It is now 2:36 PM and all the main activities are done. I caught my first crab using my own net this morning. I actually caught about three or four but it is best to throw the females back in order to be a responsible fisherman so that is what I did. The first one I caught was a rock crab and Sadao-san said it was better for cooking the crab miso soup.
I wrapped up the crabbing at about 8:45 then went home. I then took the kids out to ride bikes and play a bit then took a short nap because I was completely exhausted. My phone woke me up and it was SFO letting me know they didn’t know what car to pick up at the Giant’s stadium. Three calls later and conferencing in the Giants travel manager we got a plan and my phone stayed has stayed quiet. Then it was on to cooking.
I grilled some steaks and saw the neighbors were out in their backyard. I wonder if I bothered them because the grill gave off a lot of smoke and some of it went in their direction. It is hard to tell if I bothered them because they speak Mandarin and there is a tall wooden fence between us. I also cooked the crab and made a few beginner mistakes. Sadao told me to submerge it in water after which it would “pass out,” and could be cooked. I thought a better idea would be to smack it with a hammer to knock it out. I apologized to Mr. Crab before hand and then the carnage started. Me smacking it cracked its upper shell but it didn’t die, it just slowed down. I didn’t mean to crack the shell because I didn’t want the crab miso to leak out while cooking. I then put it in the oven and it moved for about thirty seconds before dying. I felt pretty guilty about the whole affair, poor crab, the death was not an easy one.
Some crab miso did leak out but I scooped it with a spoon and was able to get most of it into the boiling water. At the same time I had to keep an eye on the grill because there can be flares which burn the steak. There were flares and although I caught it in time some parts were a little burnt. So here I am running back and forth trying to watch the crab cook inside and the steaks outside. Everything turned out OK but I would have liked the steaks to have been a little more medium than well done. The crab miso was sweet and pretty good.
Now, I’m pretty tired but thought I’d get this post in and then I’ll either take a nap, drink some more wine or play VR. It seems another nap might win given how tired I am.
We’ll finish the evening, take a bath and then perhaps watch a movie.
