Pick the ugly ones!

This week, I am in Detroit visiting family and friends so I won't be cooking anything. So instead, I will bring you a story about two of my favorite seafood selections: oysters and crab legs.

One of my family's favorite pastimes is going to buffets. Ever since I was a little kid and discovered a Chinese buffet in St. Louis, I always enjoyed going to buffets just because I can taste so many different things without ordering just one dish. If I didn't like it, then I would just leave it on the plate and get something else. I know, think of the starving people out there, but trust me, some of this stuff you wouldn't wish your worst enemy to eat! My family would always go to Chinese/Asian buffets just because of the selection and my dad also preferred to eat the crab legs there. This man can go through many platefuls of crab legs. Sometimes we would be sitting there for hours and waiting for him to finish. The running joke was that the restaurant was losing more money the longer my family was in there. So yes, I got my love of seafood from my dad.

Two of the casino buffets in Detroit have seafood night. As I was craving crab legs, I asked if we could go tonight to appease my craving for those delicious sea creatures. While waiting in line, my parents were recounting the last few times they were at this place eating crab legs. They described it as plump and meaty, sweet and tasty, and very bountiful because there wasn't many people around, unlike tonight. Then my dad said he's been doing an experiment the last few times and told us to "Pick the ugly ones!" Apparently he thinks that the ones that aren't as bright in color or darker with a few spots or imperfections on the shell have the meat more intact so it's easier(and meatier) to eat. I told him that he was crazy and I don't like looking at the ugly ones. It's that bright red-orange color that I love to see. The brighter, the more odds that I'm going to pick them! I told him that I would try his test tonight and see if it's true.(My dad thinks he knows everything.)  Even though I tried it and some of the "ugly" ones did have meatier claws and they were easier to get the meat out in one pull, I don't think that rule really applies. What do other people think?

I'm still sticking with the whole presentation part of it and the prettier the crab claws are, the more likely I'm going to like the presentation of the food. That picture is my first plate of crab legs and oysters with some lemon to squeeze on top and also drawn butter for the crab legs. That indeed is a great color scheme and a delicious meal! Thanks mom and dad!

I will give tips on how to break crab legs to make them easier to eat in a later blog entry. Maybe I'll even post a video showing you how I do it!