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Health & Fitness

A Sumptuous Crab Dinner at Midnight

I'll share my Crab with you.

So, did you get all of your holiday entertaining done during the Holiday Season?  I did not.  

I aim to get some done this month, because of the warmth and camaraderie that comes with sharing a meal.  It is delightful.  I think the following ideas might be fun. 

Instead of the predictable cocktails at sunset or an elaborate late-night dinner - I’m going to provide and entertain a fanciful crab meal with a relaxed formality at midnight.

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My son caught the crab recently—the large domestic staff will have to haul it by conveyor belt to my expansive culinary arts lab. This crab is a monstah. 

The photo will show you the most luxurious crab on a most beautiful hand carved, wooden platter I ever did see. I can prepare a cornucopia of mouthwatering masterpieces indigenous to the region on this. 

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Every detail is perfectly thought out for this event and lavish attention and beautiful surroundings will just spoil our guests.

You’ll have to agree that this platter of crab is such a temptation as well as a work of art. This new genre of presentation is my new signature style of entertaining…I can feel it now. It is all abuzz with the vibe of the Me Generation.

You’ll see too the second platter is arranged like a beautiful still life.  The architectural centerpiece of this meal was a pyramid of shrimp (albeit, perhaps not the paradoxical “jumbo“ shrimp)

So, I’m thinking this will strike a balance between the explosive energy of the Puerto Rican friends I’ve made here & their love of party and the crushing, pragmatic gravity of my Minnesota-born husband.

Do you care? Of course not.  But, here is the plan anyways—the mantra of the MeGen.

“Another fresh new year is here…another year to live!  To banish worry, doubt, and fear; to love and laugh and give!”
—William Arthur Ward

When we gather we will recount the memories of the past year and the hopes for years to come, and it is my job to create a convivial ambiance to make it more meaningful (in order to get folks to be more revealing about the selfless service {or scandal} they committed last year and their saintly {or vainglorious} aspirations for the year to come).

The most dashing detail has to be scrumptious food.  The beautiful crab classics this week will have to take on a gourmet twist.

So often we do not take the time for more than choke down the ‘grub’ with a drink or two and we’re off to watch SpongeBob. When you are invited to a lovely special event - casual, yet indulgent, you’ll find yourself slowing down.  It will transform the spirit, the chance to linger and the chat is luxurious. 

We should do this more often.

A glow of candlelight, softening the vignette and providing the perfect setting for conversation, everyone will have a  chance to sparkle as much as the Champagne.

Perhaps Mr. Minnesota will catch on to the glitter and celebrity; to become one of the up and coming social debutants - it is sure to set him on the road to stardom. A fancy Crab meal at Midnight that he currently doesn‘t give two red hoots about.  For shame!!

Something tells me it might be more like nuclear fusion in an atom smasher.  Introducing thin on substance dining (TS4) to the lumberjack MN-bred pregnant with meaning (MnP2)—may just give us the subatomic “God particle”…  the Higgs boson that the Puerto Rican, “I’ll gladly work tomorrow” culture needs TODAY. As our hippy neighbor tells us; and indeed, even Patrick Star from after dinner episodes of SpongeBob, “we need to live in the NOW.”

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