I love visiting my brother Jeff in Boulder, Colorado. For one thing, he's my brother and I love him. For another, he's an amazing chef. Not to mention, I love Colorado, but that's besides the point. My interest in cooking began when I was little. My brothers and I would be home alone for a couple hours after school. After a hard days work, we'd be ravaged with hunger. So I'd quickly whip up something to share with the boys. It wasn't anything out of the ordinary. You know, hamburger helper, spaghetti with store-bought sauce, or something like chili. Years later, my brother got me a job working with him at the Target's Food Avenue. It paid well, something I needed to cover the cost of a 4 year college. We honed our cooking skills together making omelets, cheeseburgers and various fried goods. I always think it's funny to say that Jeff began his cooking endeavors at Food Avenue. He continued to cook at various restaurants, each progressing in quality. One of his more recent being The Kitchen, known as one of the greenest restaurants in the nation. Buying sustainable and local, everything is either composted or recycled and they are 100% wind powered. Now, he's opening his own small restaurant tucked away in the mountains of Nederland Colorado. I couldn't be more amazed at his accomplishments.
Last fall, A friend of mine invited me along to her future brother-in-law's wedding in nearby longmont. I jumped at the chance. We decided to stop in on Jeff and have a little dinner with him and his girlfriend Elizabeth. We met Jeff at Whole foods and decided on a dinner plan. He perused the aisles, spontaneously coming up with a meal plan. Jeff suggested oysters and Erin's eyes grew large. She had mentioned previously, of all the things, that's she'd like to try oysters someday. Apparently she was sending off vibes. Our shopping done, we followed Jeff home through the twists and turns of the mountain road. Jeff instantly pulled the oysters out and demonstrated how to shuck and dump them down the hatch.
Being an avid Top Chef fan, I'd seen the horrors of oyster shucking. It actually turned out to be somewhat fun and added to the enjoyment of the appetizer. Oysters were never something I would have chosen to try but I thought what harm could they do? For some reason I thought they'd be of a nasty jelly-like consistency, reminiscent of (forgive the disgusting nature of this comment) "snot". You know the kind that comes gusting from your nasal cavity at unrivaled rates when you're sick? Yeah, that's what I imagined when I thought of oysters. Not appetizing. They were nothing like that. Thank the lord. We squirted a little lemon and a dollop of horseradish on the shellfish and sent them to their doom, our bellies. Erin said it best when she said it was like you were tasting a bit of the sea. They were raw but not in a gaging sort of way. The meat was tender but not squishy. The flavor was "of the sea", salty and refreshing.
We also nibbled on some Manchego and Triple Creme cheeses and sipped various wines while waiting for the succulent dinner to be prepared. The finish dinner consisted of Sweet potato gratin, fresh mustard greens from his garden and sirloin.
Erin complained of swollen lips shortly after we finished our meal. Being from a highly allergic family, Erin feared that she may be allergic to oysters. We brushed it off, being of a family without allergies and continued the conversation and wine drinking. Later Erin complained that she was having trouble breathing. We were many miles from any sort of store where we could purchase Benedryl. Elizabeth quickly called their roomates, hoping to catch them before they left town on their way back to the house. No answer. They appeared minutes later. Fortunately, one of the roomates was able to find some benedryl and the crisis was averted. Erin, needless to say, will be staying away from shellfish from here until eternity.
No comments:
Post a Comment