Chapter XIV – ONE ROUND-TRIP TO MARYLAND PLEASE

Idaho has potatoes, Iowa has beef, Virginia has history, Maine has lobsters, Utah has Mormons, Florida has early bird specials, Mississippi had Elvis, Washington has apples, West Virginia has poor people, Tennessee has Dolly Parton, Philadelphia has the Eagles, Texas has oil, and Massachusetts has good Universities……………………

BUT MARYLAND HAS BLUE CRAB, THE-WHOLE-CHESAPEAKE-BAY-FULL-OF-IT

So, we were invited by Patricia’s brother Pete for a crab feast, he bought a bushel of steamed crabs, and I went with him to pick them up on route 40 in the famous seafood place, where it smelled like fresh seafood, vinegar, and Old Bay Seasoning.

Later we went to Pete’s house and the feast could begin, the beers were cold, the picnic table outside was covered with good-looking steamed crabs and I noticed that in this competitive family even eating crabs was a sport, “this is my 8th crab” shouted Steve as a winner, he could clean a crab in seconds flat. I was still at number one and Patricia came to check several times on my progress, “is that still your first one, you want some help with that?”.

Steve, by the way, can tell a whole story without taking a breath, so the last words of his story he speaks when he ran out of breath, it sound like he is pushing out those last syllables, most of the time followed by laughing, it almost looks like he doesn't want to lose time breathing.

In later years he made it even a sport of who of all the siblings had the most grandchildren, but he can’t win anymore because his sister is already at nine with the prospect of one or two more.

“I don’t know if a feast is a right expression for this eating crabs thing”, I said to Patricia on the way back. “You will learn, you can’t help it that you are not born here”! she laughed.

I decided that buying crab meat already picked was way easier and I learned to cook pretty much everything you can make with crab, crab-stuffed flounder, crabcakes, crab-stuffed mushrooms, crab-stuffed shrimp, crab dip, and crab soup.

Maryland and crabs, Maryland and Old Bay Seasoning!

Years later, we lived back again in Holland and by coincidence, I found a little store in Utrecht that carried a lot of American products, a can of Old Bay Seasoning was looking right at me from the window.

Proudly of my find, I hurried home to show the can of Old Bay to Patricia, and shortly after, the kitchen was smelling like home, like Maryland. It tasted so good, but we all got instantly terrible homesick, next day I had to book a ticket to Maryland for Patricia. Happily for a roundtrip.

I could not leave this recipe out, Jane's Crab Dip