Dungeness crab from Costco.

Saturday morning we met friends from our old home for breakfast. I had a crab and asparagus omelette and my husband had a crab cake “benny.” We had a great visit with our friends and the food was delicious.

Since we were off our hill into Scottsdale proper, we made our way to Costco. I must have had crab on my brain because I ended up with the crab pictured above. Typical of Costco, it was more than we needed. Three crabs total.

Two hours later of sitting outside with kitchen scissors, nut crackers and a bowl for shells and a bowl for crab meat — and I was done with the cracking.

It was time consuming, tedious and my back, shoulders and hands felt it. But I loved every minute of it.

Why?

First, because Dungeness crab is my most favorite food in the world.

Not only is it delicious, it reminds me of my childhood. We had a boat we kept in Anacortes, Wash., which is the gateway to the San Juan Islands. In Anacortes, next to the Shell Oil refinery, we would catch Dungeness crabs. We’d anchor in that cove which had a slightly sloped sandy bottom where the crabs loved to live.

They aren’t the most intelligent creatures and we’d fish for them with salmon rods. They’d hang onto the line with one claw — munching on whatever we used for bait — cat food, fish heads, whatever. As we reeled them in, they wouldn’t let go until they hit the water’s surface. My dad was ready with the salmon net underneath the crabs when they’d let go. It was his job to untangle the crabs and put them in an ice chest.

My mom’s job was to steam the crabs in the boat’s tiny kitchen and serve us plates of Dungeness crab with squeezes of lemon and melted butter within minutes of catching them.

I’ve had nothing like it since — except for maybe the razor clams we dug and Mom cooked at Ocean Shores. The Costco crab didn’t quite meet my memories of our freshly caught crab, but it was delicious. A real treat for me.

My husband is under the impression that King crabs are the best. That’s because they don’t take much work and you get a big piece of meat. Any Dungeness connoisseur will turn their nose up at this. We know that the delicate flavor of Dungeness cannot be surpassed — and the work to get every morsel out is worth the effort. That’s why I sat and cracked crab for both my husband and me.

When we lived in Palm Springs, my dad would do the same for Christmas Eve dinner so we’d all have a crab cocktail.

Now this is a Dungeness crab sandwich!

Are you a King crab person or a Dungeness lover? What is your most favorite food in the world?