If you haven’t noticed I haven’t posted anything in a while. It’s because I am always jealous of Cat over at Things My Belly Likes. Not only does Cat have fabulous recipes, photos and a great writing style but she lives on an island in the Caribbean with those gorgeous turquoise waters, beautiful views, unbelievable sunsets, fresh seafood, wonderful rum, the list goes on and on and on. So, time for a vacation in St. Croix for a week to renew our wedding vows and eat, drink and be merry. No posting. No internet. No cell phone. Lots of fun in the sun and snorkeling. Rum, Rum and more Rum. Good food cooked by someone else. Nice people.

Despite all the obstacles American Airlines put in our path, we had a great time and I got to remarry the love of my life, once again. I would marry her every day for the rest of my life. Unfortunately, however, all things must come to an end so we are now back in concrete city with temps in the upper 90s waiting to hit 100 F again, and again, and again. But it’s home, we like it and we have yet to figure out how to move the house, foundation and yard to an island.

When I travel, my diet goes out the window. This trip was no exception. We went to Rowdy Joe’s on the Northshore and ate his wonderful Fried Edamame with Sriracha Teriyaki Sauce. What a killer dish this is.

Another day we had fried Parrot Fish. It took a few seconds before I could bring myself to eat such a beautiful fish.

Only a few seconds mind you and it was delicious! The litany of flavors, rum and fried food was the entire week, which is why I gained 10 pounds. But it was well worth it.

To commemorate being home, to lighten things up a bit and get back to some semblance of healthy eating, we did a wonderful poke dish for dinner tonight. Once again, simple foods done well shine. You get the creaminess of the mayonnaise, the sweetness of the succulent crab, and ahi, the spiciness of the sambal olek and sriracha sauce, the burst of brightness from the flying fish roe and the cool crunchy texture of the butter crisp lettuce. Everything is in balance (along with my calorie count). So life is good.

This dish is a spin-off of a Sam Choy poke dish. I adjusted it to minimize the mayonnaise (not that I dislike mayonnaise but 1-1/2 cups seemed like an enormous amount of mayo for the dish) and I didn’t have 7 spice powder so I did a workaround. Also, I served this in lettuce wraps and I have no idea how he serves his. This is a fabulous summertime meal we hope you will enjoy.

Ingredients

• 1-1/2 lbs ahí, sashimi grade, minced
• 1 cup lump crabmeat
• 1/2 cup Vidalia onion, minced
• 1/2 cup garlic chives chopped
• 1 cup mayonaise
• 1/4 cup soy sauce
• 2 Tbsp Sriracha sauce
• 1/2 tsp Szechwan 4 spice seasoning
• 1/2 tsp sambal olek (recipe here)
• 3 Tbsp tobiko (flying fish roe)
• 1 Tbsp sesame seed oil

Instructions

Mince the ahi. You should get roughly 3 cups.

After mincing the ahi, put it in a bowl. Chop the chives and mince the onions.

Now add the mayonnaise to the ahi in the bowl.

Add the Soy Sauce.

Then 2 Tbsp Sriracha Sauce

Fold to incorporate

Add the garlic chives

Then the minced onions and again fold to incorporate

Now add the Szechwan 4 spice seasoning

the samba olek and flying fish roe and incorporate

Add the 1 cup lump crabmeat and incorporate

Finish with 1 Tbsp Sesame Seed Oil and incorporate

Serve 2 Tbsp poke with a nice buttercup lettuce leaf and a nice crisp Chardonnay wine and enjoy.