Happy Birthday Frodo

 Frodo turned 12.  His cake of choice was chocolate mint brownies.... each of the 3 layers has a stick of butter in each layer.  As previously mentioned he desired Octopus which they say they eat in Spain.  And not mentioned previously was that he wanted Eggplant Parmesan.  I knew how to do the Eggplant Parmesan but the Octopus Squid I had to ask someone-who-knows-about-this-kind-of-fare how to cook it. I chose the sauteed in garlic oil and parsley since I was told that was scrumdillyumscious (crum and yum in the same word... hm...).  I wasn't sure how to prepare the Squid for frying and it's  a good thing I looked it up as I would have thrown the whole thing in the pan.  But a squid has alot of gooey stuff inside.

 So first I watched a youtube in how to clean it... oh my... then I watched-and-hacked.  Please note, Squids are very slimy hence the rubber gloves.  I am keeping the pictures "small" for the weak stomached. You can click and enlarge them if you like.

 The experience brought me back to 10th Grade Biology....

 This is a piece of plastic that is up the spine (?) of the squid.  It's a milestone to pull it out.

 I think I wasn't suppose to cut into that bubble thing.  We wondered if that was the ink pot.

 This was the other bubble thing.

The directions said to "cut into rings" but I couldn't figure out how to cut a flat object into rings so I just cut it into strips.  I know, it looks like bacon, tentacles and tiny elephant ears.    I would like you to know... however... that it tasted pretty good and wasn't rubbery.... not much anyway.  Not quite so tender as my lovely friend's little cute squids but not tough either.  Much more tender than any calamari I ever had before. I really think I need a nice white chef hat.