A Lobster Tale

So Josh calls me randomly in the middle of the day last Wednesday. My first thought is that something has happened to the car, but then why is he in the car in the middle of the day? He's supposed to be studying.

No, instead he tells me that he's got a lobster from the lobster guy on campus. Yeah, around here we have a guy for everything: car guy, lobster guy, egg guy, etc...

Sure I was excited! I mean, hello, LOBSTER!! Yum! Josh and I had a bunch of lobster the time we went to Maine and we haven't had any since, so I was really excited....until THIS thing came in the door:

Holy Lobster Batman!! But wait, it gets better. He drops off the monster lobster and has to go BACK to school for a 2 hour class. What? Wait? You're doing WHAT!?? You cannot leave that thing here!! What are we going to do with it? I have no idea. I looked it up online (thank God for the interwebz) and found that we could put it in the refrigerator in a paper bag. ha ha ha ha

This guy?

Don't think so.

First, we don't have a paper bag. B) Even if we did, it would not come close to fitting in it and 3) It won't fit in the refrigerator either. Okay, that last one is not true, but I would have to take everything out of the frig to fit the dang thing in there. Then it would probably just play around with my mangos just for fun. I know I'd be able to hear it banging around in the frig, so that was NOT an option.

HOLY LOBSTER BATMAN!!

I decide that we need to try to keep it cool until Josh gets back. He puts it in a giant pail that we have and set it, where else, in the shower. That's kinda my go-to-catch-all place in the apartment...apparently. It was a little unnerving trying to use the bathroom with him in there though, staring at you with his beady little eyes. I am pretty sure Ethan just held it for 3 hours.

I put some ice in the bottom to keep it cold and to slow it down. I didn't need it climbing out of there. Just for good measure, I also decided to spray it with cold water every once in a awhile. It either woke it up or made it angry. He moved which let me know he was still alive. Once they die, they decompose quickly, so you have to try to keep it alive until you are ready to kill it and eat it.

Oh right, we have to kill it. Crap.

Speaking of, at some point in this afternoon, Ethan asked what we were having for dinner. I pointed at the bathroom and said, "the lobster".
"Oh", was his reply.
"What did you think we were going to do with it?", I asked.
"Play with it", he says.

Sure, what else would a 6 year old think when Daddy brings home a giant live animal.
Poor kid. Yet another teachable moment about the circle of life.

At this point I have been getting on the internet quite a bit to figure out our options. I've also put in an SOS cry on the SO Facebook page for good measure. It went like this: "Josh just brought home this giant lobster and left for class. How do you cook something like this if you don't have a pot big enough? Suggestions? What have y'all done?"

I did get several suggestions including dismember it while alive and fit it piece by piece in a pot. Ummm, no thanks. Finally a friend, Beth, offered up her giant pot for the cooking. Yay! (Thank you so much Beth and Bing!!) Now I don't have to drive a knife through it's head. Oh who are we kidding, I wouldn't be doing that anyway. Josh however....

Speaking of Josh, around 4:30 the lobster was moving less and less when I sprayed it. So I sent out several texts of the get-your-butt-home-soon nature, and he made it home pretty fast.

Anyway, after securing a pot big enough, we were left with the problem of his giant antennae. They were longer than Noelle is tall. Josh got out the kitchen shears. It took a few tries to figure out where to cut, but after what seemed like forever, the antennae were off and Monster Lobster was on his way to his imminent doom.

I have to say, this is why I am not a hunter or fisher. At this point Monster Lobster had been in the house for over 2 hours and was well on his way to becoming part of the family. We were all concerned about his well being, but after Josh removed his antennae, he clearly was unhappy.

Here's an interview I did with Analeigh about the lobster. It got cut off because I ran out of memory on the memory card.

She wanted to play on the computer with the lobster. I am not sure why. Oh, and Noelle is fine. She gets up and down off the couch all by herself now. So I know it looked bad, but I promise she is fine.

It was time. Sorry Monster Lobster, but you belong in my tummy, not the shower. Josh submerged him, head first like all the websites suggest. I expected immediate death, but he was a fighter. There was an uncomfortable amount of movement after he was placed in the pot. Poor guy.

Just so you know, we did put about 1/2 cup of salt in the water before boiling. You can also add things like lemons, thyme, or other spices if you'd like. We boiled him for 25 minutes, but then he was so big and heavy that Josh had a hard time getting it out of the pot.


Finally he was out and on his way to being good eats. Josh took care of getting the meat out of the body and I did the legs. That part is kinda fun. It's always fun to try to get the meat out whole if you can. You feel a sense of accomplishment.

Cooked!

That's a lot of tasty meat in there.

After we took the meat out. There was so much! 

At first Ethan ate it, but Analeigh didn't want anything to do with it. Then she tried one of the "sticks" as she called them, or legs as they are known to us. She really liked it and kept asking for more "sticks". I made a side dish of broccoli  but I don't think much of it was eaten. I also made an amazing garlic lemon butter sauce for the lobster...yum...yum!!

And guess what? There was enough left over for an entire second meal! That's a big lobster my friend. And no there was no claw meat. The lobsters here are spiny lobsters and do not have the big claw meat that the cold water lobsters have. Thank goodness! Can you imagine the size of the claws this guy would have? Holy cow!!

There you have it. The adventure of the lobster. Yet another day in Grenada. Did I need a couple glasses of wine afterward? Sure. Will we do it again? You bet! We got this figured out now, right?

Good times...good times!!

Tarryn