Mussels and Taters
Today was my backup dancer's last day of second grade. Back in March, I remember looking bleakly ahead to this day. We had a rough start to homeschooling, but then we found our groove. She worked hard, I worked hard, and I believe the kid is ready for third grade, whatever that's going to look like.
I was emotional this morning, impressed by how far we've come, but also despondent that this is where we are. We're all functioning just fine, but it's a lonely, vaguely fearful life. I remember in the beginning, I couldn't imagine school being closed for more than a couple weeks. Time went by, and it dawned on me that summer camps and vacations weren't going to happen. And now I wonder about Halloween, and Christmas. And that's as far ahead as I can bring myself to ponder right now.
Sorry, you came here to read about food, didn't you? So let me tell you about mussels and taters. Admittedly, mussels are not vegetarian. In fact, they're so un-vegetarian that when you get them home to cook, you can tap an open one, and it will close itself because IT IS A LIVING ANIMAL.
Yeesh. That fact had not really sank in when I bought them. But I steeled myself and soldiered on, comforted by the fact that at least mollusks are a low-carbon meat choice, and that is why I'm telling you about them on my meatless blog. The recipe I tried was "Mussels with White Beans and Tomatoes" (Eating Well).
Despite their relative environmental friendliness, I spent a lot of time cleaning those darned mussels, and then when they were cooked and served, they were kind of hard to extract in one piece from their open shells. The broth was good, but I made a rookie error of serving them with the wrong starch.
I should have gone with bread, for dipping in the broth. Instead, I made "Roasted Potatoes with Sage and Garlic" (NYT Cooking). In addition to being not bread, these potatoes also weren't nearly as good as "Crispy Sautéed Potatoes with Rosemary."
 |
| My backup dancer can explain the molecular properties of water. Yeah that's right, I'm bragging. |
I was emotional this morning, impressed by how far we've come, but also despondent that this is where we are. We're all functioning just fine, but it's a lonely, vaguely fearful life. I remember in the beginning, I couldn't imagine school being closed for more than a couple weeks. Time went by, and it dawned on me that summer camps and vacations weren't going to happen. And now I wonder about Halloween, and Christmas. And that's as far ahead as I can bring myself to ponder right now.
Sorry, you came here to read about food, didn't you? So let me tell you about mussels and taters. Admittedly, mussels are not vegetarian. In fact, they're so un-vegetarian that when you get them home to cook, you can tap an open one, and it will close itself because IT IS A LIVING ANIMAL.
Yeesh. That fact had not really sank in when I bought them. But I steeled myself and soldiered on, comforted by the fact that at least mollusks are a low-carbon meat choice, and that is why I'm telling you about them on my meatless blog. The recipe I tried was "Mussels with White Beans and Tomatoes" (Eating Well).
Despite their relative environmental friendliness, I spent a lot of time cleaning those darned mussels, and then when they were cooked and served, they were kind of hard to extract in one piece from their open shells. The broth was good, but I made a rookie error of serving them with the wrong starch.
I should have gone with bread, for dipping in the broth. Instead, I made "Roasted Potatoes with Sage and Garlic" (NYT Cooking). In addition to being not bread, these potatoes also weren't nearly as good as "Crispy Sautéed Potatoes with Rosemary."
 |
| At least the flowers from my garden are lovely! |
Comments
Post a Comment