July 3, 2022 Lunch - Museum Hill Cafe Dinner - Broiled Lobster with Yu Choy, Bamboo shoots, sliced water chestnuts, and beech mushroom

July 3, 2022 Lunch - Museum Hill Cafe   Dinner - Broiled Lobster with Yu Choy, Bamboo shoots, sliced water chestnuts, and beech mushrooms

What a pleasant birthday!

I awakened at 6:30 and watched the morning news shows and Stage 3 of the Tour de France until the last 20 minutes, because we needed to go find coffee for Suzette.  We drove to the Railyard and I drank a cup of chai while Suzette drank her coffee on the patio of Sky coffee.  The farmer’s Market was closed today and we were about an hour early for the Artisans’ Market, so we drove to Museum Hill and were 1/2 early for our lunch at 11:00.

 TR and Linda arrived at 11:00 at the Museum Hill Cafe and we joined them and were seated immediately.

What an odd assortment of dishes we ordered.  T.R ordered a hamburger, Linda ordered a Monte Cristo sandwich, Suzette ordered a shrimp Chile Relleno, and I ordered a Cobb Salad.

We talked and talked and they talked Suzette and me into going for a blood treatment for my hip problem.  TR had it and claims it made a big difference.

Yesterday was Linda’s birthday so we shared a slice of coconut creme pie for dessert.

After lunch I drove to La Bajada Hill, where Suzette took over and I slept all the way into Albuquerque.

We drove to Talin and bought a live 2.2 lb. Maine Lobster for dinner.

When we arrived home I received birthday calls from Susan, Rahim, Billy, and Karim.

We invited Willy for dinner at 6:00, so at 5:00 we began to cook.

Suzette cooked the lobster in boiling water first.  Then she went to the garden and picked a handful of fresh thyme.  We took 1 T. of the leaves from the stems and I mixed it with butter and lemon juice.

I then butterflied the lobster exposing its tumuli and roe, and split the tail in half along its length.

Then Suzette smeared the thyme butter over the entire surface of the lobster and broiled it in the oven until it cooked and started to brown.

Yu Choy - I started by separating the stalks from the leafy green leaves of about ten clumps of Yu Choy.

I then minced three cloves of garlic and some ginger and sliced 1/2 of a white onion for the first bowl.

Suzette sliced the bottom off 1/2 of a box of brown beech mushrooms and I opened small cans of water chestnut slices and bamboo shoots and added them to the second bowl. I left the stalks of Yu Choy in the third bowl.

I left the Yu Choy leaves in their fourth bowl.

I heated 1 1/2 T. of peanut oil in my wok and added the first bowl of ingredients and cooked them for about five minutes. While the first group of ingredients cooked I combine 1 T. of cornstarch, 1 tsp. of dehydrated chicken stock, about 1/4 cup of water and about 2 T. of rice wine.

Then I added the second and third bowls of ingredients and cooked them for a few minutes.

Finally, I added the Yu Choy leaves and the seasoning sauce and stirred them into the mixture to coat all the ingredients and cook the leaves.

Suzette pulled the lobster from the oven at this point and we went into serving mode.

I stripped the tail meat out of the lobster shell and Suzette put a pile of vegetables into three pasta bowls.  We gave Suzette and Willy each a claw and 1/2 of the tail.

I took the front part with all of the tumuli and 12 small legs and the part of the claws connecting the body to the claws of both claws.

We opened a bottle of 2015 Bougrier Chenin Blanc reserve Vouvray and poured three glasses full and took our plates to the outdoor patio table to eat. the Chenin Blanc was lovely and smooth but a bit sweet, but fine with the rich lobster.

The seasoning sauce did not cook enough to create a thick sauce for the vegetables, but the vegetables were fully cooked and in my case that was a positive because the light sauce combined with the cooked tumuli to make a tumuli sauce for the vegetables.

I made melted lemon flavored butter for dipping chunks of lobster into but most of my dish was thin tubes of lobster leg mixed with vegetables plus some good sized chunks of meat from the claw armatures.

ThIs was the first time I made or ate lobster with Chinese Sri-fried vegetables and it turned out exceedingly well.

My dish was especially delicious with the tumuli and small tubes of lobster mixed with the medley of Chinese vegetables.  The dish could have benefitted from some rice, but we were satisfied.  

We made tea later and ate a few cookies with the tea.

Luke called and we talked for a bit, and Willy left when we began watching Endeavour on PBS at 8:00.

We went to bed at 9:30 after Endeavour.

It was a lovely day.  My hips did not hurt much and celebrating my birthday with all the food, family and friends was wonderful.

Bon Appetit