dungeness crab dinner

one of life's culinary pleasures is being invited to dinner at edmund's, well, at least in my life anyway. edmund is my buddy from bruin days and has a penchant for simple but good meals with a handful of friends at his house whenever he's back in town. what's so good about his dinners, you ask? well, they're casual and there's lots of good wine. edmund handles the main entrees while guests bring the sides, which makes for easy entertaining. he's also got this great, beautiful and big wooden dining table that accommodates everyone. anyway, whet this against your appetite...

arugula and mixed greens with a homemade lemon vinaigrette and candied walnuts (courtesty of lawrence)

fresh corn on the cob (courtesy of lawrence)

yummy garlic noodles (courtesy of anne the baker)

a pan-grilled steak for the turf diners

and for those who prefer surf... a few fresh, live dungeness crabs (imported this time due to the crappy crab season this year)

an edmund specialty, he leaves 2 crabs in a steam room for 10 minutes using an aromatic broth of ginger, peppercorns and other spices. *warning - if you're vegetarian or sympathetic to animals cooked for food, don't watch the following home video:

timer goes "riiiiiiinnngggg!!" and out come the bright orange crabs.

and viola! once the crabs have cooled a couple minutes, he leaves me to crab-crackin' duty, where i bust open the shell, rinse the innards, remove the gills, and crack the claws. here are two crabs plated for the table, sweet, succulent, tender meat and all. and if you've never tried it, you've gotta taste the savory crab roe and innards, quite a delicacy and deliciously high in cholesterol.

for dessert, anne the baker once again treats us to a special baked good. this time it's a berry surprise cheesecake tart (i think that's what it was called) and a quart of mitchell's strawberry ice cream. mmm...

creamy, fluffy, an amazingly crumbly sweet crust, and a surprise layer of macerated (?) berries in the middle. how the hell do you do it, anne?

while typically edmund will do these kind of dinners without occasion, it did happen to be his birthday (jan 16) and i thought it to be a very tasty occasion indeed.


happy birthday edmund!