It's SNOWING
In all my years in Canada (including two years in the Arctic) I have not had a ‘Snow Day’. Here in Nova Scotia, I am on my second in a week! Yes folks, those foggy November-like days I prattled on about have gone – to be replaced by three blizzards in a week!
There are piles of snow outside people’s homes that reach their second story decks. This morning, Jim couldn’t open our door because the snow had piled up so high outside. Lucky we are friends with the couple downstairs. They let us unlock the interior connecting door, and leave through their apartment so we could get a shovel and dig ourselves out!
We just got back from the Golf course. Nice hill, good foot and a half of snow, and a couple of hours well spent. We can see our ski tracks from our deck.
So, we have been enjoying ourselves at the curling club. It's the best fun in town. We were sharing a table with a lobster fisherman called Anthony. He was giving us all kinds of advice about the care and eating of Lobster. Some of it I even believed.
“My mum really likes to cook hers in the microwave,” he said with an earnest expression on his face.
“Live lobster?” I asked and he nodded.
The vision of a lobster spinning around in the microwave, knocking his claws against the glass door each time he faced that way had me in howls of laughter.
“I might be an Aussie from Alberta – but not even I will believe that one,” I told him. Two weeks later he still is trying to convince me.
Anyway, his conversation got us excited to try Lobster again – this time to make it ourselves. We felt kind of guilty picking the lobsters out of the tank. We took them home and left them in one of the fridge drawers. Every time I opened the fridge I couldn’t help but look at them wiggling around in there.
Anthony told us we had to take off the elastic bands around their claws before cooking (makes them taste rubbery). That I left to Jim. Chatting to another fisherman, Kevin, we were laughing about the stress involved being so close to those claws. Then it was his turn to laugh.
“You should see the lobsters when we put those things on – I can tell you they are none too happy about it.”
Our friends from downstairs came up for the feast. Saskia (the two year old) wasn’t too sure about it all – though she did think she would like a lobster for a pet. We had the big pot of very salty water boiling on the deck (for smell reasons) and it was Jim that did the deed of dropping them in head first.
It was the most amazing treat. Totally delicious, messy fun – all dipped in butter. We have to do it again.
Anthony’s other story is that if you turn a lobster over on his back and rub his tummy his claws will just flop down limp and he will go to sleep. I’m 50/50 believing him on that one. It didn’t work on our crew.
posted by Michelle & Jim Wiebe at 1:53 p.m.
