Celebrating 6 Years (with lobster)!!

Sunday was my anniversary! It's crazy that it's been 6 years already and that it's ONLY been 6 years! Time just doesn't seem to measure things correctly!!

For our special day, Nate & I decided to play it low-key — and in the end, this may be our best anniversary yet!

Flipping through our favorite grilling cookbook earlier this week, I got it into my head that it would be fun to try and grill a lobster.

Now, I must tell you. The last time I had a whole lobster was almost 15 years ago while visiting family in Florida. I'm still teased about that meal when I'm with the people who were present then. I went through a phase where I had a really hard time with meat in general. It grossed me out. I wouldn't eat anything off of a bone, someone had to do that for me, and that was when I was eating meat again after a couple years of not. So to have this whole lobster on my plate in front of me that I would need to break open in order to eat — well, I was a bit squeamish with that. However, I'm told that the faces I made proved to be very entertaining for everyone else at the table. I'm just lucky video recording wasn't standard on all cell phones at the time!!

So, needless to say, though I now eat meat without issue, this was still going to prove quite interesting! I believe we were both more looking forward to the experience of cooking this meal more than we were the meal itself. . .although the 2 inch thick rib-eye steak Nate got to go with the lobster did make my heart skip a beat!

Apparently, not too many people buy live lobsters at the store. When we told the man manning the seafood department at the grocery store that we wanted to get a lobster, he responded, "OK. Let me figure out how to do that."

The box they gave us to take the lobster home in made me laugh. It reminded me of Build-A-Bear Workshop.





The red rubber bands around his claws? They indicated he was Canadian. Blue were for American lobsters. I'm sure it's important — but I haven't got a clue why.

To help with the festive spirit of the day: Papaya & Pineapple Margaritas and later, Mango Margaritas! Yummy.





Back to the lobster: :)



I'll save you the sight of the fatal blow. . .



We may have been a little caught up in the excitement. Being just a tad silly?





Please don't let the sight of the lobster cause you to overlook the amazing steak on the grill.





So Good! And that black bean salad was really good too! (That & the margaritas were my contribution to the meal!) It has grilled red & yellow bell peppers along with onion, jalapenos, & anaheim chilies, tossed with the black beans, cilantro, and a cumin & chili powder vinaigrette. Spicy and so tastey!!!

Nate enjoying:



And now for me.

You can't tell at first, but behind that large ear of corn is the lobster. The problem with only eating lobster once every 15 years is that we didn't have any of the proper "tools" to eat a lobster.

We made due:









And yes. That's a hammer beside me.

You do what you gotta do.
My Florida family would be so proud.

However, next time, we'll just get the tails. Less work. More meat.
But then again, where's the fun in that?