Seafood Feast

I am home! I so look forward to getting back into our routine. Love the holidays...but it's always nice to return to "normal". I'm working on my meal plan today so that I can post it for all of you tomorrow. I'd hate for any of you to get bored with nothing new to read, so I thought I'd show you what I'd give you a glimpse of what I was eating while I was away and not cooking last week.

Some families have a Christmas ham. My husband's side of the family usually has a pork or beef tenderloin for Christmas. At my parent's house it's prime rib. New Year's dinner is corned beef and cabbage or pork roast and sauerkraut. Easter is ham and duck. Holiday food traditions. Most of us have them. Well, at my Grandma's house we have a sort of non-traditional tradition. Christmas dinner at Grandma Shirley's is a Seafood Buffet Extravaganza. It always has been...well, at least for as long as I can remember.

On the Menu:
Peel and Eat Shrimp
Lobster
Crab Legs
Scallops
Fried Clams
Fried Oysters
and Ham (for the land lubbers)
Cheesy Potatoes
Homemade Mac and Cheese
A veggie or two (this year it was corn)
And rolls

That's just the stuff my grandma makes. All of the women bring a dish too so we have salads and pies and cakes and cookies in abundance. Hey-I'm just tellin' it like it is. The women cook and the men watch football and talk politics and farm machinery. Traditions...geesh. Here are some pictures of the seafood. I was too excited about eating to take pictures of all of the other parts of the meal.

Shrimp


Lobster and Crab Legs in the warming drawer


More Lobster, before and after being "shelled"



The scallops were my personal responsibility this year. Usually my mom makes these. Since she was busy chasing my children, I stepped up to the challenge. Seriously, stand in the kitchen stirring scallops while catching up with my aunt and sipping a little Asti or run interference between the Christmas tree and my toddler. Hmmm. Let me think about it... "Yeah, I'll cook. No problem." I cooked these scallops in butter and garlic with a little salt until they were no longer translucent. You do have to watch them, though. If they cook too long, they turn into rubber. Not terribly appetizing.


I hope all of you had a happy holiday. I'd love to read some of your favorite holiday food traditions. Feel free to share yours in the comment section. And don't forget to look for my first meal plan of 2009 tomorrow!