Mrs. Roadwalker is working at Curves this morning so I took the kids to the 99 cent store so they can buy her Christmas Gifts. (The are 11, 7, 6, 3 and 1).
A box of nerds, and ice cream dish, a pretty candle, all bought with money they earned. And I see a small box with the other canned goods that says:
Octopuses in Garlic Oil.
We joke about it for lunch and the 11 year old says lets do it. The 7 year old starts freaking out. But we buy it anyway.
The kids (except the freaked out 7 year old and the quiet 1 year old) are all singing: octupus! Octopus!
Later at lunchtime the three year old is the first at the table eagerly awaiting bagels and octopus and apples for lunch.
So I open the box, and there is a label-free can.
And I open the can.
I grew up in Hawaii with exotic Asian foods and raw fish. I’ve eaten live ants to impress the kids.
But there are friggen’ purple octopuses in the can! They are not whole, the heads are off and elsewhere in the can! I know what an octopus looks like I saw one a Sea World just yesterday! But these are dead, and smelly and purple!
And I couldn’t do it.
Much to the relief of not just the 7 year old, but all the kids, I abort the mission.
Moments later I’m on my way out to the garage to feed it to the cats. The six year old girl comes after me weeping with tears, pleading me not to feed it to the cats because they’ll be sick. I assure her they won’t, (I have no idea) and the cats attack the plate.
Just a while ago I went outside to discover that they only drank the octo-juice and there is still a plate with little purple octopuses on it out there. :smack:
Just another day in Roadwalker’s family.
Mmmm, octo-juice. It isn’t just for breakfast anymore!
I have eaten canned octopus before, but not from the 99-cent store. I actually kinda like it, once in a while (and the canned squid as well!).
I like octopus, squid, caviar, etc. but those tend not to be the things I buy off the clearance rack of a .99 store.
Nobody’s mentioned the initiation process here at SDMB yet?
Actually, the little purple guys are pretty tasty on pizza. They’re just the right size: an armspan about like a pepperoni. But again, not from the 99 cent store.
My locan Asian market sells 2 pound bags of baby octupus for about $4 a piece. That’s cheaper than chicken, cheaper than ground chuck. And they sautee up perfectly in a little bit of olive oil and garlic.
It’s cool to watch them cook… they start out kinda gray when they’re raw, but as soon as they hit the pan, the arms turn reddish-purple and they curl up into cute little silver-dollar size rosettes.