20080903

In which the times, they are a'changin'...

Hey kids.
I'm contemplating a new layout and a new theme behind the blog. I think the name might even change from Life is Nommy to something else. I'll be sure to keep you posted -- you'll be the first to know. Maybe the second -- Jesse will be the first because he's going to have to help me do the fancy shmancy stuff.
However, in the interim, I will do my best to keep updating. We've had an interesting month of August. Basically, it was peppered with a week of us being able to afford groceries, and a week of us not being able to afford them, rinse and repeat. I made risotto and soup, we had fabulous friends over and I mistakenly tried to use one pound of ground beef to make 4 burgers.... which I will never do again.
Saturday our ship righted itself, mostly. I ordered a bunch of groceries from Fresh Direct. We had steak on Sunday night after our groceries were delivered -- beautiful thick boneless shell steaks grilled, with sauteed green beans and shallots - I grated lemon zest over the top and tossed right before serving.
It was lovely.

Monday was an adventure.

It was our anniversary - we've been together for two years. Strange.... and wonderful. For our anniversary, we decided to have lobster for dinner - it's my favorite fancy food. We had been planning it for a few days, but hadn't gotten around to actually calling and ordering any from anyplace.
Monday morning, I woke up at about 9am (on Labor Day. EWW!!!) and decided to get up and call Whole Foods to make sure I could get some lobsters from them.
Apparently I missed a memo.

Selling live lobsters is against Whole Foods' principles. I didn't realize grocery stores HAD principles. So, back to the drawing board. I called Gourmet Garage. Nope - we don't sell those.
I checked Food Emporium's website - very expensive.
Jesse reminded me about The Lobster Place in Chelsea Market -- I leapt with glee and proceeded to call them over and over trying to get someone to confirm for me that they were open. I checked Chelsea Market's website - no word that they were closed. However, I couldn't get an answer on the phone.
Eventually, I just decided to go find out for myself.
I started with the grocery stores near my house - one's fish counter wasn't open on Labor Day. The other didn't have a department for fresh fish - only frozen.
I went to Union Square. I started walking west.
Garden of Eden was out of lobsters.
Several grocery stores along 14th street didn't have lobsters.
Chelsea Market, and therefore The Lobster Place, was closed.
Balducci's, a super-shmancy grocery store didn't sell them.
The Food Emporium I passed didn't sell them - only frozen lobster tails.
I went back to Garden of Eden, and was told that they had another store at 23rd street. I called Jesse and asked him to find the address.

I went in, and finally procured, three hours, 9+ grocery stores, and the start of my only sunburn of hte summer later.... two beautiful lobsters. For an exorbitant price. But.... they were worth it.

I am a lobster purist. So, I boiled them in heavily salted water, showing no mercy and no notice if they DID scream, which I don't think they did. I had to hold the lid down when one of them tried to fight being boiled alive. He could not escape me.

It was delicious.

It was the perfect end to an anniversary. A day where we went out and played frisbee in the park, walked around, got outside, and I got righteously sunburned. Of coruse, my dress had matching deep v's in the front and back, and I only got sunburned in the inverted triangle of open skin on my back. Which means that shirtless or in a tank top, I look VERY silly. But, it was incredibly well-earned. I loved every minute of it. And one sunburn in an entire summer, even a pretty righteous one, is ok with me if it's earned on a gorgeous day with my boyfriend celebrating two years together and many many more to come.

until next time.

2 comments:

  1. Anonymous9:14 PM

    wow....a lobster scavanger hunt. i would have given up after number three. so i'm glad they were tasty! and happy anniversary!!!

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  2. That DOES sound like a lobster scavenger hunt! It was all worth it and that's all that matters. Congrats on the anniversary.

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