A tale of two (sick) lobsters:

Growing up in the UK I don't remember ever eating lobster - you might have found it in the top London restaurants on the menu as lobster thermidor - but we didn't live in London and wouldn't have had the money for it anyhow.

I came to New England to move in with Paul back in April 2002 and that summer my parents came to visit. We lived in Newburyport at the time and I thought it would be fun to make lobster rolls and take them with us on a picnic whilst Paul was in work. We picked out two pretty big lobsters - maybe 3lb each - and I had them steamed at the store.

Standing back in the kitchen faced with two large and still warm lobsters, my parents and I looked at each other cluelessly. Of course, now I know you simply crack the claws and twist off the tail but for some crazy reason I decided the best approach was to take a large knife and cut them in half right through the body.

As I cut into the first lobster all of the guts and funky green stuff came spilling out and I gagged. "Ugh - this lobster must be a bad one" and I threw it away. And then "Ugh - this one's bad too! What are the odds of getting two bad lobsters" and the second one went into the trash. We had our picnic with chicken sandwiches and when Paul came home I was waiting to tell him how I had to throw $50 of lobster into the trash and was going to go to Shaw's to complain. He laughed and laughed and pulled them out of the trash to show me how to twist off the tails and claws.

My parents are here at the moment visiting and so we went to Brown's lobster pound in Seabrook, NH for a night of lobster.

Our great friends "The Bradleys" introduced us to Browns and it's such a brilliant place with insanely fresh seafood. You can bring your own beer and wine. Some people go all out and bring linen tablecloths and crystal glasses and flowers for their table. Here's my mum and dad; the blur is due to the hands flying in to pick up the steamers :)

Me and Mr H:

We ate all our lobster last night and only the shells went in the trash...