Text 14603, 120 rader
Skriven 2007-04-24 18:51:00 av MICHAEL LOO (1:123/140)
     Kommentar till en text av DALE SHIPP
Ärende: Picnic stuff 419
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 DS> See my review of our trip to Kaufmann's with respect to lumps in a
 DS> Jumbo Lump crab cake -- there weren't any at all.

There's a disappointment.

 DS> That leaves Timbukto, Crab Shanty, Scooter's and Jim's Hideaway yet
 DS> to be tested.

Of these, the last two promise native steamed blues, the second
Gulf blues, and the first just crabcakes. I'd be willing to go
back and give Timbuktu another try, but Carol would not. The
second is a bit far for us. The third, see below. The fourth
we'll do in the next month.

[about Bottom of the Bay]
 ML> The dining in menu on line bears little resemblance to the
 ML> real menu, which is more extensive.
 DS> And so they do themselves a dis-service in even posting a web menu.

I tend to agree. Somewhere on most of these websites is a tiny
disclaimer saying "this is a sample menu." Of course, when we
looked for Jim's Hideaway, we found that they hadn't renewed
their website registration at all.

 DS> We went to Giant today for some other shopping and peeked at the
 DS> fish counter there.   They had a special of a 16oz tub of some sort
 DS> of "backfin" crab meat for $15.99.  Next to that they had 8 ounce
 DS> tubs of various sorts of crab meat (claw, jumbo lump, etc.) at prices
 DS> of about $16 -- i.e. twice as much.

We have this place up the road called Shoreline Seafood, where
we could pick up crabmeat if people wanted that. It would be a
sizable expenditure, but it would be less than going to a
restaurant for crabcakes. I'd be willing to eat, say, half the
cost, with people maybe kicking in a couple bucks so we could
get our fill of crabcakes. That assuming we go back on our idea
of cracked crabs, which Cuz'n Burt has been strongly in favor
of and others (myself, for example) have been mildly in favor of.

 DS> Oh, and for Sacerdote's benefit - they list lobster at $27.99 per
 DS> pound (with a discount of $9 per pound for one-claw lobsters).

Up in the cold regions I just saw a lobster dinner for $10, and
speaking of which, Hellas in Millersville and various other places
have Lobster Night on I believe Monday if people were interested
in that sort of thing (1 1/4 lb lobster for $10-12).

 ML> 30 2-oz cakes is 3 lb of meat and some eggs and crumbs. If it
 ML> were going to be the main course for everyone, that would be
 ML> 60 3-oz cakes, that of course would be 9 lb of crabmeat, which
 ML> would be well above my price tolerance. But I figured enough
 ML> to give everyone a taste.
 DS> Let's keep this under consideration.

Again, it depends on whether people are really enthusiastic about
crab feasts. I know that Carol and I started off advocating crab
feasts, but we backed off for various reasons (cost and convenience
mostly).

 DS> I'm wondering about giving Timbukto a re-try test run.  What do you
 DS> think?

Okay - Carol won't be part of the test, though. She really
didn't like the place, even though I told her that the Chowhounds
and similar folks have said that it has improved of late.

 ML> I figure it's not going to cool that enormously in the 2 seconds
 ML> it takes to test a piece of meat or fish.
 DS> We did some smoking this weekend.   It takes it about 1/2 hour to
 DS> get up to 250 degrees from a cold start.   Opening the door for a few
 DS> minutes (2-5?) lowers the temperature by about 20 degrees and lets
 DS> out a lot of smoke.
 
The lot of smoke might be a problem. 20 degrees doesn't strike
me as causing much difficulty.

 DS> I think that Thursday night ought to be something simple, close to
 DS> home.  I know that after having driven 6-8 hours, I would not then
 DS> want to do another 1 1/2 hours each way to Harris or similar.

My view was that they could take 301 down the eastern shore and
meet us around sundown, but the mapping programs tell me that it
takes an extra hour (40 miles), and further, Carol would have to
take off extra time from work.

 BF> Was it Obrykeys, or something like that?
 ML> Obrycki's. I remember it as if it were yesterday. The big regret
 DS> Obrycki's was decent and is a popular choice.   Problem with it
 DS> might be the fact that the Orioles have a home game and restaurants
 DS> and traffic in Baltimore will be crowded.
 
I liked Obrycki's. If we planned carefully, we could either
do both the game and the crabs, spending all day in Baltimore,
or do the crabs while the game was going on (getting out of
town, though, would be kind of hellish). But there have to
be other places between Baltimore and Annapolis where we could
have a decent crab feast.

 DS> If anyone finds any really good deals -- I hope that they post them.
 DS> It is nicer when people are staying close together.

I agree. The T shape formed by 100 and US 1 should have a number
of good places that would be fairly convenient to Columbia. As I
said before, I'd recommend Priceline, but (sigh) if too many bid
the same area and time, the prices may go way up.

 DS> Here is a curious recipe.   It would seem that "drum sticks" refers
 DS> to some sort of vegetable -- but what?  I was unable to find it using
 DS> a short Wiki search.

I forget the Indian name: they are long skinny ridged things
that look sort of like Cholla cactus. You cook them and then
split the hard skin and eat the inside: the pulp is said to
be like okra. I'm sure you've seen them in the store but
figure that you probably have not eaten them.


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