Beach Vacation eats

This year, like last year, D$ and I went to the Florida panhandle to enjoy a beach vacation with my parents and one of my brothers and his family.  We didn't think we'd be able to go this year, already having vacationed for two weeks, but we eeked out a few more days vacation and took a long weekend.  Being on the Gulf Shores we were worried about what the BP oil spill had done to our favorite beaches.  Luckily, Perdido Key has seen little in the way of tar balls or oil slicks.  That said, one day I counted about 50 tar balls that had washed ashore, all to be cleaned up in the night by BP contracted clean up workers.  (they clean at night using UV lights that make the tar balls glow.  not only is it cooler and without tourist, but it makes the oil easier to see.)  Ironically, this year was the cleanest, clearest water we've ever seen.  One day I was in the water up to my chin and could see to my toes.

BP and FDA officials have said all along that Gulf seafood is safe to eat, and although not plentiful in the regular seafood stores we shop at, it was still tasty.  We ate plenty of Gulf shrimp and it tasted the same to me.  One surprise this year?  We caught our own blue crabs! 

We were playing in the water and along the sand when we started noticing an abundance of blue crabs...one morning I counted 37 in a 30-40 minute walk!  My brother, always the adventurer, pulled out his buckets and nets and caught us all a crab for lunch.  He actually caught about 15-20 crabs, but many were pregnant, so we threw them back in the water.  We used a simple herding method, whereas my niece, my dad and I would drive the crabs toward my brother who was waiting with his nets and buckets to snatch them up. 

We brought down a cooler to transport our catch up to the condo to be steamed.  Trust me when I say these suckers were huge! 

One more, missing a claw, straight from the bucket!  This guy was particularly aggressive.  He almost climbed out of his bucket 3 or 4 times.  I bet if he had two claws we never would have stood a chance against him!

Into the pot they go!

Nicely seasoned with some Old Bay! 

We enjoyed a crab a piece for lunch on Sunday afternoon.  I joked that we were incorporating the first Net-to-table movement in the Gulf Shores area!  My mom had forgotten to pack the crab crackers and tools, so we used a pair of pliers, a bottle opener and a leather-man tool to crack and break open our crabs.  It was worth the work!