Homage To Homard

My second son turned five yesterday. In front of me now are some photographs of him taken three years ago; they grow so fast. We have many family birthday meal rituals; there are no limits as to how many, we just have them until the birthday celebrant runs out of his or her allotted requests. We have our own private celebrations, we may have one or two with friends; we always have one with just the whole lot of us- meaning the aunts and uncles..and sometimes the grandparents in New York City somewhere.

But tonight, my son wanted lobster. Fancy that! At the end of summer, when we found ourselves up in Maine, it was lobster everyday. And on our last day, we all boarded a lobster fishing boat that took us way out into the Atlantic to pick up traps that were placed the day before. The staff on the charter had the kids wear rubber overalls and put them to work. They learned how to measure a legal lobster(3-5/16"in carapace), how to differentiate between male and female lobsters (fishermans are asked to throw back females if they have eggs) and how the traps work (pieces of rotting fish are placed in cloth pouches which are then secured to the trap..which has escape vents to allow smaller sized lobster to eat and leave)and found out that lobster is the biggest single fishing industry in the Northeast.

Did you know that at the turn of the century until the late 40s, lobster was used primarily to feed prisoners in Maine due to its abundance? Fancy that...

That is where his lobster fix came from and needless to say, we were glad to oblige. I do the same thing to the lobsters all the time...I boil them in water that has seaweed and sea salt for about ten minutes..depending on their size. I cover our dining table in newspaper and just crack open the lobsters to enjoy. Our favorite lobster pound in Trenton, Maine boil their lobsters in water from the ocean (especially the Mt. Desert Island area)over burning wood. The aroma as you wait for your lobsters to be cooked is incredible; the anticipation insurmountable!

I remember a birthday of mine's when we had lobsters as well. I must have been about 12 years old because it was our first year living in one of my father's buildings in Times Square. Thinking back, it is hard to believe that I was that old and still so innocent. I can't recall what inspired the crustaceous meal, but it WAS a fun evening of gathering around a tiny round table...some twelve of us, and just cracking open these little lobsters (called Chix- lobsters that are usually under a 1 1/4 pound and have soft shells) and having the time of our lives; totally oblivious to anything that may have been going on at that moment in time in Times Square, or New York City, or the world.

Years later, looking back, every single one of those people..aside from my brother and sisters, are not the people that I thought they were; that our lives were so intricately entwined even then..more so now...ever uniting us in the web that we live in (i'll go into details, i promise!)

For now, it is just the happy memory of lobster and strawberry and pineapple cake in my son's head as he dozed off in his bed; exhausted, full, and exhilarated at the thought of being five at last!