You can’t go to Maine without partaking in their signature lobsters. Our first experience with lobster was buying some picked lobster meat from the front office at our campground. John, Kaeli and I thought it was delicious, but Riley turned her nose up after a few bites, asking for crab instead (which we did not have). John took Riley to Dorr Lobster one evening to pick out lobsters. While they welcome curbside pickup, they can only accommodate this if you place your order early enough since they have a steady stream of customers. Only one customer is allowed inside the store at a time, masks are required and the owner had both a sneeze guard and mask. Riley was giddy with excitement when she returned with the live lobsters. She introduced us to Lobsty, Ocean and Crabby. She had the bag of live lobsters on her lap on the way home, peeking inside and chatting with them. Kaeli immediately ran into her room to avoid seeing the lobster slaughter, but ventured back out when she heard what fun Riley was having.
As the first lobster was placed in our instant pot, Riley took the next two out on plates on the floor and played with them while she chattered on about daddy “killing the lobster.” John gave the kids a comprehensive lobster anatomy lesson. When all three lobsters were ready, we started our feast. Riley talked incessantly about the “dead lobsters” and we coaxed her to try a few bites with butter, but she was more interested in eating potatoes and cracking the lobster shell. As a child, I remember my uncle bringing lobsters to add to our Thanksgiving feast although I don’t recall actually eating them at the time.
Back when John and I were dating, we went to a “First night” event where the city of St. Petersburg closed streets down to allow new year’s celebrations. We went to a nice restaurant where John ordered steak (he’s always been a meat and potatoes guy) and he urged me to order a lobster. When my lobster tail arrived, he was shocked that only the tail is served. For the rest of the evening, he kept talking about where the rest of the lobster goes when you receive just a tail. Having cracked and eaten a few in Maine, he now understands that the majority of the lobster meat is in the tail. Glad we’ve put that one to rest after all these years.
Admittedly, we watched a video clip of Gordon Ramsey opening a lobster, so it felt like easy work to get the meat out. Riley decided that the picked crab that we bought for her was “funny,” until I brought out the Old Bay. Maryland girl at heart. She was disappointed that she couldn’t crack crabs open which I thought was funny since she typically depends on John and I to pull out the crab meat for her. We ate lobsters several times during our stay, enjoying each delectable bite. Riley continued to play with our food, prompting this stuffed lobster gift from the gift shop in Acadia (which John braved in order to get the girls’ National Park passports stamped).
We even shipped some lobsters to John’s mom for her birthday! We are keeping the magnet from Dorr’s because I plan to request lobster shipped in fresh from Maine for my birthday next year.