Happy New Year!

This is how we do it in California, when we're lucky enough to be within shouting distance of the commercial fishing docks in Morro Bay. One Dungeness crab each, plus copious salads and home-made sourdough bread, and of course some Central Coast wines.

This bounty - about 1.5 pounds of whole, cooked, cracked crab per person:

yielded at least 1 pound of divine crabmeat:

With 16 friends gathered at our host's home, the conversation was lively, and not nearly as serious as this photo implies:

We celebrated on New York time, so everyone was able to be safely home by 10:30pm Pacific time. I hope each of my readers had as enjoyable a celebration as we did (although I'm sure you didn't have crab as fresh and sweet as this - caught that morning and delivered cooked and cracked in the afternoon).