Happy Trails For Us: My Reluctant Blog

But before there was lavendar honey ice cream, there was Crab Fest. Every year, on the Saturday of Labor Day weekend our neighbors toss their annual party for their family, friends and neighbors. It is called Crab Fest, because in honor of one of them having grown up in Maryland, they import pounds and pounds of cooked Maryland crabs (and shrimp) to reheat on the barbecue. The rest is simple: tables and chairs, newspapers, a great deal of wine and beer (and one neighbor's killer pitchers of margaritas); everyone else contributes finger food appetizers and desserts. There are kids in the pool, a dog to trip over, and just a good time is had by all. And some of us do not have to even drive home. Occasionally, when a niece or nephew has chosen to get married on this weekend, we have missed the party, but not this year.

Our contribution this year was an extra trash can, a stack of newspapers and a double batch of lemon squares. There was a little excitement when our block lost power a few hours before the party, but the Edison guys got that all straghtened out just minutes before party time.

After some wine sipping and crab dip dipping, we started with the shrimp:

And then came the crabs:

There is an art to picking the crab meat out of these babies, and after all these years, I am still not so good at it, but it is a lot of fun. Copious amounts of pinot grigio add to the fun.

As it gets dark, the desserts come out; this year someone made fishy cookies:

And then we walk home across the street. I would be lying if I did not confess to a major pinot grigio headache yesterday, but the beauty of crab fest, a 3 day weekend and no small children to care for, is that sometimes we just get to have an indulgent day. Thanks again, Pete and Julie, for a truly wonderful party. Summer 2008 was a vintage year.