Crab Dip

Crab and Coconut Dip with Plantain Chips (Page 21)

I made this crab dip for the party Karen and Dave threw for me and my special gentleman to celebrate our marriage. The dip portion of this recipe was super simple. I blended coconut milk, scallion, jalapeno, and cilantro in a blender. I whisked mayonnaise, lime juice, and chopped cilantro into this mixture. I stirred in crab meat and salt and served with plantain chips. This crab dip was OK. It had a decent flavor to it, but it didn't look too appetizing. It has a greenish color from the blended jalapeno, scallion, and cilantro. Green seems like not such a great color for a seafood dip, as it somehow gives the impression that the creamy mixture isn't too fresh. The dip was also much too heavy for the delicate chips that were to accompany it. The result of those factors combined was that while the delicious chips disappeared very rapidly, not so much of the dip got eaten. It certainly wasn't a bad recipe, but while I will definitely make the plantain chips again, this crab dip will not become a standby for me. We are wrapping up our beach vacation in Aptos, California and about to head back to Palo Alto for another couple days. When my special gentleman was in college he was on the swim team, and he made many close friends through the team. The swimmers that were his year are still very close and the seven of them get together frequently. All of them are married now (or essentially married) and some of the couples are starting to have kids. I find it very impressive the way they still manage to come together as a group several times per year, in various locations around the country. This weekend we were on the beach in California. The last get-together was at our wedding in May, the next will be in Tahoe on Super Bowl Weekend. Not everyone shows up for every trip (this weekend, for instance, 10 of the 15 people in the group came), but each person seems to show up a reasonable percentage of the time. For a group of people that lives in San Francisco, Miami, Denver, Washington DC, New York City, Providence, and Indiana, it's amazing how often they see one another. I am still very close to some of my college friends, but we don't have a tradition of traveling together. I wish that we did -- it means a lot to my special gentleman to see his friends often, and everyone inevitably has a great time.