Stone Crab!

 Coming in hot!  

After a 10 day soak we pulled up our traps for the first time and were delighted with a haul of 7!  7 beauties - nice size - it has to be said.  We are well on our way to some very good dinners if things continue this way.

We put them back down in a very similar spot - we like the depth they are out.  With the bait of the big old gross pigs trotters.  And for the first time ever we zip tied the traps closed: this won't prevent them being pirated but at least we will know.... We did suspect last year, on rare occasions, had our traps been raided and crabs taken?

Harvesting Stone Crab

We had the loveliest time last week spending time with visitors to the island.

I thought this photo was cute.  It's definitely a two person job.  I drive the boat to the trap, Patrick hooks it and pulls it up (heavvvvyy!!).  Then Patrick picks out the crab with the tongs and passes to me.  I hold it carefully so that it can neither cut or crush my fingers with it's claws.  Then remove the one claw and throw it back to the ocean to see another day - and to grow back it's claw!!! How cool is that.

 

Buddy. And crabtraps

Stone crab season is coming up soon so we did a bit of work today building some new crab traps to replace lost/stolen ones from last year.

Look at the difference between new and the old ones from last year!!!

Patrick: Ok, go easy now on all the photos of the cat on facebook

Also Patrick: Hey, do you know what would make a really cute picture, if we put Buddy in a crabtrap

 

Good food is all the sweeter when shared with good friends

 The day arrived for our hosting party!  We did a lot of preparing, cleaning, pre planning, planning, deciding lay outs and talking through timelines, to make it run smooth, and we are delighted because in the end it went great!

First things first, covid. I feel very lucky to live somewhere that the climate lends itself to being outside a lot, if not all of the time.  Also, it was really, really breezy (windy) yesterday which meant that even when we were indoors there was a huge amount of air blowing through the house.  We had all the doors open, and this movement of fresh clean air helped make things feel safe also.

Preparing: We cleaned all morning on Sunday.  Also included in that time was a run to the grocery store to get key lime pie (dessert), mayonnaise (for the key lime mustard) and cupcakes for a colleague leaving The Saint. Patrick kindly drove me down to the hotel so I could run in quickly with those and that was during the morning time also. Patrick figures it was 4 hours cleaning between the two of us.  I think it was more like five.  How can a small house need so much cleaning?  But I must say it feels nice now, the morning after, having everything spick and span.

And of course it was worth it, for all of THIS:

Fruits of our Labour! 5.5lbs or 32 crab claws (4 each)

After everyone arrived and were outside, set up with drinks etc., Patrick and I moved swiftly (all that communication and preplanning work paid off!) and set the table and laid out the claws on ice.  When everyone arrived in to eat there was a lot of oohing and ahhing, and lovely convivial conversation all about what a treat stone crab was.  It was really lovely and gratifying to hear how much everyone was enjoying the food. After all that was always the objective - to provide something lovely that people would enjoy.  Oh and prosecco, everyone had a glass of chilled crisp prosecco which is always a good accompaniment to crab claws.

Smorgasbord

I know I keep mentioning the preparation, but actually, a crab claw party is probably one of the easiest gatherings I've hosted from a cooking/preparing perspective. They are boiled fresh once we catch them and then immediately frozen.  So all you really need to do on the day is have defrosted them prior (18 hours in the fridge starting the night before!) and then lay them out on the ice displayed nice.  I made the devilled eggs earlier that morning in between the cleaning - but they are easy to make, in fact I enjoy it/find it therapeutic. And I popped the (Publix) garlic bread in the oven 30 minutes before everyone was due to arrive. Oh! I made a key lime mustard dipping sauce too - which is sooooo easy and delicious, and got lots of compliments!

Happy Birthday Emily! Celebrated with a Key West "birthday cake", lol

Even with it being breezy, it was just perfect outdoors

Good people! Love this gang!

The cooler behind us doubles up as place for ice and a bench seat. I like this photo of us!

Monday's are certainly easier after a wonderful weekend like this. 

I wish you all a fantastic Monday and week ahead everyone! 

Can I harvest two claws from a stone crab?

 Following my last few blogs about Florida Stone Crabs, one of my regular readers (ok, Enid. It was Enid) queried my statement that you are allowed take the two claws off of the crab.  Actually, she pointed out what she thought was a typo in my blog "you left a word out - the word "not" - before allowed".  She could barely believe it when I told her there was no typo, you are actually allowed take the two (i.e. all!) of the crabs claws.

It sure seems wrong to me too. And as I noted, we always just take one.  It feels like the right thing to do.

On the basis of Enid's queries I did some more reading up on it.  You can get more info here. It appears that the commission in charge of the rules and regulations (The Florida Fishing and Wildlife Commission) have ok'd the practice - although they also acknowledge that it does leave the crab with less (to nil) defences when their claws are gone.  They also note that the claw regrows back quicker the more that the crab can eat and grow strong - so with two claws they have more chance to get themselves food.  So overall, morally, I am happier with our decision to leave this sustainable resource to rejuvenate with the best chances possible. And hopefully the more we have next season and each one onwards!!

Stone crab socialiser

 Lately, going out and checking the crab traps has been even more fun then ever.  You might remember my last blog about the monster claws we got - and that was the best day yet.  

Well today, while we didn't get any more monsters we killed it on sheer quantity - 9!  And imagine, that could have been doubled if we had taken the two claws (as you are allowed to).

So! Very exciting.  We have friends coming over for drinks and appetizers next Sunday and guess what! We are going to do stone crabs. Going to keep it simple.  Plus also, we have explicitly said apps (not dinner), so there will be stone crabs, devilled eggs and crusty garlic bread.  And prosecco.  Eh, voila!

Excited to share our fishing haul and exploits with our friends.  Very much looking forward to it!

No clue what the context of the photo below is.  Found it in google images and it just made me laugh.  Lol!

Crab trapping - the best day yet!

 

Look at this!!

Just imagine, with the weather the way it is at the moment (windy!), we weren't even sure if we would get out on the water.  Well we did! And in the first trap we pulled up we get two monster crabs and get two of these monster claws off of them.  And this haul could have been doubled!! Technically (legally) you are allowed take the two claws, but morally we always just take one.

We ate crab claws last night and we have the makings of a fabulous Valentine's celebration dinner waiting in the freezer.  Sure feels decadent I tell you, nothing like that sweet crab claw meat.