Zombies for Dinner

Well, who ever knew Valentine's Day could be simultaneously terrifying and delicious?

I believe it was Valentine's Day, a few years back, when Garret and I both assumed (having grown up in similar suburbs) that we could walk into any old grocery store and find a tank full of lobsters to buy.  At the time, I'd never had lobster before.  It was to be quite a decadent holiday indeed.  Of course, then we were in Brooklyn, and surprisingly (I feel like it's probably actually not surprising) they do not have those big aquariums of live lobsters in their grocery stores.  I was admittedly kind of relieved because having a live lobster in my tiny Brooklyn kitchen pretty much terrified me.

Flash forward to yesterday, when our local grocery store was having a major sale on their lobsters in honor of our good friend Cupid.  So around 6pm, this clacking grocery bag was placed on our kitchen table (I mean, Garret placed it there - it's not like it just arrived. But did you notice that I said CLACKING?).

A click-clacking bag containing lobsters.

So, we've never cooked these bugs ourselves before (they honestly look like big bugs) so Garret got to work googling "How To Cook a Lobster".  Some sites said five minutes, some said twelve.  We opted for twelve.

Garret researches how to cook our dinner, which was located
just behind those roses and was click-clacking away.

Of course, if you've ever read this blog before you know that I'm a total baby when it comes to any creature that isn't my adorable dog.  So naturally, I stood at least five feet away from the counter where the lobsters were hanging out before being cooked.  I got close enough to take this one ill-framed picture: 

A lobster in a bowl.

Once the water was boiling, it was time to throw them in the water, which of course Garret did.  He was kind of like a brave knight in shining armor, swooping in to cook dinner, while I stood as far away as I could without looking like I was leaving for the night.  Though, come on - he's not that brave.  Look at his face! 

They cooked for exactly twelve minutes, and then we removed them from the water.  Garret looks scared doing that, too, because as he put it, "It's like a zombie movie - you think they're dead but there's obviously one that's still alive and is going to bite you."  (That didn't happen).

Removing the "zombie lobster" from the water.

In time, we plated them, and ate them.  And I have to say two things about that:

First: Twelve minutes is a perfect cooking time and although I've only ever had two other lobsters in my life, this was by far the best, most fresh, most perfectly cooked one I've ever had.

Second:  This was my most favorite Valentine's Day ever.  What an adventure.  We'd never cooked lobsters and alive, they're terrifying creatures.  We could have gone to a restaurant and ordered lobsters and saved ourself all of this fear, but I don't think that would have been nearly as fun.  So, here's to expeditions in your own kitchen!

 And since I'm kind of obsessed with how that bright red looked on my awesome blue plates, here's another:

 .lsm.