It is August now. Which means it is crabbing season. Since there aren’t that many variations whole crab meals in the city, the most common is the old bay seasoning boil (at least the home cooked kinds), I am always excited when Sate Kampar brings out the chili crabs. My parents are vegan, so there really isn’t any chance that there will be whole crabs made into any Vietnamese recipes. Likewise, there aren't any Vietnamese shops, that I know of, cooking whole crabs.

Which stinks. I remember when I was growing up we would go to Washington Avenue’s Vietnamese markets, we would also look at what was available at the seafood vendors which was Anastasi Seafood on the corner of 9th and Washington. The other way we would get crabs was if my dad, uncle, and grandfather would take us crabbing down the shore. I so wish we had photographs of fishing and crabbing with my relatives. While I never caught anything, running and climbing the slippery rocks along the shore with Jeff and Eric, was always a blast. Dad, my uncle, grandpa, and Dave would be the ones doing the work of catching. A lot of the times when I thought my uncle disappeared somewhere, he would come up from the deep end of the ocean with conchs near the end of the day. How long could he hold his breath for? This was a weekend thing that we did- gto the shore or river to go fish or crabbing. When we got back home, tired, sweaty, and salty from the ocean, my mom and aunt would get ready to cook the catch. Sauces were already made, so it was just the cleaning and prepping the fish for our dinner.

But if we didn't go crabbing and fishing, as mentioned, we would go to the Anastasi market for them since they were right next to the Vietnamese market. On those days, we probably were coming back from visiting my dad's relatives. I always felt relief going to the market afterwards. Truth be told, I don't have many fond, if any at all, memories visiting my dad's relatives. Once the sliding door to the silver van opened, my brothers and I would let our pent up energy out by weaving in between the people trying to buy seafood while my parents would do double duty trying to keep an eye on us and buy crabs and clams. Now before you say anything about my folks, my parents were born and raised in Vietnam. Knowing how to hustle to get the items you want, while keeping an eye on loved ones and personal items, comes second nature. So my brothers' and my curiosity antics was nothing new to them. They just need to move fast.

Anyway, once I saw Ange, or John, post something about chili crabs coming back to the specials, I absolutely knew that I wanted to eat them! Seeing crabs always brings back memories of my childhood, so I asked Ange if I could photograph the process of sourcing and making the crabs. I photographed making the chili crabs on a Thursday and the sourcing of the crabs was at 7 am on a Saturday, after getting texts from Ange if I wanted to go with her to one of the markets to get them. How could I say no? Sure I woke up at 4:45 AM. On a Saturday. But how often would I get this opportunity? Also, it would be nice to photograph a small "day in the life" of Ange.

A Philly Mag assignment

2018

A Philly Mag Assignment