Seafood Dinner at my Parents' Abode

My wife and I went to dinner at my parents' place yesterday.

Preparation is key...and the fee of a good meal.

We had a seafood dinner. The seafood theme was made possible by a lobster sale ($8.88 /lb) at T & T Supermarket this weekend. I think they had the deal because Chinese people are well-known to be superstitious about numbers. The number '8' represents richness and the ability to become rich. The sale was perfect timing given that 2013 is just around the corner.What better way to welcome the youth of the new year (2013) and to celebrate the retirement of the old year (2012) than by purchasing a lobster that grants richness to both?

Seafood and mushroom soup...a great opportunity for different ingredients to mix and mingle

We started the dinner off with a seafood and mushroom soup. In the initial photo of the post, you can see that my dad and my mom prepared a lot of ingredients to make this soup deliciously filling both quantity and quality-wise.

I find that the most time-consuming area of cooking is not the actual cooking bit (turning raw ingredients into edible goodness). Instead, it is the preparation. The understanding of the recipe, the purchasing of the ingredients, the washing, and the dicing all take up a lot of brainpower and time.

Back to the soup, it was sweet and savory at the same time. The sweetness from the three types of mushroom that my Dad added cut the richness of the egg and imitation crab meat. Even though the crab meat was an imitation of real crab meat, the freshness and the sweetness of the ocean enveloped my senses.  The sharp overtones of the green onion gave a slight kick in my mouth as it ended the seafood and mushroom medley in my mouth.

My eyes feast upon an orchid of oysters

For the second course, we had oysters. Shucking oysters is no easy feat. Make sure you aim the blade away from the wrist area. A dry towel cushioning the oyster shell can ease the shucking process as well.

After aggressively persuading the oyster out of its comfortable home, my dad steamed them with finely cut slivers of ginger and green onion. The instant they were out of the steamer, we poured some soy sauce on this luscious piece of paradise. The smoothness  and the sweetness of the meat enhanced from the ginger made the thick and rich taste of the digestive gland and muscle of the oyster tolerable and enjoyable.

Lobster fresh out of the amazing frying wok.

Now to the much anticipated main course: the lobster. I learned a lot from my brother as he showed me how to dissect the lobster into consumable and plate-friendly portions. I equally learned much about the anatomy of this langoustine. For example, the bile is kept in a special sack in the head. Also, the nervous system will react to any touch even after the lobster has been segmented.

Since my parents do not have a fryer, they used a wok to fry the lobster into tender pieces of golden juiciness. Unfortunately, the marriage between the wok and the oil was not a happy one. Oil splatters rose out of the wok sporadically. It was a good thing that my dad and I wore glasses. Otherwise, our eyesight would have felt the discord between the oil and the wok severely.

The lobster says, "I've been fried!"

The lobster looked crisp and very appealing in its red armor. However, it could have been made even better if it was fried to the point that the bones were malleable. This way, access to the meat would have been more manageable.

Creamy Alfredo sauce for dousing a fine looking lobster.

To round this lobster dish into perfection, my dad made a creamy and rich Alfredo sauce to coat the lovely lobster.

Fried lobster with creamy Alfredo sauce

Et voila! The final version of the great lobster bake. Everyone was impatiently waiting while I took a snapshot of this dish. They all wanted to dig into this flavorful and aromatic dish without any  self-control. The full-bodied lobster juice gushed forth as I bit into a morsel of lobster meat. The juice was tangy, sweet, and rich. The Alfredo sauce tasted like a savory buttercream. Together, the lobster and the cream created a tasty duet for my taste buds, my mind, and my heart.

I'm glad that my dad and my mom can still cook. Sure, they can be difficult at times. However, their study in food is unique and the dishes they create are one of a kind. Perhaps it is the love I feel from them that the dishes they make are so good. However, I think their technique, devotion, and grace in everything they make are the essence in all of their home-cooked meals.  Thanks, Mom and Dad!