Brian and I went to Charleston on Saturday to get me a crab pot as an early birthday present. I know a crab pot is not a common gift choice, but it is exactly what I wanted and since crabbing is really good now, I certainly could not wait the few more weeks till my birthday to get it.
Making a trip to Charleston is always a big deal to me; I call it, “going to town.” I was certainly excited to be going to Boater’s World, a very cool boating store with lots and lots of neat boating gear, in addition to a nice selection of crab traps. But, when we got there, it wasn’t there! So, then we went to West Marine, where there were no crab pots and very little other cool boating stuff. But, it did have a friendly clerk that sent us to Ace Hardware, where there were quite a few crab pots to choose from! So, yep, I got one and am planning a crabbing expedition next weekend.
On the way home, we stopped at our favorite fishmonger’s and got a 40 pound sack of oysters – just enough for the two of us! (By the way, the woman equivalent of a fishmonger is called a fishwife.)
It’s official: oyster roasting season is here. Yay!
A turkey fryer can be used for so much more than frying turkeys.
Cooking a few potatoes and a couple of ears of corn, since 40 pounds of oysters will not be enough.
Steam 'em just till the shells pop.
First batch is done.
Yum.
FYI, oysters are one of the most nutritionally well balanced of foods, containing protein, carbohydrates and lipids and are ideal for low-cholesterol diets. They are an excellent source of vitamins A, B1 (thiamin), B2 (riboflavin), B3 (niacin), C (ascorbic acid) and D (calciferol). Four or five of these yummy bivalves supply the recommended daily allowance of iron, copper, iodine, magnesium, calcium, zinc, manganese and phosphorus.
We’re getting ready for bonfire season. Oyster roasts and bonfires. Woohoo! Brian worked the chainsaw and I worked on the woodpile on Sunday. We worked until it got too hot to do more and I am achy from our efforts. Since we usually start our bonfires in the late afternoon and keep them going late into the night, we probably have enough wood right now for about five or six good fires.
I’ve been taking pictures of butterflies. I’m not doing a great job at this as these beautiful insects don’t want to pose for pictures! But, they do seem to be much more abundant this year. This is good sign as butterflies are very sensitive to the environment and thus, good indicators in assessing how healthy or unhealthy our living conditions are. And, of course, they are just absolutely delightful to watch.
If you live in the south, please don’t forget to keep you hummingbird feeders filled! Most of these tiny beauties have left their northern homes and are on their way to Mexico for the winter. They need lots of fuel for their grueling trip across the Gulf. Depending on our weather, we may need to continue feeding into early October.