Mother's Day and the $100 Appetizer

John has a tradition of going all out for dinner on Mother's Day. This year he asked me if I had any requests and I told him to make a pasta with vodka cream sauce. I had set aside a recipe a long time ago but have not made it since I never make it into a liquor store. Well he looked that over and decided to make that and fresh homemade crabcakes. He typed up his grocery list and made his big plan for the day. I told him I would stop in the seafood market yesterday and buy the crabmeat since I would be running around near there anyways. I walked up to the counter and asked for 3 lbs of fresh crabmeat. They looked at me funny and said, "Are you sure you want 3 lbs?". I looked over to the price and it was $30 per lb! I told them to wait while I called my husband. I told John the price and he said that the plan was in motion and he needed the crabmeat. I need to mention that he has a major pet peeve of running out of food. He hates it when people underestimate what they need and guests are left wanting more. He wanted to triple the recipe because his brother and mother would be there. Anyways, I bought the crab and John spent all morning in the kitchen before church and about 2 hours after church. I have never seen so many different fresh herbs being minced at one time. Julia was his little assistant by his side all day. She loves to cook. So ... we had a wonderful dinner. They made a creamy lemon herb sauce for the crabcakes and everything turned out perfect - and we have plenty of leftovers. Now they are facing a mess in the kitchen that will probably take all night to clean. Happy Mother's Day!