Memorial Day Weekend ......

Source: marthastewart.com via Erika on Pinterest

We are having a Seafood Fest tonight with neighbors! We are doing crab instead of the lobster.
So excited...............

Update:  I am sitting here with a super full tummy still - the day after the feast. Why? Because the food was so darn good. I was actually pretty good as far as eating. I am hoping this means that my belly doesn't "need" as much food as I used to "think".

 Our neighbors and I talked a few months ago about having a crab boil. We originally had it planned for April, but it was just too cold. So, we changed it to Memorial Day weekend.

 I prepared a crab dip, spinach and mixed greens salad, fruit salad and a homemade apple pie.  They prepared crab cakes with a little lobster meat, salmon steaks. We all split the cost of the boil - crab legs, corn and potatoes. They prepared the boil - and it was magnificent.

 Ken helped me with the fruit salad - until I saw he was cutting the cantaloupe with a  bread knife. EGADS!! I kindly suggested that he use another knife. You know - so the edges wouldn't be so raggedy. He didn't see why it mattered - so, he was demoted to dishwasher and fruit cleaning duty.

 The crab dip was made using softened cream cheese and one of those seasoning packets that I am sure is mainly an old bay blend. I spruced it up a bit by adding real crab meat, black pepper and a bit of cayenne pepper. DELISH! The cayenne and black pepper gave it a little kick - not too much - but enough to know.

 The fruit salad had watermelon, strawberries, blackberries, blueberries and the tortured cantaloupe.

 The spinach salad was one of the mixed greens and baby spinach mixes from one of the chain grocery stores. I like the ones that come in the containers not the bags. The containers tend to keep them fresher longer. Anyway, that had grape tomatoes, green and red pepper and pecans added to the mix. Topped with poppy seed dressing, it was very refreshing.

 The crab boil was made using Old Bay seasoning. Our neighbors usually add more cayenne or a spicy liquid to kick it up a bit. They weren't sure how spicy we like things. "Oh, we can handle the heat" we say. Then, they tell us they eat it to where tears are coming out of their eyes! No, thanks.....LOL.

 Here is the genius part of the boil. We typically cook our crab legs and eat them until they get gone or cold (I know that wasn't grammatically correct).  Well, L placed the hot crab legs in a cooler and poured the seasoned water on top.  Our crab legs stayed hot. We would simply reach in the cooler and take out more as needed. We even sat out on the deck for a while. When we went back for more (I won't say who), they were still hot! GENIUS!!!

 We were calling this the Seafood Boil 2012 until our husbands said we should do this once a quarter.
That will NOT be a problem  - LOL.