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The Crab Who Fought Back

November 30, 2011 By Leave a Comment

I seem to have a knack for attracting critters and weirdo bugs.  They must smell my fear! It’s either that or someone has planted a hidden camera chip in me, and is getting a huge kick out of my reactions to the ridiculous situations I find myself in.  Emme Rogers has enjoyed her share of laughs at my expense and has attempted to fuel the fire by suggesting I combine dining and insects.  It’s a good thing I have friends who are on my side and kids who find her challenges insulting.  They set out to help me prove something to her.  Unfortunately for me, I think she’ll have the last laugh.

My friends came up with the idea to cook up some fresh crab and enjoy a night in with garlic butter and wine.  I had eaten crab legs before so I thought the whole thing sounded pretty good, except for the fact that crabs remind me of spiders.  Oh well, I figured my friends would lead the way, I would drink the wine and look the other way most of the time.  They did make me go shopping with them to buy the crab though.  We went down to a marina area so we could pretend like we ‘caught’ our own fresh dinner.  A lovely man reached into the hundred-leg tank and pulled out a huge crab like it was nothing.  The next thing that happened let me know this night was going to be more than I was prepared for; my girlfriend asked how to cook it.  I thought they had done this before!  When I heard the man say what we had to do I knew I was going to have to be involved, that this would be a group project and I could not hide from it.

 

Just Look At All Those Legs Crawling Around In There!

 

Learning How to Hold a Crab

 

It's Really Happening, A Fresh Crab For Dinner!

 

We ran through the plan all the way home.  Take the crab out of the paper…pick it up in the right way to avoid the pinching claws, hit it REALLY hard on the middle of the sink to crack the shell instantly and have it be over with…remove the top shell and discard the parts we don’t want…boil it…eat it.  Of course the kids caught wind of our excitement and gathered around, refusing to miss our attempt at this.

Take the crab out of the paper: The crab slid right into the sink and turned around to stare at us. I have never looked a crab in the face before and I think we all froze for a moment.

 

The Stare Down

 

Pick it up the right way: My friend’s husband was designated to do this.  He kept going for it, but could not commit.  Finally he made the move.  He did it all wrong and it was totally awkward, but he managed to get it into position.

 

Trying To Hold It Right

 

Hit it REALLY hard on the middle of the sink: We missed the REALLY part and ended up with a sort of tap.  The crab jumped out of my friend’s hands and back into the sink and ran around like crazy with it’s big angry claws.  Oh the screams! The kids were screaming, we were screaming, the kids ran away, and we kept screaming.  Eventually we stopped, drank a lot of wine, and composed ourselves enough to try again.  Success!  Then it hit us, we had to do it two more times because we had 3 crabs altogether.  We got smart and kept the other two in the paper until the deed was done.

In the end after drinking more wine to forget everything, I was actually able to enjoy our meal.  It was really hard to eat it after I just saw it running around.  I did spill garlic butter everywhere trying to get the meat out of the leg, but no one can dispute the fact that I was an active participant in a crazy dining experience.

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A Hot Drink for a Snowy Van City Day: The Coffee Float

February 27, 2011 By Leave a Comment

I am may love to argue with Erica Hargreave, but she really is quite brilliant at times, especially when it comes to designing such delightful concoctions as The Coffee Float.  Now I know Erica would protest and say it was a group effort between her, her friend Monica, and the Girl Guides and Sparks (as after all they were the ones with the brilliant idea of Ice Cream for Breakfast), but Erica’s the one that took it that extra steps further and added Sunday toppings on it and got the mix just right.

The Coffee Float as created by Erica Hargreave

Ingredients

  • 3/4 of a cup of good coffee
  • 1 small – medium scoop of vanilla or chocolate ice cream
  • chocolate syrup
  • caramel syrup
  • sprinkles

Method

  • Fill a mug 3/4 full with piping hot, quality coffee.
  • Top the coffee off with a small to mid size scoop of ice cream.
  • Decorate with chocolate syrup, caramel syrup and sprinkles. (No, these are not optional.  That would just be plain silly.)

* If you add sugar to your coffee, you can probably give that a miss on this beverage.  It’s sweet enough on it’s own.*

Drink back and enjoy!  With special dedication to all the folks out shoveling and being neighbourly this morning.

Kisses,

Emme xoxo

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Wrestling Salsa

February 17, 2011 By 1 Comment

After mine and Emme’s attempt to peel onions in preparation for Bob Blumer’s go at breaking the world onion peeling record, I got inspired.  My win over Emme gave me some confidence and I thought I might really have something special in the kitchen.  With Glutton for Punishment coming to an end after 5 incredible seasons, I thought I would start something new for myself.  I decided to embark on a journey similar to Julie and Julia, but call it Brie and Bob.  Once I realized that would have me wrestling a 50 pound catfish, chasing a cheese-wheel down a cliff in England, and detoxifying a deadly poisonous blowfish in Japan, I decided to just make Bob’s salsa instead.  This proved to be enough of an adventure in itself, but I am quite proud of the delicious results and I plan to win hummingbird604′s Glutton for Punishment contest with my experience. Now I know how much I need the DVD sets of the show!

Bob Blumer's Salsa

I learned something very important while making this salsa.  It’s really lousy to be a slow chopper!  I don’t mind that I had to hunt down all the ingredients (well, a really nice grocery man helped me-I think I looked lost), or pay a lot more than pre-made, store-bought salsa, but I felt like a real let-down that it took me 23 min just to chop the tomatoes.  I thought I would serve it up during some family TV time, but instead I was running to the kitchen on commercials to chop the onions and herbs and ended up having the whole salsa ready for bedtime.  When everyone went to sleep, I stayed up and ate my salsa. I loved it, and everything turned out for the best, as it tasted even better for the family the next day after all the flavours had hung out in the jar in the fridge all night.  I now have a new side focus though.  I am going to learn how to chop fast.  I want to invite Emme to join me but she is a real danger in the kitchen.  I need Bob to give me some tips!

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If Bob Blumer Can Do It, So Can We. Taking Up the Glutton for Punishment Onion Peeling Challenge.

February 6, 2011 By Leave a Comment

Thanks to Brie Mason, I’ve recently discovered a rather delectable piece of kitchen candy, Bob Blumer.  Curious … does anyone know if he’s single?  All over a man that knows his way around the kitchen.  mmm…mmm…mmm

Photo Courtesy of Roland Tanglao

At any rate, Brie’s and my new Monday night tradition is curling up to the Food Network Canada to watch Bob battle it out on Glutton for Punishment for yet another Foodie World Record.  Now, neither of us have really ever been couch potatoes.  We like to be a little more engaged, and as such, we decided to take Bob on at his own game and see how we’d fair at the competition for this Monday’s episode – the Onion Peeling World Record.  We’re both pretty decent cooks, so really how hard could this possibly be.

We’ll we found out just that on Friday night, as we reverted to high school (…umm … I mean university) with rum and cokes (in Brie’s soap opera glasses) and a series of tricks up our sleeves.  You see, we were set to compete with each other in peeling onions, and unlike Bob, WE didn’t need 3-minutes, 1-minute would do.  Now I say ‘tricks’ to be polite, as in reality, Brie is a CHEAT. She snuck a few onions in the freezer as apparently that makes peeling them easier and bites back on the tears.  I on the other hand, did not cheat, but rather did a little research being a conscientious student and all. What I learned was that soaking onions in water is suppose to make peeling them easier.

Maybe I should have listened to that onion peeling video a little closer – those tips were for pearl onions and garlic, not walla wallas.  Have no clue how Bob is possibly going to peel 50 pounds of onions in less than 3 1/2-minutes.  I guess we’ll have to tune in on Monday.  Glutton for Punishment is on the Food Network Canada at 7:30 pm EST and at 4:30 pm and 11:30 pm PST.

Special thanks to our pro video team – Young Master Mason ( aged 10 ) on camera and Little Miss Mason ( aged 8 ) on the timer.

Kisses,

Emme xoxo

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Winter Pick Me Up: Hot Apple Mandarin Toddy

November 5, 2010 By 2 Comments

Been feeling a little fragile this past week and whether it’s a cold, matters of the heart or that time of the month, I decided that it needed to be nipped in the butt this evening.  And so what better way to nip the cold weather blues away then with a Hot Apple Toddy with a sunshine twist. So I invented my very own Hot Apple Mandarin Toddy and if I do say so myself it pretty yummy. Here’s the recipe:

Ingredients

  • 1 1/2 cups of apple cider
  • 3 cloves
  • a stick or a dash of cinnamon
  • mandarin peel
  • one mandarin segmented and cut in halves
  • 1 tsp of honey
  • 2 oz of whisky

Preparation

  • Heat cider, cloves, cinnamon, mandarin peel, mandarin segments and bring to a rolling simmer.
  • Put honey in a mug.
  • Add whisky to a mug.
  • Pour cider into the mug and stir with a spoon.
  • Optional to add the mandarin segments and cinnamon stick to the mug.

Enjoy!

Oh and please let me know if you come up with any other variations.

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