May
11
It all started in a stuffy seafood bar near the Jersey shore. The sound of breaking shells like mini explosions around me and the smell of butter in the thick smoke filled air. As you can expect, this wasnt very appetizing at the time. That is until this waitress brought out this beast of a lobster. This thing was HUGE. i swear the biggest lobster youll ever see. From that moment on, this red shelled creature, which looks like it came from hell, went into the record book as the tastiest food and possibly the most eye deceiving food ive ever eaten.
After an astoundingly simple Wikipedia search that looked like ‘lobster‘, I found out some of the most interesting, most unimportant stuff that really isn’t interesting at all; its history (grab your bucket of popcorn and relax ‘cause this is going to blow…your mind!): Would you believe that lobster was once a considered scrap food for certain animals, they also were forced upon the slaves to eat. After having enough of the menacing red creature of the deep, the slaves actually started to complain to their government about their food supply; too much lobster in their diet I guess. (What i’d give to be a poor slave back then. I would get to enjoy free lobster everyday, apart from actually working as a slave of course). But now throughout the centuries this six legged sea bug averages on the market for 15 dollars each, according City-Data.com. If your not willing to pay restaurant prices, people have always managed to make the best food even better by altering and changing recipes. Just how? Well first we have to identify the different types of sea bugs first.
Of the two common types listed, referenced from lobsterhelp.com, Maine would have to be my favorite because it has claws, unlike the Spiny lobster. Just the name alone makes the lobster less than appetizing for me. Who wants to eat something described as spiny. And to make matter even worse, there is hardly any meat on the thing because like I said before, it doesnt posses what makes lobster for me, the immense claws. The main reason why I like the Maine lobster is because it is just easier to get the meat (I believe that if you pay the average 15 dollars at a restaurant just for one of Maine’s creepy creature , you shouldnt have to start a small mining operation just to get the meat out of it).
Believe it or not, there is some controversy over whether or not boiling a lobster is humane. There have been discussions about whether or not lobsters feel pain, and should not be boiled. In certain places like Reggio Emilia, Italy; a person has to pay up to 495 euros in fines. Even in Nazi Germany, it was illegal to boil it alive.(thats saying something).* Now, im all for animal rights for like dogs and stuff, but for these things. Really, lobsters? Whether they feel pain or not, putting them in a pot full of boiling water must hurt them just as bad as if they were put to bed with a knife. To be honest, if lobsters really do feel pain, then putting them out peacefully is fine as long as it does not affect the taste. What confuses me most about this topic is why people are more concerned where they are getting and how lobsters are killed instead of where our pork and bacon come from and whether or not it is inhumane to kill cows and pigs.+ While we are on this touchy subject, lets talk about some good places to enjoy our favorite food.
The best place to go in New Jersey to fulfill your desire is Red’s Lobster Pot restaurant in Point Pleasant (not that smoked filled junk shack that I previously talked about). Here, you are met with a delicious variety of other seafood dishes that smell delicious. The the main reason I recommend this restaurant is because of its lobster. It was presented like most other lobsters are but its taste was way better than most others. It was probably the best place to go except for the decoration and the old style look, but the inside is overlooked because of the beautiful ocean. If youre looking to go some where out of state say in New York, Café Mei Mei would be the place to go. According to ‘Eat It: A Brooklyn Food Blog’, “For just $13 you get 1 1/2 pounds of lobster, de-shelled, with a choice of one of three sauces (Butter, Basil Aioli or Saffron Mayonnaise), and a beer”. Sound like a pretty good deal to me, seeing that its just 13 dollars and de-shelled for a customer. Believe it or not, the 13 dollars you paid wasnt so bad after all. Turns out, its actually pretty healthy for you.
This Devils Creature is not filled with fats and calories, surprisingly, so it is relatively healthy to eat, that is, without the butter (the silent killer), so stay away from a lot of it. If you decide you want to make lobster at your own place here are some options. Insead of cooking just your average boiled lobster, why dont you try something a little riskier, like adding a bit more spices and homemade broth. If you are looking to save time, go to dramforum.net to get the exact recipe of lobster tails. Lobster tails are probably the easiest to prepare; though, if you want something with a little more reward, youll need to throw some of your time in the trash. The time-waster is called lobster bisque, while the recipe on lobster-recipes.com says it only take an hour to make, when you preparing it for the first time, you better believe it takes longer to make. But when it is all done, you can envy at the way it looks at after it has been devoured by a shiny spoon and a salivating mouth. Then simply murmur, “delicious”.
Nothing is better than buying your first lobster with those special bibs and hand wipes, makes you feel real special. Not making the connection why they gave out those bibs and the wipes, its crack it open only to be greeting you with a splash of once boiled water now all over peoples clothes. Drowning the side of potatoes in fishy water, the plate is soon submerged and there is nothing to do but clean it out. At the end of the day it is all worth the mess. You will only remember the rich flavor of the tender meat with warm butter that will erase all the bad memories of your stained clothes, your fishy hands and will make you think about the one maine question (intentional pun), am i really eating slaves scraps from 100 years ago…why?
Bibliography
“About Red’s.” Red’s Lobster Pot Resturant. Web. 27 Apr. 2010. <http://redslobsterpot.com/history.html>.
“Cook Lobster Tails.” Web log post. DramaFourm.net. 15 Apr. 2010. Web. 27 Apr. 2010. <http://www.dramforum.net/2010/04/cook-lobster-tails/>.
+Corson, Trevor. “Q & A with Trevor Corson about Writing ‘The Secret Life of Lobsters’” Interview. Trevor Corson.com. Web. 6 May 2010. <http://www.trevorcorson.com/lobster-interview.html>.
Corson, Trevor. The Secret Life of Lobsters: How Fishermen and Scientists Are Unraveling the Mysteries of Our Favorite Crustacean. New York, NY: HarperCollins, 2004. Google Books. Web. 6 May 2010.
*Derbyshire, David. “Now Even Spiders, Squid and Lobsters Could Have Rights.” Mail Online. Associated Newspapers Ltd, 22 June 2007. Web. 6 May 2010. <http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-463760/Now-spiders-squid-lobsters-rights.html>.
Eat It, Brooklyn. “Lobster at Cafe Mei Mei.” Web log post. Eat It: The Brooklyn Food Blog. Blogspot.org, 15 Feb. 2010. Web. 27 Apr. 2010. <http://eatbrooklynfood.blogspot.com/2010/02/lobster-at-cafe-mei-mei.html>.
“Lobster.” Wikipedia.org. Wikipedia, The Free Encyclopedia. Web. 27 Apr. 2010. <http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lobster>.
“Lobster Nutrition.” Web log post. Lobster Queen. Web. 27 Apr. 2010. <http://www.lobsterqueen.com/lobster-nutrition.html>.
Phillips, Bruce F. Lobsters: Biology, Management, Aquaculture and Fisheries. Oxford, UK: Blackwell Pub., 2006. Google Books. Web. 6 May 2010.
“Retail Prices of Lobster?” City-Data.com. Advameg, Inc., 8 Jan. 2010. Web. 27 Apr. 2010. <http://www.city-data.com/forum/maine/860806-retail-price-lobster-maine.html>.
“Types of Lobster.” LobsterHelp.com. Web. 27 Apr. 2010. <http://www.lobsterhelp.com/types-of-lobster.html>.
Apr
26
Rough Food Blog 800+
April 26, 2010 | English II | Leave a Comment
It all started in a stuffy seafood bar near the Jersey shore. The sound of breaking shells like mini explosions around me and the smell of butter in the thick smoke filled air. As you can expect, this wasnt very appetizing at the time. That is until, this waitress brought out this beast of a lobster. The size of this thing was huge. i swear the biggest lobster youll ever see. From that moment on, this red shelled creature, which looks like it came from hell, went into the record book as the tastiest food and possibly the most eye deceiving food ive ever eaten.
After an astounding simple Wikipedia search that looked like ‘lobster’, I found out some of the most interesting, most unimportant stuff that really isn’t interesting at all; the history of lobster (grab your bucket of popcorn and relax ‘cause this is going to blow…your mind!). Would you believe that lobster was once a poor mans scrap food that were forced upon the slaves to eat. After having enough of the menacing red creature of the deep, the slaves actually started to complain to the government about their food supply; too much lobster in their diet I guess. (What i’d give to be a poor slave back then. I would get to enjoy free lobster everyday, apart from actually working as a slave of course). But now throughout the centuries this six legged creature of the deep averages on the market for 15 dollars each, according City-Data.com. The food has evolved from scrap to one of the most exotic foods available at restaurants. From boiled lobster to lobster bisque, people have always managed to make the best food even better by altering and changing recipes.
Of the two common types of lobster listed, referenced from lobsterhelp.com, Maine would have to be my favorite because it has claws, unlike the Spiny lobster. Just the name alone makes the lobster less than appetizing for me. Who wants to eat something described as spiny. And to make matter even worse, there is hardly any meat on the thing because like I said before, it doesnt posses what makes lobster for me, the immense claws. The main reason why I like the Maine lobster is because it is just easier to get the meat (I believe that if you pay 15 dollars at a restaurant just for one dish, you shouldnt have to start a small mining operation just to get the meat out of it).
The best place to go in New Jersey to get lobster is Red’s Lobster Pot restaurant in Point Pleasant (not that smoked filled piece of junk shack that I previously talked about). Here, you are met with a delicious variety of other seafood dishes that smell delicious but the main reason I recommend this restaurant is because of its lobster. It was presented like most other lobsters are but its taste was way better than most others. It was probably the best place to go except for the decoration and the old style look, but the inside is overlooked because of the beautiful ocean. If youre looking to go some where out of state say in New York, Café Mei Mei would be the place to go. According to ‘Eat It: A Brooklyn Food Blog’, “For just $13 you get 1 1/2 pounds of lobster, de-shelled, with a choice of one of three sauces (Butter, Basil Aioli or Saffron Mayonnaise), and a beer”. Sound like a pretty good deal to me, seeing that its just 13 dollars and de-shelled for a customer.
If you decide you want to make lobster at your own place here are some options. Insead of cooking just your average boiled lobster, why dont you try something a little riskier. If you are looking to save time, go to dramforum.net to get the exact recipe of lobster tails. Lobster tails are probably the easiest to prepare; though, if you want something with a little more reward, youll need to throw some of your time in the trash. The time-waster is called lobster bisque, while the recipe on lobster-recipes.com says it only take an hour to make, when you preparing it for the first time, you better believe it takes longer to make. But when it is all done, you can envy at the way it looks at after it has been devoured by a shiny spoon and a salivating mouth. Then simply murmur, “delicious”.
While lobster is relatively easy to cook by yourself, nothing is better than buying your first lobster with that special bib and hand wipes, makes you feel real special. Not making the connection why they gave out the bib and the wipes, its crack it open only to be met with a splash of once boiled water now all over peoples clothes. Drowning the side of potatoes in fishy water, the plate is soon submerged and there is nothing to do but clean the lobster out. At the end of the day it is all worth the mess. You will only remember the rich flavor of the tender meat with warm butter that will erase all the bad memories of your stained clothes and your fishy hands out of your head.
Mar
23
Opening Paragraph
March 23, 2010 | English II | 3 Comments
It all started in a stuffy seafood bar near the Jersey shore. The sound of breaking shells like mini explosions around me and the smell of butter in the thick smoke filled air. Wasnt very appetizing to me. That is until, this waitress brought out this beast of a lobster. The size of this thing was huge. i swear the biggest lobster youll ever see. From that moment on, this crustacean went into the record book as the tastiest food ive ever eaten.
Mar
12
Favorite Blog (part 2 of 2)
March 12, 2010 | English II | Leave a Comment
Out of these five blogs, I liked the ‘Rambling Spoon’ partially because of is title, but also because of her style of writing. When she writes she almost teaches the culture and the background of the location she is and the history of the food and how it was created. On some of her posts, she almost acts like she is interviewing people rather than reporting just the food. This is a quality I really like because she gives you details about all the hard labor that other human beings, it is ridiculous how people live in such poor conditions and depend on the food they make to survive, put into their recipe to make it worth eating. She also has creative titles like, “Czech Out These Nuts on The Faster Times“. Those are the main reason why I preffered to read the ‘Rambling Spoon’ over other food blogs.
Five Blogs:
http://www.doriegreenspan.com/dorie_greenspan/
http://ramblingspoon.com/blog/
http://www.amateurgourmet.com/2010
Mar
11
Favorite Blog (part 1 of 2)
March 11, 2010 | English II | Leave a Comment
Of the five food blogs I have read, the “Eat It: Brooklyn Food Blog” was, in my opinion, the best. The fist thing that caught my attention was the quality of the pictures. All of the other blogs that I’ve visited did not have photos that looked appetizing to me. All the photos that I’ve seen at the other sites looked prepared, but yet still unappetizing. At ‘Eat It’, however, the pictures make your mouth water. None of the pictures in this blog seem to be ‘prepared’ to look good, all the pictures were how the restaurant served it to its customers without any photo editing to them. I also noticed the tone of voice used. In the “Eat It” blog, the voice was not very enthusiastic, like others, but it was very downed to earth and simple writing with a little bit of humor here and there. Another thing I noticed in my favorite blog was the variety of foods presented. It starts out on ‘American’ and with ‘Wine’, but in between there are more than 100 topics, each with multiple sub-topics. In conclusion, the ‘Eat It’ food blog was the best because of its downed to earth tone of voice, it extensive variety of food types, and because of the appetizing pictures that look very ‘authentic’ (how the restaurant would server each plate) and eye catching.
Five Blogs:
http://www.salon.com/food/feature/2010/03/08/chinese_allergy_cure/index.html
http://www.salon.com/food/francis_lam/2010/03/05/how_to_cook_clams/index.html
http://www.chezpim.com/blogs/2010/03/lend-a-hand-to-chefs-of-tomorrow.html
http://www.chezpim.com/blogs/2010/03/the-morningafter-banana-bread.html
http://eatbrooklynfood.blogspot.com/2010/02/lobster-at-cafe-mei-mei.html
