Because It's Maryland Day!

It was 376 years ago today - March 25, 1634 - that English colonists on the Ark and the Dove sailed up the Potomac River and landed on St. Clement's Island. There they and the Yaocomaco Indians met for the first time, and the English colonies' first and only Catholic colony was set up, with its capital at what would become St. Mary's City. I would embed a video about the founding of the Maryland colony and the archaeology of Saint Mary's City, made by St. Mary's College of Maryland, but the bastards disabled embedding.

To celebrate, you could go out for Murlin crabs, hons. But since they're not really in season, you'll just have to fantasize about it. Here's a helpful primer from the Crab Claw Restaurant, across the bay in St. Michael's, for anyone outside the confines of the Chesapeake Bay (yes, that includes Virginia - they know how to break a crab too), to help those poor souls in eating that most quintessential segment of Maryland and Chesapeake cuisine: the steamed crab.



Honestly, I just yanked off the smaller legs, but I admit that it sure looks easier to cut them off. Watch the guy demonstrate how not to break open a crab. I got a chuckle. Must be from New York or Kentucky or some other place where those unfortunate souls just don't have that much exposure to Chesapeake Bay blue crabs. I mean, how else will you know?