Map to the Simple Life

Archive: Thu Jul 2017

by

Grilled Lobster

Ingredients and Supplies:

  1. Lobster (one or two 1.25lb lobsters per person)
  2. UNSALTED butter
  3. Deep Woods Off
  4. Cutting Board
  5. Chef knife or other large sharp knife
  6. Large Bowl for lobster/shells
  7. Hot grill
  8. Small pot for melting butter

Instructions:

  1. Hold breath and spray entire body with Deep Woods Off to fend off mosquitoes.  There WILL be mosquitoes.
  2. After fumes have cleared away start the grill.  Any kind of grill will do.  Needs to be hot when you put the lobster on.  Takes about 15 min or so to heat up.
  3. Now comes the fun part.  Place lobster belly down on cutting board, insert a large sharp knife a little behind  but between the eyes and drive it down through the head then slice down between the eyes to the mouth.  Toss it into the bowl and move on to the next lobster.
  4. Remove rubber bands from lobster.
  5. Grill should be hot now.  If not then pour yourself a glass of wine or other alcohol drink since you probably need it after killing all those lobsters that way.
  6. Now grill should be good and hot.  Place lobster belly down on grill.  Close lid.  Leave for 6-8 minutes.  Then flip onto their backs and grill another 6-8 minutes until uni-formally red all over.  The color of YUM!
  7. While lobster are grilling melt 1 stick of UNSALTED butter (or more.  About 1/4 stick per lobster).  The lobster will be nicely salted from the seawater in their shells so it is best to use unsalted butter.
  8. Wash large lobster bowl.
  9. Remove lobster from the grill and throw back in clean lobster bowl.  Place each lobster on its back on a cutting board and slice (with the large washed murder weapon you killed them with) down the center of the tail.  Place lobster on serving plate.
  10. Serve with small dish of butter and lots of paper towels.  As for sides all that is really needed is some good hard crusty rolls.  Serving anything else is just a waste as no one is going to eat it.  Lobster is king and sides are just a distraction.
Category: Recipes
by

July 13, 2017

So once again I was lazy when it came to posting to the blog.  Perhaps busy as hell is a better term.

We moved from Virginia Beach 6/18/17.  All but a few things are in storage (two 10×10 units).  I was hoping to scale things down enough to only need one unit but that just wasn’t in the cards.   There is plenty in those 10×10 units that won’t make it to the next cut.

We found a beautiful loft apartment in the center of Roanoke, VA.  It is located in an old food warehouse and still being refurbished (all green construction).  It won’t be ready until 9/1.  Polished cement floors, high ceilings, exposed brick and beams.  It actually has the original vault door as one of the closet doors.  So cool.  I’ve always wanted to live in a loft so figured this would be a nice transition until we get the RV.

It is smaller than we are used to (2 bedrooms) but they are super pet friendly and it will be good practice.  There is a movie theater for residents in the building (shows 2 times a week and Super Bowl parties), along with 2 gyms, conference/party room, two restaurants and a brewery.  Place comes with free cable, Wifi and bike rentals.  15 minute walk to library and art museum.  There are very few apartments that have two bedrooms.  The majority are single bedroom units which means children are scarce.  Hooray!  I’ll take pets over little humans any day.

Needless to say that leaves us with a housing gap until then.  We have been traveling back and forth from Virginia to NC to Maine with and without the animals – staying at Jeff’s parent’s house in Wells at the moment.  We are very grateful for that.  Ashley got stuck with all 5 of our animals at one point.

I’ll be in Maine for a bit then in Norfolk for Lisa’s surgery and some of her rehab, then in NC.  We will be staying in a pet friendly hotel in NC for the last two weeks of our homelessness.  Jeff will be in Maine for the majority of the time until we head back to NC.  Destinee is in FL at the moment then she’ll be in Norfolk then to Maine then to NC.

So far I’ve lost my bathing suit bottom (Jeff’s fault) and Ipad charging cord and brick (stolen by granddaughter I believe).  That’s what I’ve noticed missing so far.  Who knows what else I’ll discover I’ve lost in my travels.

The mosquitos are ferocious but the lobster is delicious in Maine.  The water is freezing.  Jeff said an iceberg melted right off shore and that’s why it’s so cold.  You know…..global warming and all.

Things removed from my life:  One bathing suit bottom and one ipad charging cord and brick.

25 days trying to live as a minimalist.

Category: The Simple Life