Summer Seafood

Who doesn't start thinking seafood as soon as that first warm breeze of Summer stirs? For me the thoughts are of shellfish. Crabs to be exact. I grew up "pickin" crabs from the Gulf of Mexico, having grown up in South East Texas. Here on the East Coast these are referred to as Louisiana crabs and not worthy of our attention in July and August when the Chesapeake Blue Crab is in. Although I agree the blue is a little sweeter and refined, you never forget your first time. My first time was the Summer I was 5 years old. It began with an early morning wake up call. Mom and dad piled all four kids in our station wagon (very Brady Bunch)and we drove south for a couple hours to Bolliver Peninsula to go crabbing. Now as a kid this was fascinating. We're gonna do what? Catch crabs? And eat them? There was a run down shack and a rickety pier and that was about all. Dad paid an old sea hag a couple bucks to use her pier and we set to work. Mom brought chicken necks from the Piggely Wiggely, a southern staple. They were the cheapest cut in the grocery and I guarantee she was the only white lady in the store buying them. Dad brought the string and the net. Yes, string, regular string. Dad helped me tie the string around the neck and showed me how to drop it over the side of the pier and left me to wait while he and mom got everyone else settled along the pier. Sure enough in no time flat I felt a little tug on my string. The adrenalin started to surge and I started to squeal, "I got a crab, I got a crab". But I soon learned I had to contain my excitement, be cool like my big sister Amy, if I ever wanted to actually catch one of these things. You had to pull the string up very slowly, gently so the crab feasting on the neck didn't spook and let go. Then mom or dad would swoop in, net the crab and dump it in the bushel. Boy, the memories are fabulous and simple. This family tradition lived on every Summer until we moved to the East Coast. I'll never forget the fun and the mishaps and most of all the steamed Louisiana crabs. For the best steamed blue crabs in Delaware call Feby's Seafood and ask for Phillip. Tell him Hawk and Sally sent you.http://www.febysfishery.com/