Tales from our (Sub)Urban Ranch: Lobsters and more, Part 2

Monday, May 26, 2014

Lobsters and more, Part 2

As promised, here is a report on the latest (Sub)Urban Ranch Lobster Boil.

My adventure began on Thursday evening when I realized I hadn't ordered mussels. In case you didn't get the memo, mussels are an important part of our Lobster Boil. Lucky for me, our neighborhood King Soopers had some in stock on Friday morning and were willing to hold them for me until I could get there after school. Whew..

So here we go...steamed corn, seasoned with Cajun spice (instead of Old Bay) this time. Again, luckily our local King Soopers had corn in stock (whew!) because the corn in the garden is barely sprouting....

Mussels soaking to finish the de-sanding--although these fellows were farmed raised, so not as much sand as the free range mussels. What is a free range mussel, anyway? How do they actually range? Seriously?

No, this isn't garden salad, but it was yummy--a little Caesar Salad action...

What is this, you ask? Why, that is homemade whipped cream....

to go with the strawberries....and angel food cake! (yum!)

Hello Lobsters in my cooler...Of course I will now spend the rest of the week trying to get "that fishy smell" out of the cooler....Maybe I need a dedicated lobster cooler!

Here is the cooking set-up--a turkey cooker (that has never seen a turkey). Several years ago we decided (in May) that we needed an additional turkey cooker. Have you ever looked for a turkey cooker in May?

Mussels...yum!

My new lobster potholder--for decoration only, Mr. Ranch!

So, funny story. The Girl and I set the table inside (see how pretty it is?)....then decided it was too nice to eat inside--

and the outside table is bigger anyway! First meal on the patio this spring!

Here we go...the first course is served--mussels, corn, rolls, and salad.

The Boy is a mussel expert

In go the lobstas....

In other news, we let the cats out on leashes and Alice decided she wanted to go in. Despite running around like a loon while outside on her leash, she was suddenly incapable of movement once she was on carpet. And she tried to bite me every time I tried to take her harness off. Weird cat.

Tigger is very happy though.

Hello, lobstas! The bucket is our old fireplace ash bucket....it works really well as a shell bucket (Just like Joe's Crab Shack!)

Someone is an actress...she ate the lobster, the tears are fakey. She was also excited to have corn on the cob, possibly the first corn on the cob since braces, round 2, came off.