In the Hamptons, we don't check the water temperature as obsessively as we check the price of lobster salad. Every summer, we get sticker shock--and then we buy it anyway. Freely and gladly. Just why is lobster salad so expensive? "I only get a few pounds from each lobster, you know, and it is so much work making the salad," says Anna Pump, owner of Loaves and Fishes, the East End epicenter for exorbitant but excellent food. "I get many jokes from people wanting to know if they should take a second mortgage to buy the lobster salad, but they always buy it." According to Pump, the price of lobster salad this year is leaping to a record-shattering $100-per-pound because the Maine fishermen have raised their prices after frequent storms last winter. "I may be able to lower the price slightly if supply increases," says Pump, not sounding particularly convincing. "You know I don't make any money on the salad at that price." (She buys her lobsters from Duryea's in Montauk for $16.95-per-pound). Of course, you could buy a few lobsters and a jar of Miracle Whip and make it yourself without spending an arm and a leg--or should we say a tail and a claw? But why would you do that, when you can just pay more?