Day Ninety-Three: Discomfort Food

Today, the hubby and I were down in Lewiston, Idaho, waiting for some car care, and we dropped into the local Red Lobster for lunch. I know what you're thinking: seafood in Lewiston, Idaho? Yes indeed. Lobster, no less.

I have never felt more like a predator than I did today, having been greeted by a tank full of sad-looking lobsters upon entering the restaurant, and then proceeding to eat their kin. Thankfully, I did not have to do the whole lobster-picking hoopla. I might have picked the lonely one in the corner, whose eyes looked the saddest, just to put him out of his misery. Or maybe he wasn't miserable. Maybe I was projecting.

Either way, I had two forms of lobster today: Langoustines (which I always thought were a form of shrimp, but the menu said it was lobster and according to Wikipedia it's known as either the Norway lobster or the Dublin Bay prawn, so we're both right) and something bigger... the second application was less specific in its description. The Langoustines were interestingly prepared. I had them on nachos. Or, what would have been nachos if the restaurant didn't run out of corn chips. It was like a mix between nachos and bruschetta. Nacho topping (with lobster) on rounds of garlic bread. Weird, I know, but pretty tasty. And, I think, a good way to ease myself into things. You see, my all-time top comfort food is probably nachos. It's the thing I crave when I'm stressed, sad, etc. So if you see me eating nachos, you should ask me what's wrong. Hug me or something. I will appreciate it. Anyway--one of my biggest problems with this resolution has been that sometimes, I want comfort food, but am faced with terribly discomforting options. Which only augments the stress. And I know, I shouldn't eat for comfort. But I'm human. So sue me.

Anyway--the second lobster dish I had was a lobster roll, which is basically a seafood salad made with only lobster, stuffed into a lovely buttery roll. It was served with homemade potato chips, which would have been better if they had been fully cooked. I was surprised at how much the lobster actually tasted like crab to me. But it was definitely lobster. It may have been, also, that the only cold crustacean I have had with mayonnaise and such is crab, so the application was just familiar. Either way, the roll balanced the cold sliminess of it all very nicely, I thought. It could have used a little crunch, maybe a little more brightness, but overall it was fine.

So I ate lobster. Two ways. And I survived. I had lunch at a seafood restaurant and barely noticed the seafood smell at all. The harder leap will be to eat the meat right out of the tail (or, with crab, right out of the legs). But I gnaw the bones of cows and chickens all the time. So I can do it, I'm sure. Softshell crab, I don't know. But I can pry the meat out of the exoskeleton.