~ DIANA FONG CHAN'S CRABMEAT FRUIT SALAD

Steps:

• Peel apple, pear, and nectarines, and cut to ½ inch cubes; mix with lemon juice in a bowl. Scoop cantaloupe into balls and add to bowl. Mix crabmeat with mayonnaise and add half of the prepared fruit to the crabmeat. Don't over-mix as we want the crabmeat in small lumps. Line the serving platter with lettuce. Spread the remaining half of the fruit on the lettuce and top with crabmeat fruit mixture. Place crab shell on top and garnish with "rose" made with nectarine peel. See section on Garnish. I use the shell of a Pacific king crab from Australia as a garnish. If you don't want to splurge on buying a king crab, a fresh whole lobster will work equally well. Steam or boil the lobster. Place cooled whole lobster on one side of the serving platter lined with green leaf lettuce, then spread half of the fruit on top of the lettuce and top with crabmeat fruit mixture. Spread the lobster claws wide around the crabmeat mixture. Serve with lobster crackers so that guests can help themselves to the crabmeat salad and fresh lobster. *Shelled crabmeat in a 1 lb can, by Phillips is available at Costco. Shelled crabmeat is needed to supplement the fresh shellfish as one lobster or crab does not yield enough meat for the salad. Using shelled crabmeat is the easiest way to prepare this appetizer. You can also add cooked shelled shrimp. The whole shellfish serves as a garnish as well as meat, without having the hostess do the shelling. The guests will do the work as they eat the shellfish and crabmeat salad or lobster crabmeat salad.