How Much for the Soup? Three Clams

 

What makes the perfect clam chowder?  It seems my family cannot agree.  On our trip to Maine, we had three cups of chowder, and we each walked away with a different favorite.

First problem - clam to potato ratio. Sarah likes a lot of potatoes, Matt prefers much more clam, and I am somewhere in the middle.  Then we disagree on the broth.  Should it be milk based (thin) or cream based (thick)?  One version included shrimp and haddock.  I said that made it fish chowder and disqualified it as clam chowder;  Matt just called it delicious.  And don't even get me started on saltiness.

This got me thinking - if we all live together and eat much of the same things and yet have such different tastes, how can any of us know what "good" food is?  Not good as in healthy or good as in not spoiled, but good, tasty, soul-satisfying food.

You know when a friend tells you something is the best thing she has ever eaten and you taste it and think "Meh?"  Or you remember something tasting perfect, and you get it again only to be disappointed?

It seems food is such a living thing that we can never dip our spoons into the same bowl twice.  Or anyone else's bowls, which may be gross but we are family so we share all the time.

On a Roll

I did not have a lobster roll until I was an adult, but I have since made up for lost time.  I often wonder who looked at a lobster with its hard shell and sharp claws and thought, "That would make a good dinner!"  Then I think about the person who said, "You know what this lobster really needs?  Mayonnaise!"  Well, whoever those intrepid culinary adventurers were, I am forever in their debt.

On our recent trip to Kennebunkport, Maine, my goal was to eat a lobster roll every day.  I am not one to shy away from such a challenge, so below is my round-up of my attempt at lobster roll saturation.


Family Restaurant - Alisson's Restaurant

This had the most traditional bun - split top hot dog bun brushed with butter and grilled to toasty crispness.  We had spent that day driving through a monsoon so the meal was particularly satisfying.


Seafood Shack - The Clam Shack

This one had the most authentic lobster roll experience.  You walk up to a window, order your food, someone with a crazy accent calls your number and who go eat at a picnic table near the water.  The lobster was the most tender and flavorful, but the roll ruined it.  It was like one of the Hawaiian rolls, sweet and squishy.  And this is Atlantic lobster; that cannot be mixed with Pacific bread.

Food Truck - The Ocean Roll

The Ocean Roll serves these beauties two ways - cold with mayonnaise or hot with butter.  I don't have a picture of the butter roll because some people could not wait until I came back with the ketchup for the french fries so I could get a shot.  Next time, family, you get your own ketchup!  I liked the hot version a lot.  It was like eating a fresh lobster without all the work.


Hotel Restaurant - Striper's

Technically not a lobster roll, but a lobster taco.  I ate it, so I am counting it.  That fancy flower thing on the top is pickled red onion.  Did you even know you could pickle red onion?  I didn't and now I feel like I have been missing out all these year.  Excellent lobster-to-bread ratio, and the all the add-ons just made the meat taste better.

Only four this trip.  I will have to return to do much more research.

Stop in the Name of the Vegetable Police

Earlier this month, the family took a trip to Maine.  I was really looking forward to eating some fresh lobster.

"My goal for this trip is to have a lobster roll every day," I told Sarah.
"That doesn't sound very vegetarian, Mom," Sarah answered.
"True," I said, "but I don't think the vegetarian police are going to come after me."
"Maybe they will," Sarah laughed.

I realized the source of my discomfort with the whole vegetarian thing.  It is not asking other people to make adjustments for me or missing certain foods, it is the label!  Who gets to decide what "vegetarian" means?  Who gets to tell me what I can and cannot eat?  And why do I need rules?

I care deeply about the environment and that is my motivation for giving up meat.  Meat production requires an incredible amount of resources and I want to take even the tiniest steps that I can.  I want to make sustainable choices when it comes to food.  I need to do more research so I can make better decisions, but in the meantime I have to get rid of the guilt!

Lobster, thankfully, is very sustainable, and very delicious.

Editor's Note:  I have been a bad blogger this summer.  No excuses, just an apology.  Rededicated to write more frequently!

Happy Meal

Last weekend, I joined my mother on one of those senior outings - a whole bunch of the AARP crowd get on a coach bus to somewhere.  This was a day trip to the Barnes Foundation in Philadelphia.  We rode the bus, went to lunch, visited the museum and rode home on the bus.  It was a great day.

This was my first experience with a fixed lunch since I stopped eating meat.  I called the planning office ahead of time to ask about a vegetarian option.  "No problem," she told me, "just tell the server when you get there."  I don't know why I was nervous about it.  I did not want to make a fuss and I hate drawing attention to myself.  I just had to trust that it would be no problem.

And you know what?  It was no problem.  When the waitress came around for the drink orders, I asked her about it.  "Oh yes, we have eggplant for you."  It was an Italian restaurant.  While everyone else had their chicken and pasta, my spaghetti was served with some delicious eggplant.  My mother tasted the eggplant and said it was much better than her lunch.  "Maybe I should go vegetarian with you," my mother said, "you get better food."

Heart of the Matter

We got word earlier this week that one of our dearest friends is having double-bypass surgery today.  This hit Matt especially hard since this was his college roommate.  Matt keeps saying how unfair this is and how this is not suppose to happen to us; this happens to our parents.  "And when was the last time you went to the doctor?" he asked me.

It is true.  I have not been for a physical in at least two years; it may even be three.  I am not afraid of doctors -  I go every year to my gynecologist,  I get my mammograms when I am suppose to, I even visit the dentist every six months.  Why no physical?  It all has to do with the scale.

I know what I weigh.  I get on the scale at home so it is no big surprise when I get on the scale at the doctor's office and the number is higher than I want it to be.  What I hate is the conversation.  The doctor always tells me I need to lose 20 pounds.  It does not seem to matter what I actually weigh - the advice is always lose 20 pounds.  No advice on how to do that, no guidance on who could help.  One doctor did offer me prescription diet pills, but the list of side effects was so scary I did not try them.  Another doctor told me, "All you have to do is eat less and move more."  Well if it was that simple, why is anyone overweight?

No doctor has spoken to me about good nutrition or healthy food choices.  I could be downing diet soda and Twinkies all day, but as long as that scale says my weight matched up to some magic chart then everything would be fine.  I don't want to have this pointless conversation with another doctor.  I know I need to lose 20 pounds and if I could figure out a way that works for me to do that, I would have done it long ago.

Hippocrates said, "Let food be thy medicine, and medicine be thy food."  Too bad he wasn't a little more specific.