| | |  Editorials | Opinions | March 2009 
Crab Legs Should Not be Devoured in Public
 Bill Keller - Orillia Packet & Times
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Just think. Only 11 more days until spring and the question is, is it going to be "out like a lion?" - we'll have to just wait and see.
One of the great things about gardening is dining on the produce that the garden yields and my thoughts are on sweet yellow corn. Just as I focus on produce like this, I have a habit of thinking about certain speciality products that one can obtain from one of our food stores. Such is the case of indulging in Alaska king crab legs. This is a delicacy that I have been thinking about for some time until I actually purchased one from a seafood bar at a local produce emporium. Note that I said purchased one.
You see, the price that I paid for just one was more than what I paid for a meal for two including wine just a few days before. Now I must be completely realistic because this leg in question was a good 16 inches or more in length and when I have completely demolished it, there will be enough crab meat for at least four meals.
Eating Alaska king crab is something that should only be undertaken in the privacy of one's own home, which was the case in this situation. Removing the crab meat from inside the exoskeleton of a crab is not something that one does with the aid of a knife and fork. It requires using a special cracking device which is held in one hand while the leg is held in the other. This is not finger food that we are dealing with that can be readily picked up with a fork.
This entire procedure is something that should never be undertaken out in public, even though I have, thus becoming the centre of entertainment of diners seated close by.
Crab legs are already cooked. There remains only the task of removing the meat from within the hard shell. Some years ago, I purchased a few crab legs at a huge food mart over in New York State. These were considerably smaller and only a fraction of the price. We were staying at a motel at the time and I was not armed with a shell cracker. At that time I had to resort to another device. I wrapped a shell in plastic and hammered it with an empty beer bottle. This was an emergency and at such a time it is always interesting to see what one must resort to using. These are special thoughts that one must store in their memory bank of unusual happenings.
I'm returning to talk about Mexico, a country troubled by drug lords and a country that cannot afford to be troubled by drug lords. In recent years, tourism has become Mexico's number one industry and if one were to drive north from Puerto Vallarta through a region called Nuevo Vallarta, you see along the ocean front, millions of dollars in high-rise condos. Last year, we asked a restaurant owner where the people came from who owned these magnificent buildings and he told us that many came from Europe, especially Russia.
The problem seems to be mainly along the border with the United States where drugs are constantly being moved from Mexico into the U. S.
Our friends at the hotel tell us that there are certain areas and cities that are not safe and these places are to be avoided.
The area to which we go each year is on the Pacific side of the country located on the eastern shore of the Bahia de Banderas, the Bay of Flags. This name goes way back into the past when early Spanish explorers encountered native people bearing flags. This bay is the world's second largest, exceeded only by Hudson Bay. The mouth of the bay faces west and the resorts and towns are located along the east and part of the north coast. The bay is surrounded on its three sides by the Sierra Madre mountains. On the south side of the bay, the bottom slopes touch the water's edge and travel in an eastern direction extending far to the east before swinging now to the north until they reach the bottom of the northern shore and follow it to the very western part of the bay.
I'm describing this because the way that the mountains sweep off to the east creates a vast fertile region that produces wonderful fruit and vegetables. This is one of the fertile areas that cause horticulture to be Mexico's second important industry. Keep the faith. |
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