Food Porn Alert

When I set this blog up I intended to post some things about some of the stuff I cook along the way (you've already read my treatise on the Holy Trinity of cereals). Cooking has always been a really important aspect of my lifestyle. Even if it's a crazy day I try to make a home cooked meal, no matter how simple or quick. I can thank my parents for my love of cooking and of food. I grew up in the country and mom always had a huge garden in the backyard for a number of years. She would make our bread and rolls, go for locally raised eggs and farm produce, and look for large cuts of meat which we would butcher up ourselves. A lot of it had do to do with saving money, I'm sure, but it really did give me a good perspective on how to buy and to cook. When I was 5, mom and dad began their catering business out of opportunity and they kept it going until I was about 18 or 19.

Outside of the very unfortunate health food kick that mom went on in the late 1970's, I have very fond memories of cooking with her or family meals in general (the health food phase was not ideal, especially the time mom made dandelion salad, but didn't realize you eat the GREENS AND NOT THE STEMS, not the other way around).

We didn't go out much for dinner, but when we did, it was always a special event and there was nothing off limits on the menu in general. In the late 1970's and early 1980's, you'll remember fine dining was quite a bit different than it is now. There were some pretty predictable standards (prime rib, duck a l'orange, and the one I always coveted - surf 'n turf), but it was what my childhood memories are about eating out. A few weeks ago I wanted to recreate that kind of special feeling from my youth and decided that last night I was going Old School with the surf and turf for Heidi and me.

The thing is, lobster is pretty cheap if you know where to shop. The asian supermarkets usually sell it for $5.99 a pound and they offer full beef tenderloins for $4.99 a pound. The latter is only good if you know how to butcher it up (which, thanks to Dad working in a butcher shop when he was a kid and my copy of The New Professional Chef, I do). I decided to go over the top with Oysters Rockefeller, since that was always a predictable appetizer at such fine establishments as Red Lobster.

After running around yesterday getting all the ingredients - and cursing Giant Food for the decision to stop carrying oysters (jackasses) and tracking down the one lobster that escaped from the bag in my car when I finally found the oysters at a seafood market, I got started. I got up to my apartment and realized, hmmm....I bought two lobsters, I had two lobsters in my bag, I have one lobster in my apartment. Head back to car in garage, retrieve the roach of the sea and lay everything out - here are the before pictures.





and the final meal:





All in all, I think I spent under $35 for dinner for two that included oysters, lobster, and filet mignon. The sides were potatoes fondant and spinach with nutmeg. I was a fun meal to make and to share. It definitely made me feel like a little kid who was trying to act all posh and grown up.

Food is a great way for me to recreate some of the very special times I had growing up when things like going out to dinner were certainly a luxury. Plus I'm now getting very good at muscling my way in at the fish counter at the Asian market so I can fight the little old ladies and little old men who are loading up on $1.99 a pound live blue crab or these lobsters. The fish at some of these markets, really are superior to the ones sold at twice the price at Whole Foods.

Next food related post will probably be related to the Julia Child party that keeps getting postponed. All guests will bring something that is published in Mastering the Art of French Cooking.