We had an unplanned festa at our house tonight! Earlier this morning, while at my fish monger in Campo Santa Margherita to pick up a piece of salmon, I noticed he had a small pile of blue crabs- Maryland blue crabs! Wow, this was an incredible surprise. I could not leave there without some, so I asked for 6 of them also. My fish monger says, "Oh, you like the Dungeness crabs?" Sorry- these are Maryland Blues. I had to set him straight. We got into a little discussion on the difference between the two crab types. As usual, we were doing this conversation in half English, half Italian. I was speaking the Italian, he was answering me in as much English as he knew. This then led to a bigger discussion of where I lived in the US. Maryland, of course! He impressed me with his knowledge of US geography. He knew exactly that Maryland was between New York and Washington DC, and that they were on the East coast of the US.
As he was slicing my salmon, he asked where I was born. When he found out I was from New Jersey, he had to know if I watch some show on Italian cable called Jersey Girls. I think he must have meant Jersey Shore or Real Housewives of New Jersey. I just had to laugh. What an unbelievable conversation to be having with my fish guy!
I was so excited to share my good fortune with Mike I just about ran home. We've never seen Maryland Blue crabs in any of the fish stalls we've been at in Venice in all the years we've been here. There are very few things we miss about living in the US, but high up on that list would be Maryland crabs and sweet white corn. We don't dwell on the things we miss, because there are so many other wonderful things here, especially foods, that we also love. We can always find things to step in and take the place of any of the items we might miss on occassion. However, today, to find these crabs was just like getting a little prize. If anyone had watched us eat dinner tonight, they would have thought we hadn't eaten in days! We devoured those 6 crabs.
My six crabs, fresh from the market.
All cooked up, ready to be eaten!
After the feast...Buonissimo!!
Tomorrow morning, I will be back at my fish mongers to see if he has a few crabs left, or if he can order them for us. Now all I need is a few ears of white corn!!
Postscript to last nite's post -- We've just come from the fish monger, with the last 6 crabs in hand! He had them under the counter. When he saw us approaching, he flashed us a big smile and said "You want the crabs" and pulled them out for us. Wow, are we ever happy!! And, he tells us that although these particular crabs are not readily available, if we let him know when we want more he will put in an order and hope he can get some. Guess what we are eating again tonight ???? That's right!!!
Postscript to last nite's post -- We've just come from the fish monger, with the last 6 crabs in hand! He had them under the counter. When he saw us approaching, he flashed us a big smile and said "You want the crabs" and pulled them out for us. Wow, are we ever happy!! And, he tells us that although these particular crabs are not readily available, if we let him know when we want more he will put in an order and hope he can get some. Guess what we are eating again tonight ???? That's right!!!
8 comments:
I've just started reading your blog and, as a Marylander, planning my fourth visit to Venice this summer, I'm loving it! I can't imagine the joy of finding blue crabs there but have to ask: what did you do without Old Bay?? :) Blessings.
Probably the wrong season for the corn.
Wow! Those look delicious! Buon Appetito!
Art teacher-- Please let us know ahead of time before you are here this summer, hopefully we can meet up for a coffee or spritz! Believe it or not, we have Old Bay that we brought over, but chose not to use it last nite. We wanted NOTHING to take away from the sweetness of those crabs! Boy, were they delicious!
I just started reading your blog too! My husband is from outside of Venice. He speaks the Venetian dialect too!
Ribbonnibbler-- Welcome! I need to start learning some Venetian from your husband!!! But-- I will consider myself lucky if I can deal with the standard Italian, let alone any dialect!
Which one of the fish stalls do you go to, Karen? I go to the one that's sort of at the back, with the deaf old bloke and his sons.
You'll have to plant some corn in your big garden.
Yvonne
Yvonne- I use the guys who have the stall closest to the vegetable guy. It's a short little old man and his two taller sons, and the mother, a little blond woman.
We tossed around the idea of planting a patch of corn ourselves!
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