Summer Memories

Growing up near the Chesapeake Bay, summer always included huge crab feasts. We would purchase a bushel of Maryland blue crabs, steam them with no small amount of Old Bay seasoning, and dump them onto a picnic table with plenty of piping hot sweet corn. It's my favorite summer memory, hands down. Now that I live in Michigan, cracking crabs is a thing of the past and I am stuck with the packaged crab meat at the grocery store. It is certainly not the best representation but it's better than nothing at all. Today I whipped up a quick snack that combined crab meat and corn into one tasty bite... a nostalgic farewell to summer. I started with a standard cornbread mix and added jalapenos, scallions, crab meat and fresh corn. Old Bay and red pepper flake were thrown in for good measure. Using a cake pop pan, I created tiny spheres of goodness that looked like hush puppies, but without all the deep frying action. Somehow, that made it feel much less gluttonous as I sat and ate each and every one.... dipping them in curry mustard and washing them down with spiked lemonade. Tasty as they were, they didn't begin to compare to the experience of a real crab feast. Next year I'm making the pilgrimage back east, heading down to the bay, and buying myself a bushel of blues. Who's in?....