The advantage of all that coffee was that I was plenty awake for the two hour drive down to Baltimore to meet up with my brother and Jeanne and her boyfriend Tom.

Disco, Jeanne, and me

I couldn't get a single picture in which both Tom and Jeanne had their eyes open.

We met up at Crabby Dick's in Fell's Point and had a pleasant evening of family catching-up. I also satisfied, to a degree, the crab-craving I've been feeling for some time. Tom and I split a dozen mixed. Chesapeake Bay crabs are not in season, so these were Louisiana and North Carolina crabs, but prepared in the Maryland way -- covered in Old Bay Seasoning and steamed. The Old Bay is on the outside of the crabs, but it gets everywhere as you crack them open and ends up flavoring everything you're eating. It's a lot of work for not so much crab meat, so I always feel like I might be hungrier when I finish than when I started.