蟹詩

After the hallucinatory interview, Vivian and I had a small dinner gathering with her surgical colleagues - largely for the tasting of Chinese mitten crabs (大閘蟹).

I do not have much to tell from the dinner, but there's a flash back of my memory to some poems I learned from the Dream of the Red Chamber (紅樓夢) by Cao Xueqin (曹雪芹).

(賈寶玉)
持螯更喜桂陰涼，潑醋擂薑興欲狂。饕餮王孫應有酒，橫行公子卻無腸。
臍間積冷饞忘忌，指上沾腥洗尚香。原為世人美口腹，坡仙曾笑一生忙。

(林黛玉)
鐵甲長戈死未忘，堆盤色相喜先嘗。螯封嫩玉雙雙滿，殼凸紅脂塊塊香。
多肉更憐卿八足，助情誰勸我千觴。對斯佳品酬佳節，桂拂清風菊帶霜。

(薛寶釵)
桂靄桐陰坐舉殤，長安涎口盼重陽。眼前道路無經緯，皮裏春秋空黑黃。
酒未敵腥還用菊，性防積冷定須姜。於今落釜成何益，月浦空餘禾黍香。

Alas, "眼前道路無經緯，皮裏春秋空黑黃。" What a description.

The eternal question is: what species of crab was on the table ?

Looking at Lin Daiyu's poem, it should not be the Chinese mitten.

Maybe they're the river ones.