Crab

Do you know what the Chinese are doing now? I am pretty sure they are eating crabs! I should be eating too if I was in China. October is the very time that crabs in the lake have grown mature. Most Chinese families would cook crabs at this time because the stuffs under the hard shells are so delicious.

The most common crabs Americans eat are from the sea, I think. So they may not know the taste form the lakes. Chinese people are crazy about the fresh water crabs, especially from Yangcheng Lake. It is said that the crabs grown in that lake are the biggest and the most delicious. Thereby the price of crabs from Yangcheng Lake is the highest among all, about 7 to 8 dollars per each single crab!

Yesterday I talked with my father through video chatting. He showed me a bag of live Yangcheng Lake crabs. These little creatures fought with each other in the bag using their pincers. Apparently they were so excited when seeing me. They probably knew I missed them so much!

I remember when I was young, my parents bought some crabs. We kept them in the bathtub and planed to cook in the next day. However, in the next morning, all crabs were gone from the bathtub. It had really cost us much effort to find them. In the end, one crab escaped successfully while the others were caught either under the beds or in the corners.

Cooking crabs is very easy. You only have to put cleaned crabs into a cauldron and steam for 20 minutes. After their black shells turn red, the crabs are well done. Compared to cooking, eating crabs is more difficult due to the hard shells. An old hand could easily get a complete piece of meat from the crab, but if it's your first time to eat crab, you may get nothing. Most people like the oil in the crab more than its meat. You can't realize the delicacy of the crab oil until you try it.

After this October, people have to wait a whole year to taste the crabs again. Unfortunately I have to wait at least four years.