Lighthearted. Dd would like "an array of seafood"

[sundaydayisnotmyfundayday]

Pain in the bum daughter turns 20 tomorrow. As per tradition, she picks dinner.

Previous years have included spaghetti tacos, a toastie banquet, the Feast of 10 types of potato..

This year she has refused my plea offer to go out to eat and would like me to make her a spectacular array of seafood. The only thing she dislikes is scampi..

Please help me decide what to include!?

please include a jar of cockles haha, don’t forget toothpicks!

I too love themed foods. One day, during lockdown, i declared every meal should be based on popcorn. We had popcorn with milk as cereal, crushed popcorn coated chicken, and popcorn flavoured eclairs. Cheesy popcorn for tea.

My youngest just turned 3 and had her first ever invite to a birthday party at a soft play. She had a ball, but didn't like the pizza served because there were "no nolives".

Make her a feast of foods beginning with C and say you got it wrong - you could actually include calamari , cod , crab

And caviar

Add whelks and only do next years madness if she eats one.

Prawn ring!

my favourite meal before i became vegetarian was salmon covered in seasoned butter (salt pepper garlic granules whatever you like) wrapped in tinfoil and oven baked, you could even use cookie cutters if you feel artistic, you could also make a fish shaped cake for birthday cake/dessert with guyulian chocolates on top.

OP, you sound like you have the best family!
I've been having such a rubbish pregnancy I'd forgotten why I was doing it in the first place. I'd love to be a mum like you!!

I love this. When I was a kid I would always ask my parents for 3 cooked chickens from GT Smiths for dinner! Never ate 3 of them but it was always a fulfilled request that I never realised was odd until I invited a friend round for birthday tea! You're great to join in the fun of it all!

I'm not a seafood person but the seafood boils are all the rage at the moment! I've seen people on TikTok using things from Aldi to make them at home and they look quite fun!

This. This is what you do.

Way nicer than the supermarket suggestions and frankly less likely to make you unwell.

https://www.thatsmature.co.uk/menu

Oh wow!

At 20 , she is probably being influenced online by all the seafood boils going on .

that would be a good shout . People line their tables with a paper to protect it , and just pour out crab, lobsters, calamari etc and have a display of dips .

A perfect birthday dinner! And I love that tradition.
Do you have a local fishmonger? If I go on two days before and ask for a platter to be made up for, say, £50, something varied and delicious always appears on the morning.
We serve it for supper in the garden with cold white wine, skinny frites and baguette. But in front of the fire with champagne is perfect for winter (don’t they say seafood is better in winter?)
This year DD has requested a giant Lamington for her birthday cake. Random but fun ti make 🙂

Everything in the platter is available to buy separately off the shelves of large Waitrose branches.
It could easily be copied by buying a selection of items & making it up into a platter yourself. It would prob work out cheaper as well
Those salmon mousses in the pic are amazing!!

Crab and Lobster (just the meat for ease or whole for effect) avocado and prawns with sauce, smoked salmon, cream cheese, caviar if you're really pushing the boat out, quail eggs (they are cute and go with the rest) blinis, (homemade) bread, salad, champagne.

You could properly wind her up and serve jellied eels.... :)

OMG I love the sound of the Feast of 10 Types of Potato. I’m going to suggest this my potato obsessed DC for his birthday.

He LOVES food and once requested seafood linguine for his birthday party one year (I suspected this might not go down too well with the other 6yr olds and we had the usual pizza and sausage rolls at the party and the linguine for a family dinner on a different day)

I'd so shell on prawns, mussels, lobster tails, dressed crab, cockles as a starter with bouillabaisse for the main.

https://www.lidl.co.uk/p/ocean-sea-seafood-selection/p5223894
https://www.iceland.co.uk/p/iceland-king-prawn-cocktail-ring-with-marie-rose-dip-140g/41198.html
https://www.tesco.com/groceries/en-GB/products/259793942?srsltid=AfmBOorXuGGVAESe4mIxSxqg5fkob1rnqkepyuBUZwZp6H7hf6A_fRsl

Sorted. 😂

Scampi fries
Those prawn foam sweets

My OH would LOVE the Feast of Ten Potatoes - I know what I'm doing for his birthday this year!

Thank you for the inspiration, OP!

We need to know how it goes... I wonder how many different fishcakes you can buy? [wanders off to check]

@IHateEmptyPockets Aldi and other places sell a multitude of fish canes with different fillings. Growing up they were some random white fish in yellow crumb, my mother then topped these with cooked tinned tomatoes and a slice of processed cheese. If you are my sister you will instantly recognise me from this, I can’t think anyone else was fed that 🤣

What have you managed to get, OP?