I can't disagree with any of the comments above. It's just that Phil has some specific requirements which I think can be met nicely with his idea. And yes, it is essential that the lobster tail meat must be cooked just to doneness and no more. I live a few steps from a good fish market on Cape Cod and my favorite way of having lobster is to get a big one, large enough to serve the bunch of us. The market has it steamed and ready for us to pick up at a designated time. Some go for the tail, which is my last choice, but may be right for the meal Phil is planning. (I did NOT mean that as a straight line for Jessie.) With a large enough lobster, I can be more than happy with just the tasty white fat, the green liver, the bits found around the leg joints and the red roe if it's a female. I will sneak a bit of the claw meat too, if possible. It's the best part. But this is messy business. It's not what Phil probably wants for this occasion. Also, what experienced cooks think of as routine are not easily accomplished in his situation and, as we know, timing can get complicated. Lori, that is a lovely, scrumptious looking plate. I had thought of Riesling too. It would work well. Linda's idea of champagne is perfect. You can't go wrong with the bubbly. It's good with anything and everybody likes it. Why didn't I think of that? Lobster tail medallions are a good idea too. Cook them *briefly*. Jim

FOAS, Thanks for the Wiki link. Us coastal Nutmeggers (the state's official nickname is "Nutmeg State" - don't ask, it's a crazy story) all know about the lobster roll's origination but keep our mouths shut to avoid conflict with Mainers. We just happily eat our lobster rolls dripping in melted butter and try to keep them a secret. lol I had no idea about Amagansett but am not surprised considering its location. I love the eastern end of LI! It's frustratingly close. I can see it but it takes our Nordic Tug about 1-1/2-2 hrs to chug over to Orient Point. Just as well. Sag Harbor, Montauk, etc. would bankrupt us quickly. :) This discussion of lobster rolls has decided our July 4 menu - lobster rolls, CT-style. Sides still to be decided. :) Check out Abbott's Lobster in the Rough's website. It's a fun place. Very common for locals to bring along white tablecloths, candelabras, sterling flatware, the good china, and crystal wine glass in a picnic basket and set up for an Abbott's lobster roll dinner on the picnic tables to watch the boats going thru Mystic channel. Everybody in shorts, tees, and flip flops, of course. Abbott's was voted by About.com, in 2012, as the best place to eat a lobster in New England. Bobby Flay is a frequent visitor also. What can I say? It's good eats, but keep it quiet. The lines are already ridiculous. lol Check out their website - it's fun. /tricia Here is a link that might be useful: Abbott's Lobster in the Rough

Kim, Those are some of my favorites too. I don't know if I've ever had a black or purple tomato I didn't like, though there are some that are better than others. Snow White and Super Snow White, along with the smaller but similar Dr. Carolyn, are long-time favorites of ours. I simply haven't grown them lately because I cut back so much on how many small tomatoes we grow. Jennifer, Cravings for fresh tomatoes in January are normal. We still have several gallons of whole, frozen tomatoes in the big chest freezer out in the garage. While eating a frozen and then thawed tomato is not the same as eating a fresh one, you still get a decent flavor and aroma---but, of course, not the same texture at all. I don't care---at least the flavor is more or less right. Tomato cravings have, at times, driven me to buy a grocery store tomato in January or February, which, of course, is a horrible mistake. If I feel I must buy a tomato in January, I buy the little bite sized ones---I like the ones that come in the little round plastic containers with lids. They aren't the same as fresh, home-grown tomatoes but I can toss a handful on a salad and feel like I am eating something that is close to being a real tomato. I always, however, regret buying a large, roundish-squareish (they are bred to fit 'just so' into those big shipping boxes), reddish-orangeish tomato imposter at the store. Not only is the texture wrong but the flavor is immensely lacking, if there is any flavor at all. Central Market always has a huge variety of 'heirloom' or open-pollinated tomatoes in all colors in stock all winter long and one year I convinced myself that they looked so much like home-grown tomatoes that they might be worth buying. That was a mistake. They looked like tomatoes. They maybe had slightly better texture than normal grocery store tomatoes. The problem? The flavor was awful. They didn't taste like tomatoes, at least not like the tomatoes we grow in our gardens. Even worse, they had a vaguely chemical flavor, which led me to believe they likely were being grown hydroponically in greenhouses.....and I don't like tomatoes with that vague chemical flavor. So, can we poor, fresh tomato-starved gardeners trust a grocery store tomato in January? Sadly, no, we cannot......and the cravings become almost unbearable. I cook a lot with our frozen or canned tomatoes in January through March, but it certainly isn't the same as having fresh ones. I probably cook with frozen or canned tomatoes from our garden weekly in winter, and at least the cooked tomatoes make the house smell yummy, and we enjoy eating them, but it still is not at all the same thing as having fresh tomatoes from the garden. George, I agree with everything you said, but since I grow so many, I grow some of those big large ones anyway---I just know that must years those big ones will not be producing fruit for us in July and August, even though they'll produce well until that heat sets in. I have found that with early planting of the big varieties (and by early I mean in earliest March with the protection of frost blankets as needed), we can get a huge harvest from them from late May through early July and by the time the large-fruited varieties are giving out in the heat, the smaller-fruited varieties are going strong. If I were constrained by space, I'd grow the usual heat lovers here---Sioux, Super Sioux, Porter (not a favorite, but it does produce in the heat), Fantastic, Super Fantastic, Marion and Early Girl. Oh, and any of the Heinz varieties---though I use them mostly for canning, they still are okay for fresh eating and are very prolific even in the heat. Y'all, one way to help with the fresh tomato cravings in winter is to slice and halfway dehydrate some of them in summer. Then, stack the slices, with parchment paper between them so they do not freeze into a big lump, and put them in the freezer. When you are craving a home-grown tomato in winter, take out your frozen slices, and use them to make BLT sandwiches. Only let them thaw out a little bit more than halfway so that they are still firm and not too mushy. Is it the same as a real BLT in-season with fresh tomatoes? Nope, nope, nope, but it isn't too bad, all things considered. They key is that you've already removed a lot of the water by partially dehydrating them before freezing them, and then you're eating them while they are still partially frozen so that their texture isn't hopelessly soft and watery. Sometimes we just have to settle for less (a lot less) than tomato perfection in winter time. Dawn

hcbm, that's EXACTLY what I've been wondering--and I'm pretty sure I started this thread talking about it: what would happen if our house burned down? What would I miss? What would I not even care about? I need a group of people like you to keep reminding me: if you lost this item, would you really care? In nearly all cases the answer would be No. My husband and I are both very indecisive (you should hear us when he gets a few days off trying to figure out where to go and what to do--until we often give up and stay home), but he at least agrees with me that with most of this stuff in various Rubbermaid containers, we wouldn't even notice if someone else threw it out. But when we start to look, we get immediately bogged down with memories and attachments to each little item. For some good accomplishments since I started--as Kathy Yata mentions above, in the past several months: 1. Got my husband to allow me to unload several bankers boxes of educational materials to a group that really appreciated it. 2. Both of us have reduced our clothes greatly: mine almost by half. 3. I have a bag full of expired medications that I will take next time they have one of those "turn in your old meds" days. 4. Several bags of decorative and household items to Salvation Army. 5. This week many bags of winter clothes, blankets, food to a local charity. 6. Went through all our instruction manuals and was able to dump a lot. Got a entire file drawer down to less than half of a file box. 7. Did the same with greeting cards: putting them in order by category and throwing out dorky ones I've had since the 80s. Threw out a lot I knew I would never give anyone. (But my sister just sent me a really cheesy Christmas one that she got free from a charity--now I wish I had kept one to send back to her. While I'm on a tangent: my other sister sent me the ugliest one for my birthday writing "I didn't pay for this." She wanted me know that she hadn't sent a donation to the charity she got it from. Nice.) 8. Have gone paperless as much as possible this year. Throw out most catalogs without looking. 9. There is a military chaplain stationed in Japan who told me he would love to have a load of religious DVDs and CDs we have. (We used to lead studies but have retired from that.) So that's the next load of stuff to get out of the house. 10. This was in the Spring, but I nearly emptied out our attic except for things like suitcases and the Christmas tree. Maybe just a few boxes of pretty things from my mom and wedding presents that I have trouble parting with but they don't worry me. I hope some day to have a way to display them. Kathy, thanks for suggesting this: I feel pretty good about myself even though I'm still looking at a box or 3 full of miscellaneous stuff. The above proves to me that I CAN do it!