I see a lot of memes and jokes about women never able to decide where to eat. That’s not the case in my household. I take charge of where to eat (and what to eat) at all times, ahead of time. With Mother’s Day, I picked and reserved our restaurant a month ago. La Table Chateau has the best Mother’s Day Brunch in Houston. It has all the good qualities of Quattro at Four Seasons but without the off-putting crowd. The only drawback is that it is a lot smaller so the bookings tend to be limited, hence the one month notice.
The day started with wonderful flowers.
The boys did a great job picking this arrangement. I love the colors and the flowery pitcher that I can use later.
They also dressed my favorite puppy, Cookie, in the cutest shirt that says it all.
I love mommy. I love you too, Cookie. Way to represent my puppy babies. I’m proud to be a puppy-mommy to all of you.
We then proceeded to La Table. The restaurant has two areas. La Table Marche is the ground floor where they have the bakery as well. The second floor is La Table Chateau, this is where the Mother’s Day Brunch is. When making reservations, you want to be seated here.
It starts out with family style breakfast foods including omelet, sausages, assorted breads, potatoes, fruits and pancakes. That alone is a feast in itself, as you can probably see.This is the cheese and charcuterie section. My favorite – the appetizer section. It has the humongous shrimp, smoked salmon, ceviche and OYSTERS!!! I had about 12 oysters. Dave thinks it will upset my stomach later. He still has no idea of the strength of my gut. There’s Ceasar and Greek salad too, which I totally ignored.This is their amazing beef tenderloin. There is also leg of lamb and salmon that i didn’t take a picture of.….and dessert!!! Creme brûlée with vanilla beans and chocolate mousse (not in picture). I normally don’t like chocolate fountain but i take an exception on this one. They use really good Belgian chocolate which pairs well with strawberries and madelines.We picked up some cupcakes on our way home. Dave got me another bottle of 1996 De Venoge Louis XV, Brut. We had the same for New Year and it was excellent. So here’s me with all my loot.
I’m not doing any chores today, it’s a given. I’m spending the rest of the day with that bottle and cupcakes, on the couch, re-watching Game of Thrones. I love being a mom.
If you don’t barbecue and set off fireworks during 4th of July, are you even an American? I’m just borrowing this catch-phrase for the day that is all over social media. But seriously though, how is this possible when Houston has been seeing rains non-stop? I saw the forecast a couple of days ago so I deferred from buying my tomahawk steaks because I did not want to grill in the rain. I decided to cook lobsters instead.
If you have an Asian store nearby, get your lobsters there. I got mine from Ranch 99 at $10 per pound. The same ones are $14.99 at HEB and much more miserable and sick-looking. I got 4 lobsters even if there’s only 3 of us. The 4th is my back-up.
Being a chef-wanabe, I am cooking it three ways.
First, Steamed Lobster and Corn.
I just realized that I left my big pot in Fredericksburg so I am cooking in two batches.
Have 2 inches of water in a pot, put 2 ears of corn, cover until lobsters are bright red (about 15 minutes). Cover your ears as you will be hearing them scream. I researched this and was comforted by the fact that they don’t have vocal cords. The “screaming” is some sort of gas escaping its cavities. I was comforted knowing that the lobsters were not screaming, just farting. Let that sink in.
Done!!!
Take the meat out from the body cavity, brush with butter, do the same with corn. Add some lemon.
Save the claw meat and carcass as you will be needing it for the two other dishes.
Second Dish is Maine-Style Lobster Rolls.
I used Avocado Mayonnaise because Tom Brady said so. Seriously. We have his book, I read it there somewhere so when I saw a jar at Whole Foods, I ditched the regular mayo. In that 2 seconds I placed the jar in my shopping cart, I felt like Giselle Bundchen.
To the mayo, add chopped celery, lemon, salt and pepper, and a bit of chives. Mix in the chopped lobster meat. Assemble in a bed of lettuce on top of a toasted brioche bun.
Third Dish is Lobster Bisque.
Put the lobster shells from tails, claws, knuckles and legs in a big pot and add 5 cups of water. Simmer for 5 minutes then strain.
In a large saucepan sauté half an onion and one stalk of celery until soft. Add half a cup of tomato paste then half a cup of sherry. When bubbling, add 1/3cup of uncooked rice, 1 tsp thyme, salt and pepper, a bay leaf. Add lobster stock. Simmer for 25 minutes. Allow to cool for 15 minutes then transfer to blender. When smooth, add juice of one lemon and a cup of heavy cream.
I still had a lot of left-over lobster meat so I mixed it in.
There was a slight bitter after-taste which I soon found out was caused by a head of one lobster that I thought i discarded. Google told me that I can offset this by adding more lemon. It worked!
So that makes our 4th of July spread. Everything cooked indoors while watching the news of other areas of the city that are starting to flood. Hopefully, the rain will stop soon. For the meantime, we pause and give thanks for being in this great country that made our dreams come true. Happy Independence Day y’all!
