Culinary Adventures with Camilla

D had planned to serve a sea urchin soup for his birthday dinner. Here's the original recipe for his Spiced Coconut-Sea Urchin Soup . Our usual go-to for urchin told us that their order comes in on Thursday and it wouldn't be good on Tuesday. But Ms. Shiho went out of her way to check with some fisherman friends of hers. No luck. I called a fish place on the commercial wharf that sometimes has it. No luck. So, our last resort was Monterey Abalone. I thought: we'll just clean two fresh ones and change the menu to "sea urchin- flecked soup." But those hopes were dashed, too, when they told us that there wouldn't have any available to January. D was so, so sad and very disappointed. But, always my sunny boy, he concluded, "it's okay, Mom, we just have to change the menu for tonight, but I'll make urchin soup for my friends in January."

Inspired by The Hundred Foot Journey to make a sea urchin soup, we tracked down some fresh urchin. Thanks, Ms. Shiho! But first, D made his grocery list... coconut milk urchin 'tie' [sic] basil (we didn't actually get Thai basil because I had some fresh basil from our High Ground Organics CSA ) curry tomato sauce cilantro rice  cooked white rice (I made an exception to our usual brown rice rule!) saffron  We picked up some already prepped urchin and D did clean one urchin ! I was grateful we didn't have to do that for all of the urchin. Now for his soup... Ingredients 3 shallots, finely diced 3 cloves garlic, finely diced 1/2 t minced lemongrass 1 T butter splash of olive oil 5 ounces fresh urchin, halved 1-1/2 C clam juice 2 C fish stock pinch of saffon  1 T Thai curry powder 1 t ground paprika dash of ground turmeric 1 can coconut milk freshly ground salt freshly ground pepper 1/4 C fresh cilantro, chopped 1/4 C fresh basil...

After D tried his first urchin  last week and he was inspired to make a sea urchin soup, I ordered some urchin from a friend's restaurant - thanks, Shiho! - but decided we would have to clean an urchin as well. I am grateful for a husband who doesn't even flinch when I call with a favor: Can you please go to the end of Wharf 2 and get a fresh urchin for D?  Just one? Yep. Sure. Thank you, Love. And thank you, YouTube posters, for showing us how to clean one. I had D watch a few clips while I prepped other parts of dinner. Here's what Jake picked up this afternoon. At first D was horrified that I was going to make him clean it. "Mom, Ms. Shiho's urchin is all set to cook...and that one hugged me! I can't kill it." What do you mean it 'hugged you?' "When I touched it in the bag, it moved its spines around my fingers." Well, I still want you to know the effort that went into this... Step One: Marvel at the urchin...in al...

Okay, let me preface this by saying it's not  my  first urchin; it's the Enthusiastic Kitchen Elf's first urchin. After seeing  The Hundred Foot Journey last week, D has been asking when I can get some sea urchin so that he can cook it. If you haven't seen The Hundred Foot Journey , you should. And then you'll know what I mean about being inspired to cook with sea urchin. Not knowing where to start, I asked my friend whose family owns a sushi restaurant. We texted back and forth this afternoon and she told me to bring D in to taste some urchin tonight. They were getting a shipment in a little bit after 5pm. Perfect. So, we drove over there before we headed to Trader Joe's for some groceries. I have to admit: I almost hoped that he didn't like it. I can't say that I have ever really liked urchin, though, admittedly, I can't remember the last time I tried it. So, out it came on a small dish and an even smaller spoon. D eyed it suspiciously...