A 4kg Christmas

It's been four years since I last spent Christmas with the Parental Units, and this time we decided to cook dinner for them. More specifically, Foursheets will be doing the cooking so that mom doesn't have to. We decided early on that the main theme for Christmas Eve would be an Alaskan king crab, and we spent some time doing our homework in terms of sourcing our crustacean. In the end, we ended up picking up a live one from Addiction Aquatic Development (上引水產).

The crab I chose weighed in at over 4kg, and while it had been out of the water for 9 hours by the time Foursheets stabbed its heart with a knife, it was still alive enough to wiggle its legs while we posed for pictures with it.

We followed advice to boil the body and legs separately in salt water. As we opened up the beast, we realized that it was starting to molt and there was a soft shell underneath the hard exterior.

I didn't think we'd have trouble finishing if I got us a 3kg crab, but this beast was more than 4kg, and the Parental Units quickly threw up the white flag... There really was a ton of meat here, and very, very tasty.

Foursheets made a cucumber, avocado, and citrus salad using some oranges we got from mom. This was very nice, and complemented the crab well.

We also had potato, onion, and herb soup, which warmed our stomachs.

We didn't need any carbs for tonight, and there was also no room for dessert. I guess the crème caramel would wait until tomorrow.

Pascal Henin Blanc comme Neige, dégorgée 12 Octobre 2022 - initially this was very fresh and crisp, then gradually the yeasty notes came out. Good acidity here with some depth on the palate.

This was a fun evening at home with the Parental Units, and I know they were very happy with the crab... so that's all that matters.