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Spring has come, and with it pollen counts of 5500, which is the fourth highest count Atlanta has ever suffered. But I shall not dwell on that - thanks to over-the-counter Claritin - because Spring also brings Braeburn apples that are roughly the size of my head. That benefits everyone, or at least those who like my recipes, because I have an apple as an afternoon snack, and one of those monsters will hold me until dinnertime. I arrive home ready to try cooking something interesting, rather than in a state of "Hungry! Must eat NOW! Sammitch time!"

Today's dose of hardcore bento action features garlic butter octopus. That's a small octopus simmered in garlic butter. I didn't find a recipe anywhere; I just thought that since shrimp and snails and other weird little things taste wonderful in garlic butter, why not octopus? So, fortified as I was with a Braeburn apple, I gave it a try. Guess what? Garlic butter octopus is good. The garlic butter was so tasty that I thawed out a bunch of shrimp and sauteed them too rather than let the rest of the butter go to waste. You'll see those soon, rest assured.

The octopus is perched (upside down) on a forestlike bed of steamed broccoli, and below that are some baked steak fries, because, well, aren't octopus and fries a natural combo? On the other side I have a fruit salad with banana, kiwi fruit, blood orange segments, and persimmon, and up above that two halves of a steamed bun spread with Nutella.

Wanna talk about it?