eG Foodblog: C. sapidus - Crabs, Borscht, and Fish Sauce

[Pam R]

Bruce, I can't tell you how much I've enjoyed your blog. Thanks!

One quick question for you - Has Mrs. Crab's being on WW influenced what you cook and how you shop - or is she on her own?

[snowangel]

Bruce, first a question. As I reported via a link here, I had lunch with Peter one day when he was eating school lunch. What do your kids do for lunch while they're at school? What do they eat? Do they have enough time in which to actually eat their lunch?

Second, thanks for opening up your lives to us. I know, first hand, how hard it can be on the family when you are doing the documentary. Hats off to Mrs. Crab, eldest son and younger son for putting up with us!

[lucylou95816]

Bruce, thanks so much for the wonderful blog and for the awesome kitchen tour..I have some work to do in mine. Thanks again!

[C. sapidus]

Wow, thanks for all the kind comments and excellent questions. Let me tell about our afternoon and evening, and then I’ll answer questions and close things up.

This afternoon, we drove north of Frederick to fruit and orchard country, passing horse pastures on the way:

We had amazing apples and blueberries from Pryor’s Orchard last summer . . .

But they are closed for the year. We took some pictures anyway . . .

. . . of the blueberry patch . . .

. . . and one of the orchards:

Next, we drove east of town to wine country. Although we did not have steamed crabs this blog, I took pictures at two of our favorite crab joints. Avalon:

Most crab joints cook crabs in a separate building out back:

Apparently, the building that houses Avalon started out as Mount Pleasant Public School No. 3 more than a century ago:

The former school, now serving delicious crabs.

Liberty Road Seafood also has very good crabs:

Hmm, I might need a new avatar

Elk Run Vineyards (click) was our destination, but several other vineyards are located nearby.

They have several vineyards:

Oak barrels outside:

Elk Run sells Maryland cheeses in the tasting room.

Mrs. Crab examining the wares. We brought home an ice wine and a port.

The proprietor, I think (jeez, I am such a lousy reporter)

[OnigiriFB]

Wondeful blog! I love seeing so much Asian food. I think I need to pick up some more cookbooks. Thanks for letting us into your home for the week.

Oh, and I love the "eternal cucumbers".

[mrbigjas]

Elk Run Vineyards (click) was our destination, but several other vineyards are located nearby.

nice way to end the blog. i have a bottle of elk run ice wine downstairs that a friend gave me several years ago that i've never opened. i should get to that one of these days...

edited to say thanks for doing this! good fun.

Edited January 21, 2007 by mrbigjas (log)

[C. sapidus]

We ate dinner with friends at Tajitu, a fairly new Ethiopian restaurant downtown Frederick. I used to make regular forays to the Adams-Morgan neighborhood in DC for outstanding Ethiopian food. Meskerem and Red Sea were my favorites back in the day. Street scene outside Tajitu (photo taken earlier):

The building formerly housed the Snow White Grill, which operated from 1938 until around 2003 (picture also taken earlier).

Dinner starts with hot steamy towels, brought by our charming server. She remembered our last visit, probably a year ago, because our boys devoured so many sambusas.

The boys made short work of the sambusas again.

The food is served on injera and shared among the diners.

Picking up the food with injera.

The happy crew (wearing a white shirt was obviously a mistake on my part):

The aftermath. Mrs. C assigned 10 WW points for the meal. She was 2 points over for the day - not bad, all things considered.

Edited to add WW points.

Edited January 21, 2007 by C. sapidus (log)

[C. sapidus]

Such organized shelves! I am envious.

I was wondering about your knife block, Bruce. I have been trying to find one that would accommodate cleavers. Can you tell me where you bought yours? Another eGulleteer emailed about a different kind of knife holder from the UK. It's not a block, and I think I'd want both!

Dejah: We found the knife block at Artisan Central (link).

Mrs. C. is on WW program. Does she have to really work at figuring out the points? I would like to try the program, but think it might take too much work in figuring out the points when I make Chinese homestyle food, for example, last night's soup of dried tofu stick soup with rehydrated oysters, pork bones and gingko nuts.  It's encouraging to see that Mrs. C is able to work with all the delicious dishes you prepare.

Mrs. C uses Weight Watchers online. Many dishes already have WW points assigned (the database did not have ginkgo nuts, but it did have dried tofu). Once you have entered an ingredient or a meal, you can pull up that information for future entries. Mrs. C does not get too hung up on exact details – for example, candlenuts are related to macadamia nuts, so she entered the data from macadamias when I used candlenuts in the sambal udang. If in doubt, she overestimates the points.

Not sure if anyone has asked, but do you have Asian in your heritage? I thought maybe because one of your sons looked Asian, and because of your store of Asian ingredients, recipes, etc.

We adopted our boys from Russia. Elder son was from eastern Russia, hence his Asian features. He thinks of himself as Asian, Russian, and American. No other Asian heritage in the family - I just love the food.

[C. sapidus]

Your foodblog is awesome and inspirational.  The order and organization in the kitchen is a culinary dream, and as always, your food looks sensational!

Thank you for sharing so much with us.

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Thank you very much!

[racheld]

Black skillets

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This has been SO wonderful, and the week has flown like minutes. Your lovely family, the great cooking, the ultra-pro photos, and just a glimpse into your lively life. I especially enjoyed seeing steps to the finished "Dinner" plates we drool over every day.

And the mapo looked wonderful, but DO give a try to Ah Leung's version---that's the one that gets my tastebuds a-tingle at BREAKFAST time. When that ginger/garlic starts to sizzle while I'm having my first coffee---bliss. It also has a definite bit of that pleasant heat. And Caro makes it perfectly---she's already at work now, and won't be home til daylight. She'd want to convey how much she's enjoyed this blog, as well.

Thanks again for the week. See you at DINNER.

[SuzySushi]

Wonderful blog! Your kitchen makes me jealous! Also the fact that your boys will eat vegetables.

[C. sapidus]

Wow, are your cupboards nice and organized (I'm hanging my head in shame).  Love the bag of prik haeng in the cupboard above the drying rack!

Yes, a very nice person kindly sent that to me. I thought you might notice the chilies.

Your new kitchen is absolutely beautiful, and I'm wondering that now you've had the time to play in the kitchen if there is anything you wish you'd done differently?

Thanks, Susan. We would not change many things about the kitchen, although we have been very unhappy with the Whirlpool dishwasher - two service calls in the first year, and it does a lousy job of getting dishes clean. We were very happy with our last Whirlpool, so maybe we just got a lemon.

I once read that if you get 80% of what you wanted after a kitchen renovation, you did a pretty good job.

What kind of toaster do you have?  Do you like it?  I have a 4-slice one that I hate, and which I would really like to replace with one of those two long slots ones.

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It is a Black & Decker with one long slot. We are happy with it, but we don't use a toaster that much. This was the first time we had it out in several months.

[C. sapidus]

Outstanding knife collection - and the block is extra cool. 

I just put some chicken to marinate in an attempt to prepare your Vietnamese chicken with Jasmine Rice.  Just before leaving the store I ran to get a cucumber.  What the hey?!

Thanks for blogging this week.  Well done!

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Awesome! Do tell how you like the chicken. Who knew cucumbers would be the star of the blog.

[C. sapidus]

Bruce,

Thank you for the week. We really enjoyed seeing the "new" Frederick. We sold the Carriage Inn Bed and Breakfast in Charles Town, WV 4 1/2 years ago before moving to WA state. I used to shop weekly in Frederick and wish I had the variety of stores to choose among that are available there now. I'm glad to hear there is still some farmland around the area. The rate it was building up, I was afraid it would become wall to wall houses.

Kay

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Thank you, Kay. I have heard of the Carriage Inn, but never had the pleasure of a visit. Yes, the shopping options have greatly improved in the past few years.

We will see about the wall to wall houses. When my parents moved to Silver Spring in the late 1950s, it was considered "out in the country." My father told me that Piney Branch Road, now a major thoroughfare, was still a dirt road.

[C. sapidus]

i'm sorry to see this blog come to an end.  i'm sure more than one eGulleteer would love to move (if not in with you, then next door) to be able to eat the delicious meals that you're always preparing.

the mapo dofu looks great.  i always use spicy italian sausage instead of plain ground pork as that is what my husband likes.  i've never used leeks but usually garnish with thinly sliced green onion and a dash of white pepper or ground szechuan peppercorn.  it is supposed to be a bit numbing (ma).

great blog bruce.  so good to meet the rest of the family as well!

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Thank you very much, alana. I'll have lots of ideas for the next mapo dofu session.

[C. sapidus]

The mapo tofu looks good enough to eat!

Oh, I hope so!

I'm wondering why you "blanched" the tofu - to firm it up?

Um, I was just following the recipe. Is it unusual to "blanch" the tofu?

I love the texture of soft tofu. It makes it saucy, smooth, soothing.  Hubby and the kids like to have firm cubes, so I use both.

Using both sounds like a great idea - I'll try that next time.

Thanks for a great week!

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You are quite welcome!

[C. sapidus]

Bruce, I can't tell you how much I've enjoyed your blog.  Thanks!

One quick question for you - Has Mrs. Crab's being on WW influenced what you cook and how you shop - or is she on her own?

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Thank you, Pam. WW has had some influence - we use a lot less coconut milk than before, for example. For the most part, we are still making the same food. Mrs. C fills up on veggies (which typically have zero points) and adjusts portion sizes on the points-rich dishes.

[C. sapidus]

Bruce, first a question.  As I reported via a link here, I had lunch with Peter one day when he was eating school lunch.  What do your kids do for lunch while they're at school?  What do they eat?  Do they have enough time in which to actually eat their lunch?

The boys eat in the school cafeteria, and they seem to like the cafeteria food (I did too, at their age). I have not heard them complain about not having enough time, but they usually wolf down their food pretty quickly. Younger son goes through lunch money twice as fast as older son – we still haven’t figured that out.

Second, thanks for opening up your lives to us.  I know, first hand, how hard it can be on the family when you are doing the documentary.  Hats off to Mrs. Crab, eldest son and younger son for putting up with us!

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Mrs. Crab and da boyz have been very, very good sports.

Edited to elaborate.

Edited January 21, 2007 by C. sapidus (log)

[C. sapidus]

Wondeful blog! I love seeing so much Asian food. I think I need to pick up some more cookbooks. Thanks for letting us into your home for the week.

Oh, and I love the "eternal cucumbers".

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Thank you!

[C. sapidus]

Elk Run Vineyards (click) was our destination, but several other vineyards are located nearby.

nice way to end the blog. i have a bottle of elk run ice wine downstairs that a friend gave me several years ago that i've never opened. i should get to that one of these days...

edited to say thanks for doing this! good fun.

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Thank you - everyone helped make it quite enjoyable.

[C. sapidus]

I wish to thank everyone for their kind comments, thoughtful questions, and for making this a very enjoyable week. I would be gravely remiss if I did not thank my family for their support. The boys were very tolerant about this rather odd endeavor.

Particular thanks and appreciation to Mrs. Crab. She had lots of great ideas, took many of the pictures, and bore without complaint extra shopping, clean-up, and parenting duties while I resized pictures and tapped away at the keyboard.

Thanks a bunch, hon!

Thank you for sharing this week with our family, and visiting Frederick . . .

. . . where there are angels in the architecture . . .

. . . and the sun sets over the Blue Ridge Mountains.

Goodbye!

Edited to add the pictures that I meant to add in the first place.

Edited January 21, 2007 by C. sapidus (log)

[C. sapidus]

Black skillets 

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Rachel - I cannot take credit for the skillets. The small one was a present from my MIL, and came with several decades of seasoning. The other, a recent addition, was seasoned by the good folks at Lodge.

This has been SO wonderful, and the week has flown like minutes.  Your lovely family, the great cooking, the ultra-pro photos, and just a glimpse into your lively life.  I especially enjoyed seeing steps to the finished "Dinner" plates we drool over every day.

Why thank you - you are too kind.

And the mapo looked wonderful, but DO give a try to Ah Leung's version---that's the one that gets my tastebuds a-tingle at BREAKFAST time.  When that ginger/garlic starts to sizzle while I'm having my first coffee---bliss.  It also has a definite bit of that pleasant heat.  And Caro makes it perfectly---she's already at work now, and won't be home til daylight.  She'd want to convey how much she's enjoyed this blog, as well.

Ah Leung's mapo tofu is definitely on my to-do list, and please thank Carol for her questions and excellent suggestions for future stir-fries.

Thanks again for the week.  See you at DINNER.

Definitely - but probably after a few days of spaghetti with pre-formed meatballs and jarred sauce (one of the boys favorite dinners, by the way).

[Domestic Goddess]

Bruce, add me to your growing horde of fans. We really appreciate the wonderful, colorful blog that you and the missus have prepared for us. They say with accumulation of knowledge one grows richer. I definitely feel richer everyday I read your posts. Once again, maraming salamat.

[Dejah]

Thanks for the answers to all my questions. The Artisan Central link is great, and I may at last get the knife block I want!

With your info' on WW, I am game to try the program. Knowing there's a thread for WW will really help too. What CAN'T we find on eGullet!

I loved the Ethiopian restaurant pictures. I teach many Ethiopian immigrants in our community. Eating with ingeria is one reason I plan and look forward to our class potluck suppers! The students know to make lots of extras for Teacher to take home.

Your boys are lucky, as you and Mrs. C are, to be all in the same family.

[Chufi]

Bruce, thank you for this week. You have inspired me to clean out and organize my spicecabinet today , and to cook more Asian food! I have always been a bit intimidated by Asian food - you make it look easy and delicious. Thank you for that.

Also, I loved that this blog was very much a family project - with your boys involved with the cooking, and that you showed what your familymembers were eating.

Your kitchen is beautiful. Keep cooking and keep sharing with us on the Dinner! thread!