May 29, 2006
It’s Been a Real Nice Clambake
I woke up the morning of Memorial Day realizing that my craving for a clambake had been ignored for far too long. Walter and I quickly dressed and went out to the courtyard, inviting all we saw to join us that at the pool that evening. Kim volunteered corn on the cob, Kenny tossed in a bag of potatoes, and Walter and I were off to buy the rest. We returned home with clams, shrimp, and sausage, and were ready for the feast. I loaded two steamers pots with potatoes, corn and sausage and let them steam for 10 minutes. Then I added the shrimp and clams steamed it all for 15 minutes more. I layered pool tables with newspaper, and added bowls of cocktail sauce, drawn butter, and lemon wedges. The crowd gathered, and we were ready. After the initial surprise of buckets of food dumped on the table without the benefit of plates or silverware wore off, we dug in. Initial cries of “no-one’s eating the food!” quickly turned to “we’re running out of food!” as we slurped clams, peeled shrimp, and horded sausage. Jen proved herself to be an ace with a boiled potato by clocking Big Red in the head several times before the wine altered her aim and she hit Leia the dog. Kim resolutely insisted that the all-sprout salad she brought was delicious and going to be eaten if she had to eat it all herself. (The rest of us encouraged her to do so.) Someone (I think it was Tammy) revealed that she’d never eaten a clam before and was immediately mocked by 11-year-old Lani. Jen defied anyone to touch her (out in the open and easily pilfered) Jolly Rancher supply. I agreed to return the Jolly Ranchers on the one condition that Kim never find out I had done it. Torn by the conflict of either getting back the Jolly Rancher or getting bragging rights, Jen reluctantly agreed.
But the absolute highlight of the evening was without a shadow of a doubt the cleanup: we (and by we I mean Walter and Big Red), rolled up the newspapers with anything that had been left on them, and threw it all away.
It was a real nice clambake.
It’s Been a Real Nice Clambake
I woke up the morning of Memorial Day realizing that my craving for a clambake had been ignored for far too long. Walter and I quickly dressed and went out to the courtyard, inviting all we saw to join us that at the pool that evening. Kim volunteered corn on the cob, Kenny tossed in a bag of potatoes, and Walter and I were off to buy the rest. We returned home with clams, shrimp, and sausage, and were ready for the feast. I loaded two steamers pots with potatoes, corn and sausage and let them steam for 10 minutes. Then I added the shrimp and clams steamed it all for 15 minutes more. I layered pool tables with newspaper, and added bowls of cocktail sauce, drawn butter, and lemon wedges. The crowd gathered, and we were ready. After the initial surprise of buckets of food dumped on the table without the benefit of plates or silverware wore off, we dug in. Initial cries of “no-one’s eating the food!” quickly turned to “we’re running out of food!” as we slurped clams, peeled shrimp, and horded sausage. Jen proved herself to be an ace with a boiled potato by clocking Big Red in the head several times before the wine altered her aim and she hit Leia the dog. Kim resolutely insisted that the all-sprout salad she brought was delicious and going to be eaten if she had to eat it all herself. (The rest of us encouraged her to do so.) Someone (I think it was Tammy) revealed that she’d never eaten a clam before and was immediately mocked by 11-year-old Lani. Jen defied anyone to touch her (out in the open and easily pilfered) Jolly Rancher supply. I agreed to return the Jolly Ranchers on the one condition that Kim never find out I had done it. Torn by the conflict of either getting back the Jolly Rancher or getting bragging rights, Jen reluctantly agreed.
But the absolute highlight of the evening was without a shadow of a doubt the cleanup: we (and by we I mean Walter and Big Red), rolled up the newspapers with anything that had been left on them, and threw it all away.
It was a real nice clambake.
posted by Kristin Van Bodegraven @ 11:12 AM
1 Comments:
At 1:04 PM,
Anonymous said…
what's happened since the clam bake?
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