happenstancehaschangedmyplans: Lobster and Pikliz

Beginning of the Pikliz

Just had to post really quickly about the amazing dinner we had last night! (sorry, you know me, LOVE food;)
So there is an elder in our hall who everyone calls Mateo. I think that is just his last name, but that's what he goes by. Anyways, he is an amazing brother, willing to help anyone with anything!! (this is the brother who picked us up in Enriquilo, squeezing us into his tiny car, when we first arrived) I had run into him about a week ago in one of the local markets where i saw him buying some cabbage, onions, cilantro, garlic.... i asked him what he was making. He told me it was going to be pikliz.
now, for those of you who don't know what that is, basically it is a Haitian style salad/salsa/slaw, depending on each individuals personal recipe. and it is almost always spicy. i have had it a couple times, each time it was made slightly different, but each time i loved it! so, i was happy to find out Mateo knew how to make it. (he is Dominican, not Haitian).
I told him as much and he let me know that he would soon have ashley and i over for dinner to try out his version.
So last night at meeting he pulled me aside and said that he was going to make dinner that night, after the meeting, for Martine. (She left to go home to France this morning) He invited Ashley and I to come too.
When we got to the house we soon realized that Mateo had more skills then we even realized! He quickly set to work chopping and mixing. getting his two older boys (10 and 13yrs) to help out as well. Turns out that he loves to cook, in fact he wants to be a chef. He had had some training in another part of the DR and it must have been really good training. All of us sisters just stood around in awe as his wife sat on the couch sipping beer. It was pretty great.
anyways, here are some pictures of the dinner. He cooked lobster, made an amazing sauce with octopus in it, and, of course the pikliz!!
Enjoy...... I know we sure did:)