At first glance, those two items- Border Agents and Crab cakes- have very little to nothing in common. However, my experience yesterday on my day trip to Buffalo, NY made me think twice.
Let me first put this out there, when we moved to Canada we knew there was a risk of sorts crossing the borders. It seems that other countries don't really like non-citizens moving there and residing for any period of time. Since we are not with a company, and Dan's job is a little taboo for some, this posed some extra hurdles for us in our moving process.
Dan did his research before we came up and brought supporting documents with us illustrating we have the funds to support ourselves while living in Canada and that we own a home in the US, so there is something for us to go back to and we won't stay in Canada forever. Once you prepare as much as possible, you have to leave the rest up to luck/fate/chance that you get the right border agent that understands. Luckily, we didn't have a real issue getting into Canada in July, and the agents were very helpful and friendly. Some other poker players have faced a worse fate and have been formally refused entrance at the border.
Yesterday, as I prepared for my day trip, I made sure I had all of the necessary documents I would need to plead my case of reentering Canada if necessary. I was mostly worried about coming back to Toronto. It never crossed my mind to worry about getting into the United States. Ironically enough, that was the hardest part- getting back into the States as a US citizen.
As I pulled up to the agents booth at the border, I smiled politely and handed him my passport. I quickly realized I drew the short straw of agents and this would not be a pleasant experience. I am terrified in situations like these where someone has all of the authority and can arbitrarily decide your fate. To be fair, these border agents are supposed to be firm and business like to protect our country, but this guy took it a bit too far at 10 in the morning.
The minute he started asking his rapid fire questions, he didn't like my answers. His response to almost all of them was, "That doesn't make sense." I about lost my mind wanting to know if he just wasn't listening since I was clearly speaking English. Long story short(er), he informed me that as a US citizen, I could never be denied getting back into my country, but if he were in charge he would refuse me since my husband and I are clearly on the run doing illegal things.
Wow. Ok. Big fighting words. I was so upset, but I had to sit there and take it until he let me in. He then went on for about 5 minutes asking me how we got into Canada in the first place. His reasoning is that we lied about Dan's job. He also informed me that I would "probably be spending the night in Buffalo, since I had no chance of getting back into Canada."
I mean, I get it. I do. He has to be strict. But at 10 am on a Wednesday, am I- a single, young lady doing nothing wrong- his biggest concern? Really?
Early in the summer, a poll was done ranking the friendliest countries in the world. For the second year in a row, Canada has been ranked #1. After yesterday, I am convinced that the poll is obviously conducted at the borders. The Canadian agent I spoke with on my way back- nicest person, no questions or accusations, very professional. A great 'welcoming committee' for the country. The US agent- not surprising we didn't crack the top 10 on the list.
Sooooooo, in honor of my crabby border agent, here is a crab cake recipe we tested this week. It will be called the Crabby Border Agent Patty from here on out. :) I have also included the homemade remoulade sauce I made to go with it. Enjoy!
Crabby 'Border Agent' Patties
The changes I made are as follows: I used 8 oz of fresh lump crab and 8 oz can of crab lumps to make the quality and taste better. I also only used about 10 ritz crackers instead of 20. I let the formed cakes sit in the fridge for about 30 minutes before I baked them in the oven for 30 minutes on 350 degrees. 15 mins on each side. It was just an easy way to avoid frying dinner.
Remoulade Sauce
I left out the olives, parsley & capers. No food processor here, and those are things we could easily not use in this recipe. It is a great sauce, but makes a lot. I cut everything in half so we didn't have too much. It is also a great sauce to use on a shrimp po'boy or light fish meal.
Definitely a meal we will rotate in every once in a while. Easy to make, out of the ordinary for us, and delish.
Until tomorrow...xo
Let me first put this out there, when we moved to Canada we knew there was a risk of sorts crossing the borders. It seems that other countries don't really like non-citizens moving there and residing for any period of time. Since we are not with a company, and Dan's job is a little taboo for some, this posed some extra hurdles for us in our moving process.
Dan did his research before we came up and brought supporting documents with us illustrating we have the funds to support ourselves while living in Canada and that we own a home in the US, so there is something for us to go back to and we won't stay in Canada forever. Once you prepare as much as possible, you have to leave the rest up to luck/fate/chance that you get the right border agent that understands. Luckily, we didn't have a real issue getting into Canada in July, and the agents were very helpful and friendly. Some other poker players have faced a worse fate and have been formally refused entrance at the border.
Yesterday, as I prepared for my day trip, I made sure I had all of the necessary documents I would need to plead my case of reentering Canada if necessary. I was mostly worried about coming back to Toronto. It never crossed my mind to worry about getting into the United States. Ironically enough, that was the hardest part- getting back into the States as a US citizen.
As I pulled up to the agents booth at the border, I smiled politely and handed him my passport. I quickly realized I drew the short straw of agents and this would not be a pleasant experience. I am terrified in situations like these where someone has all of the authority and can arbitrarily decide your fate. To be fair, these border agents are supposed to be firm and business like to protect our country, but this guy took it a bit too far at 10 in the morning.
The minute he started asking his rapid fire questions, he didn't like my answers. His response to almost all of them was, "That doesn't make sense." I about lost my mind wanting to know if he just wasn't listening since I was clearly speaking English. Long story short(er), he informed me that as a US citizen, I could never be denied getting back into my country, but if he were in charge he would refuse me since my husband and I are clearly on the run doing illegal things.
Wow. Ok. Big fighting words. I was so upset, but I had to sit there and take it until he let me in. He then went on for about 5 minutes asking me how we got into Canada in the first place. His reasoning is that we lied about Dan's job. He also informed me that I would "probably be spending the night in Buffalo, since I had no chance of getting back into Canada."
I mean, I get it. I do. He has to be strict. But at 10 am on a Wednesday, am I- a single, young lady doing nothing wrong- his biggest concern? Really?
Early in the summer, a poll was done ranking the friendliest countries in the world. For the second year in a row, Canada has been ranked #1. After yesterday, I am convinced that the poll is obviously conducted at the borders. The Canadian agent I spoke with on my way back- nicest person, no questions or accusations, very professional. A great 'welcoming committee' for the country. The US agent- not surprising we didn't crack the top 10 on the list.
Sooooooo, in honor of my crabby border agent, here is a crab cake recipe we tested this week. It will be called the Crabby Border Agent Patty from here on out. :) I have also included the homemade remoulade sauce I made to go with it. Enjoy!
Crabby 'Border Agent' Patties
The changes I made are as follows: I used 8 oz of fresh lump crab and 8 oz can of crab lumps to make the quality and taste better. I also only used about 10 ritz crackers instead of 20. I let the formed cakes sit in the fridge for about 30 minutes before I baked them in the oven for 30 minutes on 350 degrees. 15 mins on each side. It was just an easy way to avoid frying dinner.
Remoulade Sauce
I left out the olives, parsley & capers. No food processor here, and those are things we could easily not use in this recipe. It is a great sauce, but makes a lot. I cut everything in half so we didn't have too much. It is also a great sauce to use on a shrimp po'boy or light fish meal.
Definitely a meal we will rotate in every once in a while. Easy to make, out of the ordinary for us, and delish.
Until tomorrow...xo
Yikes, Katie! What an ass. I HATE people who let authority go to their heads. I remember once I was getting dropped off at the airport and trying to get my suitcase out of Adrianna's trunk when all of a sudden there was a confrontational police officer at my side going, "Ma'am, are you going to continue giving me trouble?" Apparently he wanted me to step away from the car so he could have Adrianna pull forward, but instead of thinking that maybe I simply hadn't heard him (since he was nowhere near me and there were 600 cars and twice that many people swarming around outside) I was immediately seen as an enormous threat to airport security.
ReplyDeleteGlad the crab cakes turned out well :)