Beware of Baltimore

Baltimore is a special kind of city. I really like it. The aquarium is nice. The inner harbor is nice. The sporting arenas are nice. The universities are nice.


But some of the city is scary as heck. You'll be driving along feeling perfectly comfortable, and then, bam, you're in a sketchy neighborhood with no warning.


We unfortunately decided to eat at "Caribbean Paradise" thinking it sounded like a great, tropical, fun restaurant in downtown Baltimore. It turned out to be across from some shady casino and gas station. People were staring at us because we stuck out like a sore thumb. We were wandering around as if we were rabbits in a foxhole. Nothing bad happened, but I definitely felt unsafe. So lesson learned, if you go to Baltimore, stick only to the touristy areas, unless you packed your bullet proof vest.

Runaway Dinner

The most exciting kinds of the dinners are those that try to escape.


I don't think I've ever screamed so much over dinner before in my life; although to be fair, it was probably more shrieking than screaming. Our task was to cook almost a whole bushel of Maryland Blue crabs which, in case you don't know, is a ridiculous amount of blue crabs. To make matters worse, live crabs are fiesty little critters that don't seem to like being dusted with Old Bay seasoning and shoved in a hot pot. They flap their legs around like crab-maniacs making little clicking noises. "Don't eat me. Don't eat me." We felt it prudent to apologize to each crab before sending it off to it's fate.

At one point, a crab popped off the the lid and jumped out of the steamer onto the stove and then onto the floor. Crazy crab. We had to use tongs to grab him, wash him off, and put him back in. Sorry.

Crabbing for Maryland Blue Crabs

Even though I've been living in Maryland for awhile now, I have never gone crabbing before last weekend. And I don't know why not. It is such a fun regional activity!

What you do is this. Drive to the pier. Tie smelly chicken necks to the end of the string. Throw the string into the water. Tie string to the pier. Wait. See string move. Grab string and pull upward slowly. See crab eating chicken. Scoop up with a net, and voila, you have yourself a Maryland blue crab.

It really was that easy. We went at high tide during the month of August which is apparently the best time to crab. Almost immediatly after throwing the chicken necks in the water the crabs starting biting. The "crab police" also came around to check if everyone was meeting regulations, namely all crabs must be bigger than 5.25 inches and not female. We were unsure of said regulations and did not want to get a fine of $150 per illegal crab so we dumped them all overboard in a rush.

We then worked on re-catching the crabs and ended up with a nice bucket full. But, just to be sure we had plenty of crabs to eat, we stopped by the fish market in DC to buy more crabs. That was an experience in and of itself. There are heaping piles of fiesty crabs just waiting for you to pick them out and dump them in the steamer. Eating crabs is an experience too. You have to work for your meal! This YouTube tutorial might be of interest to all you newbies out there like me. It's basically snap, crack, smash, and pull. They ought to make crab-eating googles. It's a hazardous task.

Powerless

I started this blog excited to write posts quite frequently, but unfortunately have not lived up to that already, after only one post. I have an excuse though. A good one.

I have been powerless the past few days quite literally. A thunderstorm on Sunday knocked out power for a lot of the DMV, but in typical Maryland style, it won the race for taking the longest to restore power. I have been going to the university to hop on the wireless internet network at night, charging my cellphone at work, using a flashlight to get in the door, sweating at night in the humidity, and taking freezing cold showers in the morning. It's about time you restore the power Pepco! I have learned the worst part about a life without electricity is the lack of cold food and internet access. These two things are essential, and you don't appreciate them until you don't have them.

Thanksgiving at the Beach

I am in Ocean City, Maryland right now over Thanksgiving vacation. Yay, the beach--even if it is a freezing cold beach. The roar of the waves and boardwalk shops, however, comfort our temperature woes.


We watched a few crazy people stick their toes in the water. Followed by their whole feet, ankles, calves, knees, and finally an unexpected wave soaked their pants completetly. Haha. I bet they were sorry they got so close to the water.


Unfortunately this "holiday" for me means working on papers that are due next week. At all the hotels we canvased, I had to ask, "and you have free WiFi, right?" so I can do my research. Happy Thanksgiving to me.

Visit with friends

I got to see my Emily and Nicole this week! We had a little rendezvous in Frederick. I missed my girls so much, so this was good for the spirit. It's amazing how fast time can fly by without seeing people who are dear to you. Sad. Writing this post, I realize we did not take any photos. Booo.

Frederick has a cute little downtown, where we went out to eat. Mmmm, good food, outside on that terrace. And then we went back to Emily's place to chat and watch SNL skits. Tiny Fey and Amy Poehler as Sarah Palin and Hillary Clinton, so unbelievably funny. Oh, we also got some presents from a little place known as Paris, France. Thanks Em.

Maryland Love

Oh my, I've been busy. I went into the city again on Friday for dessert (cheesecake) at Friendship Heights with friends of friends. Saturday I went out for dinner and walk in Clarendon, VA. Sunday I read a bunch of chapters from my textbook that I am teaching from. I still have a lot of rapid reading to do before classes start next week. Ahhhh. Today, orientation started bright and early in the morning. We met some of our faculty and got keys to our offices. Yay! I like this whole grad student/TA thing

We also walked around campus and the Comcast stadium is huge!! I think they take basketball seriously here. There is also a mini-farm right on campus and a multi-level super-awesome gym. They even have an Olympic sized pool outdoors in addition to the two indoors. This Maryland place is crazy. Every day I am more and more happy that I am here.