if a picture's worth 1000 words

what do you do when

you're a relatively new food

blogger and your 

camera stops working?

if you're me,

you panic.

you freak out that 

you only got one

picture of the shredded

cucumbers that were

going into the tzatziki

intended to top the 

shrimp souvlaki

you were cooking

before your screen turned

a grainy black.

you may even say something

ridiculous like,

what's the point of even

making the rest of the meal

now?

you beg family and friends

to take pictures of the treats

you bring them and the meals

you make them, feeling sheepish

all the while.

and then, you share one

of the last pictures

that you took with the 

camera before it decided

to betray you.

these are mini spicy korean crabs.

in spite of the fact

that my family insists on

joking 

(at least i think they're joking)

that they're baby crabs and

that i'm heartless for enjoying them, 

i like to

believe that they are mini crabs.

they're teeny tiny 

and spicy and, now

that i've finally tried one,

i can add, 

addicting.

i've been sizing them

up for years after first spotting them in

a large container - 

it looked

like there were 100s inside

and i'll admit it,

i was scared.

over the years,

i've checked them out

often wondering,

do you eat the whole thing?

is it just like a small soft shell

or would i actually have to

go in and pick out the meat?

but yet,

i never bought them.

then recently,

we went to a local market,

good nature, to pick up

daikon to pickle with carrots

(which was so good and i'm so

sad to not have a picture to share)

and i saw the crabs available,

by the pound.

this was my chance and i knew

it. after larry declined any interest

or involvement in the crab situation, 

i picked out four

for myself,

and then convinced him to buy extra spicy

parsnips, just so he could try something

new, too. 

once home, we sampled the parsnips

and then i opened the container of

crabs, peered in

and then gently, touched one.

the shell cracked.

and that's when i figured 

out that

1) these "miniature"

crustaceans never really matured and

2) they're sitting in a spicy marinade so

3) they're soft and

4) i should

eat the whole thing.

i was nervous.

i started with a leg.

then another.

then, finally, i ate the rest

as larry watched my face,

his caught somewhere between

disgust, amusement and

fascination.

i fell in love.

just what i need,

a new food to dream

about and to crave

late at night.

i spread them out

over three days, talking

about them incessantly, asking

when we could go get more and 

when i was down to just two,

taking their picture 

next to a (meyer)

lemon for size comparison.

and now

that my camera has 

taken a self-imposed hiatus,

i'm glad that i did.

because, as with most

foods worth talking about,

there's no way

to really describe

them 

without a visual.

*while the camera is getting fixed, i'm not going anywhere. i'm just relying heavily on said family and friends for photography help...which means that i really will only be able to blog about items that are made for or in front of people and not, for example, the banh mi i made tonight for dinner or the butternut squash ravioli with morels that i made last week. it's a bummer, but it should keep things interesting. stay tuned.