SMALL BITES
. . . adventures in downsizing
with Jan Kinzel
Provided by CN Building Adult Ministries Resource Center
It was a dark and stormy night………..and I was gripped with “downsizing fear” as I understood this was all too real. Our beautiful home would be sold. Feeling stunned, I didn’t tell anyone for a while, except for my closest friend who would be listing it for us. Three weeks later, at our Thanksgiving table, we told our family. A month later, on Christmas Eve, we told some close friends with whom we have shared that special evening for the past ten or so years.
On Christmas Eve morning each year, my friend (the one who would be handling our sale) and I drive to Fisherman’s Wharf in San Francisco and purchase freshly cooked crabs and freshly baked, still warm from the oven sourdough bread from Boudin’s bakery across the street from the Wharf. It’s a delightful tradition! Since we always patronize the same crab station, the men who cook, clean and crack the crab recognize us each year and begin our early morning forays with complementary bread bowls of delicious steaming clam chowder. Arriving home by 10:30, my friend goes on her way to set up her Christmas Eve crab feast and I do the same at my house. Likewise, for the fourteen to twenty friends and family members at our table, it has become a Christmas Eve tradition to attend church service, then share the wonderful crab feast, exchange a few gifts and enjoy each other.
Announcing that this would be the last Christmas Eve in this setting was somewhat emotional for all of us. Of course, my friends and family were very sympathetic and supportive and we all agreed it would not be our last Christmas Eve together. Even at that rather painful moment, we began to plan ahead to meet at our home in a place as yet unknown and continue our beloved Christmas Eve tradition.
MENU
Cracked Crab Platter
Sourdough Bread
Caesar Salad
Asiago Cheese Ravioli
Molten Chocolate Cake
RECIPES
Cracked Crab Platter
1 Pacific Dungeness crab per person, cooked, cleaned and cracked
Party ice
1 lemon, cut in half
3 or 4 lemons, cut into wedges
Curly leaf parsley, snipped into sprigs
Butter (tea candle lit individual butter warmers)
1 or 2 large garlic cloves, thinly sliced
Cocktail sauce (supplied by the fish market, purchased or homemade)
Large platters with sides
Remove the crab from the wrappers and rinse under cold water. Spread on a sheet pan, pat dry with paper towels, and squeeze the juice from the half lemons over the crab. Toss to coat.
Place a layer of party ice on the platter or platters. The platters need the sides to hold the melting ice water. (I learned that the hard way!)
Place the crab pieces, claws and bodies, on the ice.
Stud with lemon wedges and garnish with parsley sprigs.
Place small bowls of cocktail sauce at various spots on the table.
The butter warmers are available at Bed, Bath & Beyond and come 2 to a box for a very reasonable price. It’s nice to have one at each place. They do double duty as the butter warmer and candlelight for the table! Place about 1/4 of a butter stick and a thin slice of garlic in each warmer. Light the candles about 20 minutes before dinner seating. The butter will bubble and make a tasty dip for the crab. At the grocery store or an import shop, bibs and crab crackers with picks are available. It’s a good idea to have an abundance of these items for your guests.
Since I am usually busy with Christmas music in the church services, I purchase a large pan of a ravioli entrée from a local restaurant and serve it in a chafing dish on the table or from a sideboard.
Many Caesar salad recipes are available on the internet from the Food Network.
The freshly baked sourdough bread is a wonderful accompaniment to the meal.
The molten chocolate cake mix is available from William Sonoma stores and is very easy to make. It can be mixed ahead, placed in buttered ramekins and refrigerated. The cakes take only about 20 minutes to bake. I like to start them as we sit down to dinner and ‘aromatize’ the air with the delicious baking chocolate. Each person gets his or her own hot molten cake with mini-scoops of eggnog and candy cane ice cream and steaming cups of decaffeinated coffee.
A meaningful tradition……
I will find out this Christmas what form it will take!
Tip: What doesn’t kill you makes you stronger.
…..to give you a future and a hope…………Jeremiah 29:11