Traditional Polar Bear Plunge

My grandfather was never the most talkative about things native american, but then I only knew him really in high school.  But on one occasion the group of us (us being whatever collection of grandkids happened to be around that day) got him talking about how our people lived before contact and in particular the sweat lodges and the morning rituals.

How I remember the story from when I was about 14:  All the men and older boys would sleep separately in a sweat lodge.  Each morning, the youngest make members of the family would build the fire and heat the stones, then drop them into the water basket to make the sweat lodge hot and steamy.  You began the day by sweating and clearing away everything from the previous day and night.  After a good sweat, they would go and walk or run into the river adjacent to the village.  In winter, if there was ice, they would keep an area broken free so that they could wade into the water and wash away the sweat.

I do not have a sweat lodge, and sleep on cotton sheets, but I have always liked the thought of the plunging into cold water to start the day fresh.  Instead, I end up doing that once a year on New Year's Day at a Polar Bear Plunge.

Every year at 12 noon on New Years Day, there is a polar bear plunge at Double Bluff park in Freeland, WA. You donate $15 to the local 4-H, get a free t-shirt, and get to jump into the cold ocean!

A great tradition, and one that I will continue to enjoy, maybe next year one of my boys will join me!

Crab For New Years

It is great to live in the Northwest!  There is always something to do outside that I can enjoy with my boys.

On New Years Eve, we decided to take advantage of the last day of crabbing season and throw a pot in from one of the local docks.  It was a very nice day, which made this an even better idea!  I walked out on the dock and threw the pot into the water while Tracy and the boys played on the beach.  We had a great time watching a crew take their crabbing boat out of the water for the winter - a six man operation that took them over an hour to accomplish and involved the realization that their truck was too small.

We checked the pot - a couple starfish and a female dungeness that we threw back.  We went to an early lunch at the local pizza joint and checked again - more starfish!  REALLY big sunburst starfish, all purple and yellow and slimy with thousands of tentacles trying to get my chicken out of the pot! Carter and Dylan thought this was the greatest catch in the world, letting the little suction tentacles wrap around their fingers before we threw the starfish back into the water.

One last soak while we went home and worked on the garden for a bit, then Carter and I went back out to pull the crab pot.  At the end of the dock, Carter got into a conversation with an older gentleman who was also pulling his pots, using his loud four-year-old voice, I could distinctly hear his 1/2 of the conversation as I pulled up a pot of starfish with a last female dungeness.
"We probably only have starfish in our pot, did you catch anything?"
"No, we aren't that good at crabbing, but we like catching starfish."
"Well, my brother is at home sleeping, so he will probably be sad to miss the starfish, but I think he will be OK"
After Carter helped me throw back our unfortunate catch, the older guy came over with a bucket and asked if we wanted his red rock crabs - he had caught four plus some dungeness and "thought Carter needed to bring something home to his brother"

Crab identification Link:   Washington Crab Identification

So after a day of poking around with a crab pot, we came home with four red rock crabs, the other other crab of puget sound!

We got home and boiled all four in a nice large pot, then Carter and I sat and ate one together.  Dylan even tried a bite, pretty brave for a two-year-old!

After the kids went to bed, I processed the rest of the crabs getting out all the meat.  The legs don't have much meat on the red rock crabs, but I am stubborn and still got all everything out.  Crab shells and guts went to the compost bin.  More food for the worms?  Will they eat crab shells?  To be determined...

With company coming over the next day, I looked up a crab salad recipe - this definitely worked and was a hit with everybody!
Crab Green Salad with Avacado
Ingredients:

·         2 cups cooked cooled crab meat, flaked

·         1 cup diced celery

·         1/4 cup chopped green or red bell pepper

·         1 teaspoon salt, or to taste

·         1/4 teaspoon pepper

·         1 tablespoon fresh lemon juice

·         3 tablespoons mayonnaise

·         mixed salad greens

·         6 avocado wedges, optional

Preparation:

Mix crab meat with diced celery, chopped bell pepper, salt, pepper, lemon juice, and mayonnaise. Serve over mixed greens with a slice of avocado, if desired.

Till next crab season!

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