Sunday, and the livin's easy!

Sunday morning, I tried a tip I never heard before that I saw on an English cooking show. For most of my adult life, I have made soft-boiled eggs, but never understood them being referred to as "three-minute eggs" (they even sell three minute egg timers), because after just three minutes of cooking, they were grossly underdone. But, this cook said this refers to eggs kept at room temperature and that if you were cooking them straight from the fridge, you put them in cold water and start timing them when the water boils. I did and she was right!

So, I guess you know what I had for breakfast. But what you don't know is I ate my egg in my Dad's old egg cup that my Mom went out of her way to have found and gave to me a while back. Thanks, Mom!

I got cleaned up and did a few little chores, then loaded the car up with some small items of Jake and Carla's they didn't want to put in the big truck (like the wall clock they got from Melissa and Dave). I am headed over there for a day of rest and relaxation including some swimming and a promised seafood boil.

I was amazed when I got there to find the front room, where we had piled almost everything yesterday, was completely empty! After we parted ways yesterday around 5:00 PM, they went home and worked until 1:00 AM, deciding where things should go, and then putting them away. They had just two boxes of books and DVDs left.

When I got there, Jake had the stove disconnected and pulled out, he said to clean the sides better. He left and came back with a huge stock pot. I helped him take off the stickers and he cleaned it. I volunteered to clean the stove, but he wouldn't let me. So, we first played a few hands of cards, and next walked around and they showed me more features of the house. The sprinkler system is a high-tech thing of beauty and made me extremely jealous, BTW!

Around 2:30 PM, he got a phone call. He told Carla it was the delivery guy and the times got moved to between 2:00 - 6:00 PM. Noticing my befuddled look, they confessed they had bought a new stove and fridge and they were supposed to deliver it between 10:00 - 2:00 PM, which is why the stove was pulled out. But, the day wore on... We couldn't cook and we couldn't swim, expecting them at any minute. Jake and I took off the pool cover and he vacuumed it for later. I actually went and took a nap in the guest room (not having slept well the night before).

Finally after several irate phone calls from Carla, they showed up near 8:00 PM! Jake hooked up the gas line and I tested it for leaks and we were good to go.

So, Carla made her seafood boil. I didn't watch close enough to give you the recipe, but it was a big pot of boiling, salted water, seasoned with Old Bay seasoning, red pepper flakes, salt and pepper with onions and garlic in it. Next came cut-up red skin potatoes and ears of fresh sweet corn, shucked and cut into 3 inch pieces. Finally, a cut up smoked sausage, a ton of King Crab legs, shrimp in the shells and live mussels. While they cooked, she clarified some butter, and added fresh lemon juice, salt and pepper to it, and then pouring it in three small ramekins.

Now, in the authentic seafood boil scenario, you are cooking this over a driftwood fire on a beach somewhere, having just caught your seafood. A spot in the sand is covered with newspapers, the content of the pot is dumped on that and everyone eats with their hands. They couldn't duplicate that, but they came close! The contents were put on two big platters and our only eating instruments were small forks for extracting the crab meat, some wooden mallets for breaking shells and a couple wicked-looking nutcracker thingies, again for breaking open the crab legs.

Now, I know I often rave about my cooking (and Carla and Jake's cooking, too) but I have to tell you this was absolutely fantastic! It could have been the freshness of the seafood (instead of going to a grocery store, Carla talked a local seafood restaurant into selling her the king crab, shrimp and mussels) but nobody hardly used the butter - you just didn't need it. Peeling the shrimp and eating them, or cracking open a crab leg, the meat was so sweet and juicy it made you groan. The sausage, the mussels, the corn and even the potatoes, everything was perfectly seasoned.

After cleaning up, we went swimming in the dark. With stars shining above us, we frolicked and swan until we were exhausted. After showering, we went to our respective beds, thus ending our Labor Day weekend Sunday.