Hold the Mustard, Please

I submitted this re-post from earlier this spring to the Carnival of Travel this weekend. A version of this story was printed in Budget Travel.

And join me in Kailani's Carnival of Family Life. All the submission details can be found in her sidebar. Doncha wanna know what I submitted? You'll have to go over there and see on Monday! By the way, her list of "How you know blogging's taking over your life" is a stitch.

I'll be away for a couple of days, but back Monday evening to begin accepting submissions for Pass the Torch Tuesday! I'm sure we'll have new additions THROUGHOUT THE DAY ON TUESDAY, so check back often. See you then!

Hold the Mustard, Please


Last summer, my then eight-year-old daughter came with me to Maryland on a week-long journey along the Chesapeake Bay. Though she’s not a fan of crustaceans, she accompanied me to sample blue crab at a restaurant in St. Michaels.

Expecting a mountain of claws with drawn butter, we were shocked when our waitress arrived with whole crabs -- legs, shells, guts, eyes and all. Deena wielded her mallet as she wasn’t convinced her crab was even dead. In fact, it resembled Sebastian on The Little Mermaid.

Lucky for us, our waitress expertly demonstrated proper crab picking, thankfully removing the entrails (locals call it the “mustard”), piling the smelly mess on the disposable tablecloth and revealing the tasty crabmeat inside.

Eyes pinched shut, Deena tried a morsel, then gently asked me, “Do you think we could go out for chicken tonight?”

Here's the article as it appeared in Budget Travel: