I Went All Out For My Parents’ 50th Anniversary Dinner. Check Out What I Made!

My parents celebrated 50 incredible years of marriage recently, and my gift to them was a very fancy dinner that I made myself. How fancy? Well, it was the first time I’ve ever bought lobster tails!

I knew exactly what I wanted to do with these expensive little buggers. Grill ’em! I looked at a few recipes online, and then watched a few YouTube videos on how to prepare the tails for the grill, and decided on a method where you basically remove most of the flesh from the shell, but keep it attached near the fins at the end, and then gracefully arch it on top of the shell. It’s a long process, but it’s worth it. These guys looked beautiful before going on the grill.

It was drizzling outside when I was grilling, so I didn’t take any grill action shots, but I smeared each lobster tail with a pat of butter, put them on the grill, closed the lid, and came back 10 minutes later, and they were perfect.

I also grilled 3 lemon halves, just so they had a little char, as a pretty garnish. Spoiler alert! The lobsters were as delicious as they look.

I also made a lemon garlic butter to dip pieces of the tails in. It was simple. I melted a stick of butter in a small saucepan, and added juice from half of lemon, 2 cloves of minced garlic, and a handful of minced fresh parsley. There was a lot of butter left over, but that butter will be good on anything!

But that’s not all! I also grilled veggie kabobs, because of course I’m going to serve lots of veggies!

I marinated mushrooms, onions, peppers, and tomatoes in a little olive oil and red wine vinegar, and sprinkled them with a spice blend. They sat in the fridge for a couple hours, and then I loaded them onto skewers that had been soaking all day long (so they didn’t burn).

I actually grilled these first, before the lobster tails, because I wanted to be able to rotate them, and the lobster tails required a closed grill for 10 minutes. When they were done, I pulled them off the skewers, into a serving dish, and then covered them with foil so they stayed warm.

Meanwhile, I had crab cakes in the oven. See, I told you I went all out! These were store bought, though, also I did make my own sauce for them, which had a sour cream base, with horseradish, capers, and minced fresh parsley added.

I plated it all up for my parents and me, and it looked pretty spectacular. I was very proud.

The table looked great, and my dad decided to dress up in fancy clothes for his fancy anniversary meal.

My mom looked nice, too, but I was wearing the t-shirt and shorts that I had worn for the two hours I had spent prepping and cooking.

All right, Mr. DeMille, this meal is ready for its close-up.

Rave reviews all around! I’m enjoying grilling things for dinner. I didn’t have a grill in California, so it’s nice to have one out back now. I hope to bring you more grilling ideas in future posts!

Happy 50th Anniversary, Mom & Dad!

And… Keep it up, David!

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