I may not know how to spell mussels, but at least I can cook them!

So, I went to Costco, and they were selling 5lb bags of mussels for $8. I just had no choice but to buy it, wouldn’t you?

Anyway, I never made mussels before so, as the dude told me I had to make it the very same day, I consulted with Chef Google and came up with a few videos on cleaning and cooking mussels. I realized that white wine was sort of a key ingredient, and since I am not alcohol-inclined, I opted for ginger ale… apparently good substitutes are ginger ale, apple cider, non-alcoholic wine, and stock. Ginger ale was the easiest to find. I think next time I will probably try cider.

I was in the middle of cooking it when my brother appeared and sort of took over the entire production, but the as the taste was totally awesome, I will focus more on the fact that I did MOST of the work!!

Guidelines:

1) Clean the mussels and remove the dead (open) ones

2) In a large saucepan saute a crushed garlic, onions and ginger in a little olive oil

3) Add in the mussels, pour in your liquid of choice, then cover the pan (make sure you use a large enough pan to fit all the mussels when they are opened)

4) It takes about 4-5 minutes for them to open, remove them from the pot

5) With the remaining liquid in the pot, add in pepper, salt, finely chopped coriander, and other flavors of choice. I added in some more garlic. Let that simmer and reduce for a few minutes, remove from the heat and then add back in the mussels.

Fini!

My life in points & food

1) It’s rare that I ever cook a meal that I really want, but when I do… lamb in hoisin sauce with pan seared scallops and sweet potato pie is right up there with my absolute faves! I made this a couple weeks ago, so don’t go showing up for dinner tonite.

2) I bought a filing cabinet today. Umm, yeah, not something I ever thought I would be purchasing, but there you go. Next thing you know, I’ll be using excel! Although, I am pretty convinced that I am allergic to excel.

3) I generally try not to go into places that I love but seriously cannot afford, but I went into Pier 1 today and I think I said “if I had a nice house and money, I would sooo buy this!” every 5 seconds. Anyway.

4) I happened to see an episode of gilmore girls this morning (I really loved that series) and I cried and cried, I am not even sure why, but if you haven’t seen it, you should, it’s a good series if you like sarcasm and a lot of talking and the whole single mother thing…

Have a good week people!

My great big ode to chicken

This is an unlikely post. Seeing that “my love for chicken” ain’t really a phrase that ever comes out of my mouth. And, chicken is possibly my least favorite meat.

So, anyway, over the weekend I had an intense craving for something, I really didn’t know what it was at first (does this happen to anyone else?), it was like I could sorta imagine the taste, but I couldn’t figure out what it was, you know? Not really? Ok. Well, it was chicken! And I never crave chicken!

Actually, it was barbecue chicken, and it felt like I desperately needed some. Then it occurred to me that it’s August (August people!!) and I haven’t had anything bbq’d all summer! I almost fainted. For reals. Then I decided that some time before next summer I’m getting my own grill – does it have to be a “man” thing? – not a fancy-smancy-10-acre-type one, but a small coal-powered one, and anyway, I like bbq on coals better.

As a substitute I made baked chicken, which my kids all enjoyed and then the almost 7 year old exclaimed “it’s so good! like your famous chicken!!” Well, I was obviously pleased, but then it occurred to me that I haven’t really been cooking anything particularly good recently (actually Sid pointed that out to me quite a while ago, but for the purposes of this story, THIS is the moment, I had the revelation).

For me, cooking is an art. I am of the school of thought that your ingredients should dictate the dish and not the other way around. That your feelings and mood has a lot to do with what you cook. But, like any art form, you need to feel inspired, you need to feel desire, and I guess recently I didn’t, so I cooked what I needed to so that my kids didn’t starve. However, I never realized that perhaps my kids were actually missing my cooking. It’s weird, but it was exactly the motivation I needed, I think, so, at least for the moment, I am feeling the urge to do the “cook something different everyday for a year” thing! But, except, maybe for like, a week.