Paupers Eat Like Princes

 

Despite our near-pauper status, Andrew and I have been eating like kings lately.

Our bananas from Whitehorse, Yukon were going a bit brown and needed some using up. What to do with extra bananas? Banana bread, naturlich. I smashed them up and whipped up a loaf.

Now, having banana bread anywhere is wonderful, but in our housing situation, it seems all the more fantastic to me. We’re in a big empty house right now and aren’t really “moved in.” It feels like a state of transit. It’s kinda grungy but it works for us.

Anyways, managing to fill the house with the smell of banana bread was luxury.
Cutting up that steaming loaf, oh so good!

After we had had our share for the night (two slices per person), I thought of Ed, our neighbour whom we share a driveway with. Whenever we’re out, he always seems game for a conversation. He’s a lovely man.

Anyways, his wife passed away and so now he’s on his ownsome. I thought he might like some of our bread.

I sliced off a few slices and we ran pel mel for his door where we knocked excitedly (well, I was excited). we handed him the bread and then he said, “Oh! Do you guys like crab? I’ve got some crab for you guys.”

Ed hands us two giant dungeness  crabs!

We stayed and talked for a while and then headed back home where Andrew filled a bucket with some snow to keep the crabs cold.

He told me that, in a restaurant, one crab would cost around $17. So we got around $34 worth of crab for free.

Two days later we feasted on half of a crab for breakfast.

It was my first time to have crab like that. I was hesitant to crack open the shell, it seemed so brutal, but eventually I got used to the rhythm of breaking open the crackly crust to get to the tasty flesh. I found pleasure in pulling small pieces of meat out of the nooks and crannies of the crab creature.

Later that night, after garage sailing and grocery purchasing and volunteering, we consumed the rest of the crab. We stood at the counter, stripping the rest of the whole and half crab of the delicious meat.

While Andrew was out running, I threw together some vegetables for roasting to go with the crab. We had small red potatoes, beets (which we got for free), carrots, and onions drizzled with olive oil and rubbed over with spices liked oregano, parsley, and some sea salt.

Dinners with Andrew, which we’ve managed to have each night, are a highlight of the day for me. It’s always a sit-down meal and the food tastes so good. As we consumed our crab and vegetables, we kept making verbal confirmations that, yes, this was pretty incredible. Goodness, everything tasted so good!

This life I’m living right now? Yeah, I really like it.