can't fathom having that much free time on my hands.

i'm a fan of Gentleman's Jack...some would call me lame for that, but it's always appealed to me.

my other half loves rye, and enjoys supporting a local brand - he drinks Pikesville.

that's...disappointing. i expected better of Pizza Hut.

and now i crave a personal pan pizza. thanks.

While these recipes have all been delicious, I’m still convinced that nothing beats the joy of steaming or boiling whole crabs, to be shelled and eaten with gusto at the table.

you hit the nail on the head! there's a reason crabs are considered a social event 'round the Chesapeake. :)

my parents came across a recipe recently that involved zucchini in crab cakes...if they ever get around to sharing it with me, i'll be sure to post it. apparently it's a darned tasty variation on the standard. you could also try the San Francisco version of a crab cake, but i don't know how that would taste since the crabs they have out there are completely different from ours. they were certainly tasty, if a little strange...i'd never seen a FLAT crab cake before my trip to the west coast last summer.

another suggestion...after you've picked and refrigerated the remnants from a good batch of MD-style crabs, toss lump crabmeat (the good stuff from inside the shell, particularly the backfin) in a plain salad, and add a little catalina or french dressing. the sweetness mixes with the peppery aftertaste in the crabmeat rather well.

argh.

the last post you wrote about blue crabs started my tastebuds a'tingling, and now i have a full-on craving for a few dozen blues steamed up with Old Bay and sea salt, with a side of beer. and i get paid Friday. thaaaaaaaaanks...looks like i'm spending a buck on a bushel this weekend. :P

while those crabs DO look tasty, they're missing a load of Old Bay seasoning mixed with sea salt. soooo goood!

...and if you haven't had crabs steamed with Old Bay, you're missing out!

a close friend works for McCormick, so i can get anything they sell, even if it never makes it to our market.

my favorite memory is a doozy.

my great-aunt (maternal grandmother's sister) always baked cakes for birthdays - it didn't matter whose birthday, she would be busy making cakes. she had cataracts by the time i was maybe 10 or so, but she insisted on baking my father a cake that year.

i vividly remember my mother slicing into it and reaching a point where she just couldn't slice any further. turns out my great-aunt accidentally baked a rubber band into the cake. every year after that, we gave my father a rubber band as part of his birthday present.

we still chuckle about it to this day. she left us 4 years after that incident, and it's one of the fondest memories i have of my great-aunt, god rest her soul.