Alain and I were talking about going skiing for New Year's weekend and he mentioned that I should invite a few friends along. Big mistake. He got his wish and then some.

That's right, the second edition of the New Year's Eve Crab Boil was held at Alain's cabin near Lake Tahoe, an arduous 5 minute drive from Alpine Meadows ski resort where 20 of us mixed three of my favorite things: partying, dungeness crab, and skiing. Plastic drop cloth again adorned the table and floor, but I upgraded with some new crab-cracking tools, allowing me to leave the Craftsman hammers and pliers at home. Other upgrades included a disco ball, DJ Doug brought a stereo and spun tunes on his iPod, a shot ski courtesy of Dino's craftsmanship, and a huge storm that buried us with eight feet of fresh powder in two days leading to some of the best skiing we've ever had. The phrase "No friends on powder days" never held truer.

I overdid it with the crab and had eleven left over which were skillfully transformed into tasty crab cakes by Randy, Ken, Katy, and Colleen. The shot ski had many a hung-over victim, Katy got outsmarted by Kuma in a game of "glove keep-away", and we managed to make it through the weekend without destroying the cabin. Thanks to everyone for making this a great New Year's and for helping out with cooking, cleaning, etc. I think I even managed to keep my cabin priviledges!