Homard
That's right, bugs! 'Homard' is the French word for lobster, the kind with big claws, like a cross between a giant cockroach and a crab. These bugs inhabit the cool waters of the northern Atlantic and are as popular in Maine as they are in France. A few were swimming in a tank in a supermarket in Southern California this afternoon.
Cathy chose three which, when removed from the tank, immediately began to fight among themselves. To calm them down, they were given a nice Turkish bath. After twelve minutes in the steam, their shells had changed from a dark green color to a very bright red color and all three were completely immobile. A little bit of surgery to remove their sand line and they were ready to accompany Cathy home, along with a bottle of champagne and some other goodies.
When Cathy arrived home, she gave her mother a bouquet of flowers, mostly pink carnations, to keep her Oohing and Aahing for a while, then locked herself in the kitchen with a collection of mysterious bags, telling Delia that she was forbidden to enter -- or even peek into -- the kitchen.
Forty minutes later, Cathy set the table and served her mother -- and only her mother -- an antepasto that was mostly white cheese balls and little tomatoes in an oily sauce. Then she brought out a plate of garlic fried shrimp and a big bowl of coconut flavored rice with guandu (also known as pigeon peas, a very special treat to Panamanians). She had me open and serve the champagne while she fetched the spectacular main course.
What do you do when faced with an intact whole lobster for the very first time? Besides make a mess, that is. I know there is a suite of very special tools that are generally used for the task: crackers, picks and so on. We had a nut cracker, which we shared. I got hit in the nose by a flying piece of shell from Cathy's beast. The dog was excited and difficult to restrain.
And the phone rang. Nobody wanted to pick it up. Our hands were too messy. Finally we hit the speaker button. It was Tsyla, one of Delia's friends from Panama who currently lives in Florida. Delia was able to brag while still enjoying the novelty of the meal.
We didn't finish the shrimp. That, in itself, is rare enough to be remarkable. About the only meat we didn't get out of the bugs was in the little legs. We left plates full of shell ... and memories.
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Comments (3)
I hope Cathy served everyone towels at the onset of the feast.
Kudos to Cathy on a wonderful Mother's Day feast!
When I say the title of your blog, I thought you were referring to the latest episode Iron Chef, where the theme ingredient was "Homard Lobster" (they used the French and English to identify this as lobster they imported specially from France) and Iron Chef Sakai lost his first battle going up against the sous-chef from a famous restaurant in Paris.
Sounds like Cathy outdid herself and all of you had a magnifiscent meal and a wonderful evening!
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