Lobster Roll Recipe

I’m going to do something different today. Instead of a post about my day, I’m going to do a recipe post. Dad is the one that cooks the most at home and has instilled the love of cooking in me. I collect cookbooks, watch Food Network, and pour over cooking videos online (Sorted food is the best). Since we are in Massachusetts, I had to make lobster rolls for our picnic last Friday night. As a disclaimer, this recipe is not exact in any way and just depends on what you like in your lobster rolls. This makes about three sandwiches.

Since the kitchen in the apartment is not that big, we did not want to attempt to cook three lobsters. We took the easy route and bought three whole cooked lobsters from Stop & Shop. Dad broke them down, as I am bad at that and then I made the filling.

First I washed and chopped three or four stalks of celery. I personally like a lot of crunch in these types of salads, so I tend to add a bit more than one stalk per sandwich. I then took a few sprigs of tarragon, took the leaves off and roughly chopped those leaves.

Next I mixed the lobster, celery and tarragon together in a medium sized bowl.

Once that was mixed, I squirted some mayo over the top and then stir it in. I just put enough to bind the salad together because I’ve had lobster rolls in the past that are sopping with the amount of mayo and it overpowers the taste of the lobster. What’s the point of the lobster roll if you can’t taste the lobster?

And voilà! It is finished. Now of course you can add other ingredients like onions, green onions, chives or anything else. Above all, however, you don’t want to overpower the lobster. We ate the lobster salad on an untraditional roll, whole-wheat pita bread. I know, I know, it should be on hot dog roll. But we wanted to try something different.

At the picnic we also had a watermelon-feta-mint salad (which I could do a post on), a store-bought pasta salad, olives, popcorn and macarons from Trader Joe’s for dessert.

It was a lot of fun and we played Apples to Apples, played on the playground and enjoyed the food. We hope to do another picnic later this week. What is your favorite thing to eat at picnics?

Thanks for reading!

Museum, Cooking and Food!

Hello everybody! Here is another post of what I did this past week. Tomorrow Mom and I are flying to Washington, D.C. where we are going to meet up with Dad and Emma (my little sister). I am really excited to see them and hang out in the capital!

This past Monday I went to the Isabella Gardner Stewart museum, which is not like any museum that I have ever been to. It originally Isabella’s house where she arranged the art with how she liked it, the rooms are not necessarily organized by country, era or artist. The museum was also the site of one of the biggest art heists in history, when two men stole thirteen paintings and they haven’t been seen since. The museum was very interesting and unique. The Museum of Fine Arts is right around the corner so if you like art, that’s where you want to go.

After the museum I was starving so I looked on Urbanspoon for somewhere to eat and I found Il Mondo. It is a pizza, pasta and sub place. I got the chicken Parmesan sub. I know, very healthy. Anyways, it was very delicious!

Monday night I made dinner from another recipe from the Trader Joe’s cookbook, Curried Israeli Couscous with Apples. We also reheated some of the Piri-Piri chicken from last week for a protein. It was yummy and easy, like the Tortilla Soup.

On Tuesday I went onto Newbury Street to just wander around and read in a coffee shop. I went to Piattini, an Italian restaurant, for lunch. I got the Prosciutto Panini that was a tomato, mozzarella, pesto and prosciutto sandwich on ciabatta. I was surprised that it didn’t come pressed, as that what I think a panini is, but it was still yummy. Everything was fresh and flavorful.

I then walked to Newbury Comics where I looked around; the Game of Thrones merchandise looks amazing! After that I went to Pavement, a coffee shop that I love. I got a tea, sat by the window and read Of Mice and Men. I finished it that night, and really liked it. The play’s adaption was really close to the novel, but I don’t regret not reading it before seeing the play.

Tuesday night, Mom had a work event so I was home alone. I ordered Chicken Ramen from Wagamama and drove to pick it up. As any Wagamama meal, it was delicious and it was great for being home alone.

I again went into Boston on Wednesday for lunch and to read. I walked from Faneuil Hall to the Thinking Cup for lunch. I got a breakfast sandwich with egg, cheese and bacon with a fresh orange juice. Not as good as it could have been, the egg was not freshly made as I expected it to be.

After spending a while in the Thinking Cup writing letters and reading, I felt a bit of a chocolate craving that I needed to address. I knew that there was a bakery around the corner that I’ve been meaning to try, so I packed up and walked over to Bread and Butter. I got the Nutella cookie, which again wasn’t as good as it could have been. I have made Nutella cookies before much better than that one, maybe I’ll do a post on it! I sat by the Greenway, ate my cookie and read About A Boy.

That night Mom and I needed to go Father’s Day shopping, so we went to Burlington Mall. We ate at Bobby’s Burger Palace, and the Bobby is Bobby Flay. We ordered at the counter, took our seats and our food was delivered to us. I got the Brunch Burger (fried egg, bacon and cheddar) and Mom got the Dallas Burger (BBQ sauce, pickles, and coleslaw). Mine was delicious, but Mom said the BBQ sauce on hers was a bit overwhelming saw she took most of it off. We also shared some fries and onion rings . . . Delicious!

Thursday I just went to Wagamama for lunch, I know that I have an addiction to it. Bought ingredients from Whole Foods for dinner and chilled around the apartment. 

For dinner I made Bulhão Pato clams from a recipe from one of my favorite blogs, The Londoner. The clams were really easy to make and really yummy. Mom and I sopped up the delicious white wine and lemon broth using some warm bread until our bellies were full!

Last day, sorry this one was so long! Friday I just hung around the house again and went to Burrito for lunch. I was expecting something like Chipotle, but I was pleasantly surprised that it is different. At around three o’clock, Mom came home early from work and we headed down to Newbury Street. We went to Marshalls, H&M and Anthropology before going to dinner. We went to Piattini (where I went earlier in the week) for a relaxing meal.

First we split the prosciutto and mozzarella small plate. The salad was a bit overdressed, but still good!

Then we split a Caesar Salad that was really good! It had just the right amount of dressing. For my entrée, I got the spinach fettuccini with green beans, pesto and sautéed shrimp. It was different from what I usually order and really fresh tasting. Mom got angel hair pasta with tomatoes, arugula and scallops.

While it was a bit rainy outside, it was still beautiful. There was some fog, and it was cool to see some of the skyscrapers disappear as they got higher. It is also LGBT pride month and a bunch of buildings had rainbow flags or rainbows in the windows.

And that is what I did this week! Wow. That was a long post. I’ll try to keep the word count down! I’m still trying to figure out how I want to organize the blog and what I want to post. Any suggestions? Have a good weekend!

Bye! 

Nails, Hair, and Food

Well the last few days have not been exciting enough for daily posts. On Tuesday and Thursday I ran errands to Target and Whole Foods. I have learnt that I should never be allowed in a Whole Foods by myself because I want to buy everything.

On Tuesday Mom and I got our nails done. On my toes I have Big Apple Red because tomorrow I am going to the Big Apple. On my fingers I (think) I have ElePhantastic Pink which is just a nice peachy pink for summer.

Wednesday, I went to an Aveda salon to get my hair colored and cut. I decided to go ombre from dark to light. At first I was a little nervous, but I love it!

Sorry for the silly face!

That night I made Shrimp and Grits using some of the grits that we had bought in Charleston. I used a recipe from Saveur. It was yummy, but not traditional nor my favorite. I love Shrimp and Grits so I have to find another recipe! Anyone have any good ones?

On Thursday I made Piri Piri Chicken, which is the specialty of the British restaurant Nando’s. The recipe is from Sorted Food, which is always fun to watch for the recipes and the guys. I will definitely use more of their recipes in the future for they are always delicious. I served the chicken with some orzo. YUM!

While I was at Target, I found the new Ben and Jerry's line of "core" ice creams. I got the "Hazed and Confused" one with hazelnut and chocolate ice creams with a core of chocolate and hazelnut. It was so delicious! It tasted like Nutella! YUM!

I also started watching Game of Thrones on Thursday and I am on season one episode four. And it is amazing! Why didn’t I watch this sooner? I now need to watch all of it this summer! Right now I am in love with Daenerys Targaryen, Arya Stark and Jon Snow. If you watch Game of Thrones, then who is your favorite character? If you don’t watch it, then you should!!

Thanks for reading and I will be back this tomorrow with Mom and I’s trip to New York City to see family and friends, to eat delicious food, and to see Of Mice and Men.

Bye!