29 June 2008

A little progress, a few crabs

This morning I ran a full dishwasher, hand washed a couple of large skillet-type items, and wiped down the stove. It made sense to move the water kettle next to the stove since there's a) room and b) a plug there that never gets used. Baby steps, but still it's nice to have a clean stovetop.


Here are some luscious soft shell crabs from the Farmer's Market. I soaked them in a mixture of milk and an egg for an hour, dredged them in flour, salt and pepper, and paprika, and fried them in butter / vegetable oil. A dollop of mayonnaise and a leaf of lettuce made the perfect sandwich.


In other food news, I had this very forgettable fish & chips meal at Spectators Sports Bar while watching the Euro 2008 final. The chips weren't bad but didn't raise the level of the fish which were just two obviously frozen planks plunked down on the plate. The breading was hard without being crunchy or crispy, if that makes sense, and there was no malt vinegar in evidence (though to be fair I didn't ask the rather nice and obviously very new waitress). The house-made potato chips were lackluster and needed a lot of salt. On the heels of the so-so buffalo wings from the semi-final on Wednesday (not the best in Williamsburg as the website proclaims), this does not bode well for future dining outings. I will have to give the place one more try for their burger but if that doesn't come up to the hype it's three strikes and they're out.

4 comments:

Les said...

Couldn't get me near those things when I was young. They looked liked fried spiders. Mom and Dad liked them between two pieces of Wonder bread with French's mustard liberally spread.

LG said...

I do like them on white bread with some Russian dressing. Have you come around to them now?

Les said...

Although I am fond of crabmeat, especially in cake form, I have yet to enjoy soft shells. This is one of my last remaining childhood food prejudices, that and beets.

LG said...

I hear you. Sweet potatoes and brussel sprouts were the two food prejudices from my childhood but I figured out that the problem was in the execution, not the food itself. But there's not much variance with cooking soft shells.