Shot through the heart

It's no secret that Bon Jovi is my go-to guilty pleasure artist. My shower renditions of "Living On A Prayer" are legendary. His set list is amazing for running or other high intensity activity. And can you imagine a karaoke night without the original Jersey Boy? (apologies to Bruce Springsteen)

Because basically, Bon Jovi is fun to sing. How fun you ask? Well just take a look for yourself!

The key lyrics to this song are obviously "You paint your smile on your lips/Blood red nails on your fingertips." These are the key lyrics because every woman out there knows the power of red nails. On a regular basis, I can't always get away with red nails, because my nails chip if you give them a dirty look and red nails show chips the worst. But you better believe that my toes are usually red, and my special occasion go to color for fingers also is in the red zone.

I don't usually go for blood red nails though, unless of course it's old dried blood. I like my red a little...darker. It started a couple years back when I went to a party hosted by Ms. Hostess with the Mostess herself. In our little gift bag 'o swag was a specially created nail polish for the event. OPI had teamed up with Chambord to create "French Chambord-tini". The color, a red wine was a little darker than it looked pictured here.

But when I ran out, I had to find a replacement color. Enter, Malanga Wine. My new favorite red nailpolish.



Wine is such a perfect description of the color. I love the deep purple red. So much more grown up than Minnie Mouse red. Because wine is for grown ups! Thatboy and I are going to a fancy schmancy party tomorrow night, and so I ventured out and switched up my classic pale pink polish for a racier red. And I think I may just keep this color going for the whole next month in honor of Valentine's Day.

And also in honor of Valentine's Day I'm going to share with you a bunch of recipes over the next week involving my favorite romantic food - lobsters!

I mean, they're red, which is the classic color of love. And there's something so exotic and sensual about the silky smooth meat hiding behind a hard exterior shell. And then you dip them in butter? Holy Macaroli, what's not to love about that?

The easiest way to prepare lobster is to boil it. Growing up this is how we always had lobster. It's quick, it's painless (for you) and it's easy to know when the lobster is done because it turns that gorgeous red color you see above.

My tips for boiling lobsters?
1) Buy them live. Moreso than any other seafood, shellfish goes off very quickly. The sooner to death you can get it, the tastier. (Gosh that sounds morbid, doesn't it?)
2) You'll want to fill a very large pot with water and a couple tsps salt and bring it to a boil There should be enough water in the pot to cover the lobster/lobsters completely. Bring the water to a boil.
3) While the water is boiling you have 2 options on how to handle your crawly little friend. You can hold him upside down until he becomes unconscious. You can also throw him in the freezer which will also put him to sleep. Either way will make your little buddy easier to handle and make you less squeamish.
4) Once your water is boiling, toss in your lobsters. If you have under 1 lb lobsters, they only need to cook for 10 minutes. 1 1/2- 2 1/2 lb lobsters need 25 minutes, and anything in between probably around 15 minutes.

Whole lobsters are easier and more fun to eat than crab because they are almost all edible. The body is filled with meat, the claws are filled with meat, and everyone knows that lobster tails are delicious. And if you're Thatmom, you'll even eat that green stuff on the inside (the tomalley). Just make sure you throw out the lungs and stomach which are not tasty.