Crab Feast

[shots worth sharing]

It was great but--given subdued indoor light, my aversion to flash, uncooperative subjects and the distractions

of hosting--a photographic dud. Mostly, I ended up with a few decent, but very noisy, candids--not worth sharing.<div></div>

[shots worth sharing]

Eating crabs is a messy business and requires photographic discretion ;~)<div></div>

[rose_duclos]

Dave, I don't like seafood, but that first shot does look delicious. :) I hope you ate enough of them to do justice to your east coast heritage. :D

[shots worth sharing]

This shot will give you a sense of what I was up against in terms of lighting. Still, I kind of like this one (and it's my best yet of my silhouetted sister-in-law ;~)<div></div>

[shots worth sharing]

Don't tell a soul, Rose, but the fact is I don't eat streamed crabs myself. Probably a good thing in terms of camera handling--I think Pentax would recommend against getting Old Bay seasoning on the sensor.

[dugger]

Looks like a good time was had Dave. Have you considered a noise plug-in? I use noise ninja... and it has been a blessing for many a shot... My image in this weeks POW of the rock group was shot at IS0 6400... course outputting in B&W made it a little easier to get rid of the pixies.

[musings]

Really liked the crab photos, Dave. If you were using the K10 or K20, then I'm sure the weather seals came in handy! Crab eating is definitely a messy affair. Not enough Heinekens and Red Stripes on the table, though...needed to be 2X that (along with a few Rolaids). :-)

[henkc]

This also involved quite a struggle to keep the camera clean (particularly after eating all the food it came with.

 

<a href="http://picasaweb.google.com/coetzee.henk/MozambiqueAprilMay2008/photo#5196961753191337090"><img src="http://lh4.ggpht.com/coetzee.henk/SB9RLgpCzII/AAAAAAAAANY/TqDnk7NDzvM/s800/IMGP5729.jpg" /></a>

[duane_mills]

What? No Guinness?

[bob_marz]

Nice pics Dave...

 

Can't believe you don't eat the famous Maryland crabs.

 

We had the chance to partake of some of them 3 years ago while visiting our son who was living in Baltimore at the time. We stayed in Annapolis and ate at Cantler's.

 

Yes they are messy and hard work.

 

Here's a bushel pre- cooked.<div></div>

[bob_marz]

And a shot of the famous and always busy, Cantler's<div></div>

[shots worth sharing]

Guinness?! Good grief, Duane--I thought *Heineken* was perhaps a bit too classy. The real standard is Baltimore's own National Bohemian.

 

I told you not to tell anyone, Rose! Now it seems Bob and the whole world knows I don't eat crabs. The fact is , I'm too lazy. figure, except for the beer, if it's a net loss: you expend more energy in the picking than you gain in the eating. Now a crab cake is another story.

[mountainvisions]

THe only thing I love about the DelMarVa coast. What a delicious mess.

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Wish I could have joined you...next time I'm down in DC we'll have to meet up Dave!!

[dugger]

Pardon the "newbie" question, but what parts are edible on these things... I'm aware of the legs. Is anything else

considered "good eats"?

[abe_hollander]

Aw, man. Crab's out of the bag now!

 

Yeah, despite Dad not actually EATING them, it makes him a MUCH better host! It's a messy, high-maintenance party. By not getting messy, he has time to remove the "dead reds" (empty Red Stripe bottles) to make room for more crabs. And more beer ('though both my boys are too young to partake).

 

Doug: Not to digress too far into culinary detail in a photography forum, but... oh, what the heck! This forum's NOTHING if not a big digression!

 

What to eat/not eat is fairly personal, but the good meat is in the large claws (darker, somewhat sweet... naturally, the most muscle is here), and the top shelf meat is known as "backfin" which must be accessed via substantial body dissection. Worth every effort. The joke is that eating crabs is so labor intensive that we drink beer to actually have a positive caloric gain.

[mountainvisions]

As Abe says, the edible parts are fairly personal. Some people actually eat and like the ganglia...While I'm adventurous in my eating, I don't find it too tasty, or the texture too interesting.

 

I personally, pretty much strip those things of every bit of edible meat.

 

all the legs have meat, you suck the meat out of the small ones, there is meat in the center of the main body (back fin) as well. You crack them in half and it's right in there.

 

I'd guess about 40-50% of the crabs weight is edible.

 

I'd also agree with Abe that the labor intensity of crab eating is a negative caloric gain. Although, between the "Old Bay" seasoning, and the butter sauce, I typically feel like I ate a lot after a few dozen crabs.

 

My sister and I typically head to the places with all you can eat crabs and eat until we become so sick that we don't want crabs for at least a few months (at least for me, she on the other hand will be eating crab cakes, and crab whatever the next day). If Bubba was the shrimp guru on Forest Gump, my sis is the crab guru of the DelMarVa coast.

[dugger]

Abe - Justin, A heartfelt thanks for the edification... I'll feel much more comfortable now, and look forward to attacking that delectable morsel on my next travel up your way!

[miserere_mei]

OK Abe, it's now clear 4 things will happen if I'm ever up in Baltimore:

 

1) We'll clean up Pop's basement once and for all.

 

2) We'll eat wings.

 

3) We'll eat crab.

 

4) We'll take photos.

 

No necessarily in that order, and if Dave doesn't mind, we could just skip #1.

[abe_hollander]

Mis: Sounds like a blast to me!

[bob_marz]

5) Mis, what, no beer?

[joe_jackson4]

"It was great but--given subdued indoor light, my aversion to flash, uncooperative subjects and the distractions of hosting--a photographic dud."

 

Well, I guess it can happen Dave, but I have to wonder what you were expecting cooked crabs to actually do...?

 

:)